Some students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), under the aegis of final years students Thursday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Capital staged a peaceful protest on the closure of the institution’s portal web site by the school authorities, thereby denying them access to pay their school fees.
The students who also alleged that the closure of the university’s portal ways due to the inability of the affected students to pay their school fees before the end of April, 2017 being the dead line for the payment.
Speaking during the protest, the leader of the group, Mr Ifeanyi Princewill, who is also a final year student of Theatre Arts appealed to the management of the institution to rescind its decision and open the portal website to enable them pay their fees.
According to him, if the decision was to not rescinded, it would have a serious negative effect on the affected students, adding that the students would be made to add extra one year in the duration of their various courses of study.
He alleged that, the examination scripts of the affected students have not been marked by their lecturers because of their inability to pay their fees within the stipulated period which terminated in April this year.
The students averred that the policy of no fees, no examination was antiquated and appealed to the Federal Government and various relevant stakeholders in the society to intervene and prevail on the management of the school to have a change of heart.
The students while appealing for the management to understand in their plight, attributed their inability to pay their school fees at the stipulated period of time to the harsh economic conditions currently being experienced in the country.
When contacted on phone the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the university, William Wodi told our correspondent that the institution’s position of April 2016 still subsisted.