NIJ Students' Protest

by: Michael Durojaiye

The protest took the management by surprise but students of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) in Ogba, Lagos, were determined to register their displeasure. They protested what they called “abnormal treatment” meted out to their colleagues by the school authorities.

The protest, which was held in the premises of the institution last Tuesday, followed management’s decision to stop some students from writing their exams because of the damage they caused to the school’s solar panel in March this year.

The school authority had ordered the affected students to pay N66,389 for the damages, adding that failure to follow the directive could cause them to fail the course and get extra year.

The affected students were Emmanuel Bassey, National Diploma (ND) II and Michael Okunnu, Higher National Diploma (HND) 1.

Chairman of the Students’ Representative Council, Matthew Ojebola, described the management’s action as unfair, claiming that it was out of place to treat the students unjustly after paying for maintenance and caution fees.

The examination, which was to commence 10:00a.m was rescheduled for 3:00p.m as the Provost of the Institute, Mrs Elizabeth Ikem, listened to the demands of the students, allowing the affected students access to write the exam.

Source: The Nation.