The Niger State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of turning the state-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, to a money spinning venture.
Frowning at the recent hike in school fees in a press statement signed by the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Suleiman Ahmed Aliyu, and made available to newsmen in Minna, it said everything that the party touches gets out of the reach of poor people in the society.
The party argued that the university was established under the PDP administration of late former governor, Abdulkadir A. Kure, to meet the educational needs of the less privileged in the state.
The party insisted that rather than maintaining the purpose of its establishment, the APC in the state has turned it into a money making machine and beyond the reach of the poor.
According to the party, “The PDP through former governor Abdulkadir A. Kure and his visionary team saw the need to have a University that will cater for the educational needs of the poor Nigerlites and then established IBBUL, but under APC it is now a money milling machine just like everything the APC touched, from top to bottom it gets out of the reach of the poor, from food to fuel all are now not affordable anymore.”
Hence, it called on the management of IBBUL to revert to its former school fees before the recent excessive increase.
The statement further read in part, “as a party, we are calling on the management of the University to be considerate as the spirit behind the establishment of the University is not a business venture but to give education to children of the poor at an affordable rate.”
The state PDP maintained that the fastest and easiest way to get Nigerlites empowered is through quality and affordable education.
It would be recalled that the governing council and management of the institution increased school fees and other charges by 100 percent.
While returning students of Niger state origin are now to pay N67,925 as against N27,500, the new students are expected to pay N129,675 as against N52,500 for the 2020/2021 session.
IBBUL was established in 2005 by Kure.
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