The Management of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta, has reviewed down the tuition paid by the students, following the intervention of the National Association on Nigerian Students (NANS).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tuition was increased by about 130 per cent, leading to a face-off between the students and the management.
The fee was however reviewed down, following the meeting between the management of the institute and the leadership of NANS in Effurun on Wednesday.
The Principal of the institute, Mr. Sunny Iyuke and NANS President, Chinonso Obasi, led the two parties during the meeting that lasted for hours.
Iyuke said after the deliberation that the institution had decided to reduce the fee but pointed out that it needed to increase it because it was underfunded.
The principal said that the management needed to execute projects in the institution but had very lean resources.
“The school fee was increased because the costs of things have also risen. Four years ago, we were paying N14,000 as school fee but things have changed now.
“We want to provide quality education for our students and we also need funding to be able to justify the purpose for which PTI was established.
“Everything we are doing at this moment in the institution is on loan,” he said.
Obasi said that before the increase, students of General Welding paid N51,000 as tuition; National Diploma (ND) 1 students paid N42,000 while Higher National Diploma (HND) 1 students paid N43,000.
The NASN’s president said that the management raised the tuition to N115,800 for the General Welding students, N99,800 for the ND 1 students and N103,800 for the HND 1 students.
He said after the dialogue, the management agreed to shift ground and reduced the fees to N81,600, N67,200 and N68,800 for General Welding, ND 1 and HND 1 students respectively.
“We had given the PTI a 24-hours ultimatum to unconditionally reverse the tuition and the management quickly invited us for a dialogue.
“We have been able to bring the increment down from about 130 per cent to 60 per cent.
“It is a pity that a national asset like this has been experiencing inadequate funding for a long time.
“We have agreed to partner with the management to see how we can generate more funds from internal sources for the institution,” he said.
Obasi appealed to the management to always create an enabling environment for dialogue with students on issues that affect them.
He also advised the students to take their academic work seriously assuring them that the association would continue to promote meaningful negotiation and dialogue on their behalf.
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