By: William Olaleye
The Students’ Union Executives alongside hall chairs, faculty and departmental heads, met on Thursday, May 1st 2025 at the SRC Chambers for a town hall meeting.
The town hall meeting was called to deliberate on certain issues affecting the student populace of the University of Ibadan.
Among those in attendance were members of the Students’ Union Executive Council, faculty and departmental presidents and their vices as well as hall chairpersons.
The meeting was presided over by the Student Union President, Covenant Odedele, the Vice President, Owadayo, the General Secretary and the Speaker of the University of Ibadan Student Representative Council.
The converged leadership discussed various issues affecting the student populace, including the indiscriminate fee increment across levels and faculties, the change in CGPA and what it portends for fresh students of the University and Direct Entry Students, as well as the poor performance of a large number of UI students in the 2023/24 academic session.
On the issue of school fees increment, representatives from different Faculties raised valid concerns about the duplicity of fees across levels, the haze surrounding the fee breakdown as well as the heightened panic due to the fee increment.
The President of the Faculty of Arts, Abiola Samuel, stated that the 200-Level students in his Faculty were the worst hit by the fee increase.
“The most affected level in my Faculty is 200-Level. There’s around #6,000 increase and a #3,000 increase for Freshers.”
He said.Supporting his claim, an accompanying executive from the Faculty of Arts reported that they had consulted the Dean of the Faculty of Arts regarding the increment however the Dean claimed he knew nothing about it.
“Our Dean said he didn’t know anything about it.” He said.
Many presidents sought justification for some items on the fee breakdown.
Students from the Faculty of Education had to pay Lab fees as well as studio fees, while Finalists were charged for GES exams they were not required to sit for.
Representatives.across faculties also some reported that DE students pay a much greater fee than their counterparts in the same level.
The President, responding to these concerns ordered that fee payment across constituencies be halted pending when a resolution can be reached.
“We are trying to gather evidence that people are paying two different fees [at the same level]. For now, we should tell our constituency members to still pause on the [payment] of school fees.” He said.
Speaking further and after intense deliberation with the presidents and other heads, he concluded that a survey be conducted to determine the extent of the increment.
Faculty heads were instructed to turn in their findings on Monday, based on which a Congress would be held.
Furthermore, he promised to move to get the deadline pushed back to allow ample time for all students to pay their fees and to get the management to reduce the fees.
Another issue addressed by the gathering was the migration from the previous 4.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average System (CGPA) to 5.0 and how it has affected Fresh students and their DE counterparts.
Raising concern, Irorun, a resident of Awolowo Hall, drew attention to how low the results were, attributing it to the struggle that students had to go through to obtain their fees.
“School fee increase impacted students results. What will happen this session now that new courses have been added?” She asked.
A representative from the Faculty of Social Sciences reported that there was a complete change in the courses Fresh students had to take.
Some representatives questioned why they had to wait long weeks before lectures began and still finish within the stipulated 11 weeks for lectures.
The President assured the gathering that he would look into these issues and address them in the weeks to come.
The Vice President, Owadayo Olabisi stated.that GES text book receipts would not be a prerequisite to write GES exams.
“We confirmed from CGS that receipt for textbooks will not be a criteria for GES exams.” She stated.
She further promised that they would look into the various course changes brought about by the change in CGPA system and make it known to the student populace.
He also admonished the leaders to engage with their respective Dean’s and members of the management close to them, adding that they could engage Freshmen and help them where necessary.
The meeting concluded at some minutes past 5. The leaders are to report back to the UI’SU with their findings on Monday, after which a Congress of students will be called.
