Northern students, under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Groups Student Wing (CNG-SW), yesterday, threatened to shut down the entire region in protest over indiscriminate hike in tuition.
CNG-SW National Coordinator, Emuseh Bokunga, at a press briefing in Abuja, specifically, listed the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, and the Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State as some of the schools leading the pack in tuition hike.
Bokunga said the hike was a calculated attempt to continuously weaken the region educationally and pauperise it economically.
He warned that if not reviewed, so many students would drop out and they would be forced to take part in criminality.
“As is the tradition of the CNG, we took time to understudy the situation and assess the inherent dangers the hike in tuition would pose to Nigerians and, especially, to the northern region which has been abandoned to the mercy of rampaging banditry and insurgency. We are convinced, therefore, that this hike and other potentially damaging policies are part of a calculated design to continuously weaken the North educationally and pauperise it economically.”
He called on northern elite to weigh in to the matter and remedy the situation before it gets out of hand.
“Finally, we place the Federal Government on notice that if after this decent plea and persuasion, it fails to see reason, we shall take concrete actions which will not preclude mobilising for massive and sustained region wide protests.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we emphatically place on record that any such protest would be total, and shall involve the indefinite shutdown of all campuses, and occupation of major highways and state capitals across the North,” he said.
