The Senate of the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) has ordered each of its students to pay N20,000 for damaging the institution’s reputation and properties in the Senate building.

In a circular issued by the institution on Thursday and obtained by FIJ, AAUA said each of its over 21,000 students must pay the fee into its Polaris Bank account and complete registration ahead of its January 31st resumption.

Students who fail to complete this process will not be allowed to sit for the first semester examination scheduled to begin on resumption day.

This decision follows a November 22 protest which became violent as some students attacked the Senate building.

The protests began in defiance to an earlier the management’s decision to prevent tuition fee defaulters from partaking in the first semester examination scheduled for that day. Following the protests, the management ordered an indefinite suspension of academic activities.

Announcing the resumption, the Senate, through a circular titled ‘Reopening of the University for Academic Activities’ signed by Olugbenga Arajulu, AAUA registrar, said students “must swear an oath of good behaviour before a commissioner of oath”.

READ ALSO: AAUA Students’ Representative Council Demands Statement of Account After Union Leaders Embezzled N1.2m

The statement read in part, “All students must pay a reparation fee of Twenty thousand Naira (N20,000.00) only before resumption:
The payment is either by cash paid directly or bank transfer.

“All outstanding school fees up to the 1st semester 2020/2021 academic session must be paid by all students before resumption.

“All students must be duly registered up to 1st semester 2020/2021 academic session. Students must swear to an oath of good behaviour before a commissioner of oath. Please, visit the university website for the template to be used.

“All students must submit letter of good conduct duly signed by their Parent/Guardian, and all students must show evidence for the above (i-v) before they could be admitted to the campus.

“Any student who is unable to pay his/her school fees should request for leave of absence (LOA).”

When FIJ contacted Olugbenga Ige, AAUA vice chancellor, he said what the students did in November could not have occurred in any other institution and the fine was to repair AAUA’s image.

“This is a collective heritage in the university. Nowadays, funds are not available to put up infrastructure,” he told FIJ. “They went ahead, destroyed the Senate building, CBT centers, the security post and vehicles of members of staff and visitors with axes and cutlasses.

“A committee was set up, and they have quantified and said the students must pay for what they have destroyed. Apart from that, it is to serve as a kind of deterrent.”

READ ALSO: EXPOSED: AAUA’s Students’ Union Leaders ‘Embezzle’ N1.2m

Ige said few students perpetrated the act, but due to the inability of the management to determine innocent students, the hefty fine was handed to every student.

He said, “They are students. You cannot determine those that carried out the vandalism, but those that could be identified are also being tried. But as students, that is the normal way, and that is the way it is done all over the country”.

Asked if the over N420 million expected from the fines tallied with the cost of damage done to the institution’s properties, Ige said the damage done to the institution’s reputation was not quantifiable.

“The damage done to the reputation of the university, can that be quantified?” he asked. “Reparation is not only for what you have damaged, there are other things that are involved.”

Ige, however, refused to confirm the finality of the decision.

Ogunsanmi Kolade, President of the AAUA Student Union Government (SUG), told FIJ that the union would be meeting with the management to discuss the fine.

Meanwhile the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ondo axis, headed by Omotoso Surprise, has urged the students to remain calm as it seeks dialogue with the management.