The federal universities and some state higher institutions resumed after the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) called off their 8-months strike. All schools continued with their educational session and most went straight into writing their examination as they had lost a session during the strike. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) was not left out as most faculties started examinations a few weeks after the strike.
The school proposed that the next session would begin immediately after the examination, that is, the third of December, and the portal for paying school fees would be opened two days later . During the last week of November, a memo of the school's new session's fees was released; and to the dismay of all the students, there was an increase in the price of school fees and hostel allocation, and this time it was about a hundred and one percent increase from the normal price such that the fresh students were to pay over a hundred thousand naira.
Many students complained that it was the price for state universities, not for federal universities. Many insisted that they chose a federal university hoping it would be cheaper as they compared the school fees of the university and noticed that the previous price was higher than most of the school fees paid by other schools.
The Student Union Government advised the students not to pay while they try to talk to the school administration. The academy was insistent on the increase and blamed it on the knowledge that the school had to run most expenses on its own. The payment portal was opened and some first-year students paid mainly due to ignorance. The students argued that it was high and wanted the fees to be reverted to the previous price. Meetings were done but the scholars were not satisfied and agreed on a protest.
The Nsukka Campus and the Enugu Campus proposed the third of December for a protest at both campuses, before then, the protest had been ongoing mainly at night by a few persons and on social media, especially Twitter, with #justice_for_unn_students trending one night. They were persistent and promised to continue the protest till the university authorities did something.
That Saturday, a few minutes before 8 am, the students gathered at specific locations. We were told by our correspondence that those in the Enugu campus gathered at IJ Airport and moved to various hostels around the school to call out their colleagues.
When they had gone around the hostel, they marched towards the gate in unity, chanting "we no go pay shishi." They affirmed that they were students, not fraudsters or ritualists, and wondered why they should be charged that high amount for wanting to learn. The school gate was locked when they got there, some of the students went under the gate till it was opened by an anonymous person and then the angry scholars moved into the streets of Enugu. They marched to NTA Enugu but the gates were not opened to them, they chanted and danced for a while but still, no reporter came out and they left. They moved back to school promising to continue the protest the following Tuesday, due to the popular sit-at-home held in the Eastern part of the country every Monday.
Tuesday came but there was no protest, a JCC (Joint Consultative Forum) meeting was held empowered by the SUG constitution as written in the revised 2016 Constitution. At the meeting, the body resolved that the College's Portal should remain closed till the issues of the hike in price in both their school and hostel fees are settled. The students were prompted to halt payments and the school was advised to call a dialogue with the students to unravel all issues. The school management advised the students to draft their demands and after deliberation from both parties, they agreed to reduce the fees by Friday, December 9th.