The Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba, Lagos, has imposed an N11,000 fee on students who intend to effect changes to their registered academic programme, ahead of the commencement of its second semester.

The institution’s management, via an electronic message circulated on Friday and seen by FIJ, gave students a May 10 deadline to comply with the new directive or risk maintaining a programme they no longer want.

In addition, the management said students who do not comply will carry over courses from their original programme, and write examinations which they did not write in the first semester.

“If all students do not pay on or before Tuesday, May 10, 2022, money paid will be returned to the owners and you will have to remain in the programme option you are in presently,” the circular reads in part.

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“Please pay in cash to Mrs Eke in Room 204, between now and Tuesday, May 10, 2022.”

Speaking with FIJ on condition of anonymity, an affected student told FIJ that when she joined the institution, students were made to manually register their courses on paper due to a portal crash, but after the portal was fixed NIJ told them to choose between print and broadcast programmes online.

She said Esther Eke, the Students Affairs Officer, assured the students that regardless of how much information they had about the programmes on offer, they could register any, and enjoy the luxury of changing it any time in future.

“She told us we could register any one, so many of us chose broadcast, while others chose print,” the student told FIJ.

“But later on, we started hearing that one broadcast lecturer, Femi Osuntoki, was very strict, and that broadcast was expensive.

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“When he finally came, he told us to pay N15,000 each to produce a movie, so many of us decided to move to print. When people started changing their courses, it was easy, a lot of students changed and nobody asked them for money.

“But later, the ICT lady, one Cynthia, told us that she had ‘permanently’ submitted the list, and could not change it. We then went to the Deputy Provost and he said we should all come together, and that he would resolve the issue. Now, they are asking us to pay or risk carryover, and there are about 30 of us.”

When FIJ called Esther Eke to inquire on whether she gave students any assurances of ease during programme changes, she said:

“I cannot confirm or deny that. The new directive is a management decision, I cannot comment on that.”

Another student, who was able to change his programme before the new directive, told FIJ, that he was lucky because ‘the new act from the management is simply evil’.

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“They told students that they [management] will need money to get a software for them to update the changes, and we were thinking this software will not cost more than N4,000, but they said all the students should pay N11,000.”

When FIJ called Dele Omojuyigbe, NIJ’s Deputy Provost, for comments, he said the following:

“How does that concern you? Are you the one running this place for us? Did you go to school at all? Who taught you? How does the running of an institution concern you as an outsider? So, you can put a call through to a Vice Chancellor and ask anything? My friend, will you get off!”