SAVE US THIS BURDEN AND ANGER.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PROF. BARTHO OKOLO (VC, UNN)

Dear Sir,

Good day and hope my letter finds you well? It has been a long time since I last wrote a letter but I have currently found myself in a situation that I can not help it but write to inform you of my predicaments as regards paying my school fees.

For the records, I am an average student just like many of your students with no scholarship and depend solely on my middle-class parents for my welfare. We all had high hopes that as I climb the levels in my academic pursuit that my school fees will keep decreasing till I graduate but this has come to be the opposite.

It was not without surprise that I saw the recently released payment schedule for the 2012/2013 academic session and with awe, I looked critically to understand it. One glaring fact was that the sum of N12,000 termed internet access helped other slight adjustments to increase the fees. Sir, I do not want to talk about other fees like ICT and Visual Lib Access that appear to be two sides of the same coin or the ID card fee (which we have paid for 4years now without getting any) because I do not have much information on them but will like to dwell on the internet access fee (N12,000) which I have much information on.

Asking all students to pay N12,000 for internet access is like the Federal Government asking all Nigerians to get vehicle plate number when most Nigerians can not afford cars, some use motorcycles and others go on foot. The internet access project is a welcomed development but a flat charge should not be forced down the throat of every student especially when they do not surf the internet at the same rate and do not all have access to it.

Some students do not have computers, some live in school hostels (e.g. Imoke, parts of Ojike Mbonu hostels) that are not covered by the internet service and also attend lectures in places not covered by the service and since living in the school hostels is not made compulsory by the school, some students live off-camp and yet, all these groups of students are expected to compulsorily pay for internet access that is outside their reach.

Some students surf the internet daily, some, once a week, and others, rarely and yet all are expected to pay the same internet access fee. This is a bit analogous to pay-per-minute that was inherent in the telecommunication sector at inception which was broken by GLO Network when it introduced pay-per-sec that allowed customers to pay for exact seconds they made. Sir, pay-as-you-browse is the best option if we must be made to pay.

In conclusion, I plead that the internet access fee be reviewed to pay-as-you-browse and login access given to those that pay (through ATM cards online, bank deposit etc) for the service. This procedure will allow those who surf the internet more to pay more than those who surf less and at the same time help improve the services and pricing of the internet access project since they must do so to remain the students’ choice.
Let everyman be treated with dignity as we strive to restore the dignity of man.

Yours faithfully,
Concerned Student,
University of Nigeria.
email: nwikekosite@gmail.com

View the full school fees breakdown at http://www.unn.edu.ng/sites/unn.edu.ng/files/images/UNN%20Undergraduate%20for%20Cosolidated%20Services.pdf

Please moderator, help this to the front page, we need help from all Nigerians to stop this injustice and possible breakdown of law and order again in University of Nigeria. I no wan add extra yearoooo

I thought it was a free internet access i saw in UNN. Why are you guys asked to pay in UNEC? I dont understand.

Anyone can connect &browse with it because they don't have plans of giving personalized password to each student. Pls check the attached document for the fees breakdown and it also covers Nsukka campus.

Has d VC gotten dis message now?

PER-FECT:
Has d VC gotten dis message now?

I don't think so and that's why it is here and in other places so his friends/associates/someone will call his attention to it.

This is really bad. I call it extortion.

@Odunnu pls see what you can do

Hahahahaha, what I can do? Suggest to me please what you think I can and should do

this actually calls for a demonstration,but not of the kind of a few years back definitely... we all have to pool our minds to seek the best way to resolve this issue... surely posteriry wouldnt forgive us if we just sit down,fold our hands and allow this form of in-your-face,you-cant-do-anything-about-it extortion

Odunnu: Hahahahaha, what I can do? Suggest to me please what you think I can and should do

You are the Nairaland Minister for Education. You've got the power

Whats the noise for?

In most other top schools, this is how it is.

Each mat. No. Is entitled to one or two hours per day.

So u see why UNN cannot be among the top 20 in ICTechnology. . . . . . .

Obinoscopy:

You are the Nairaland Minister for Education. You've got the power

My power ends here, too bad I cant do nada.

Odunnu:
My power ends here, too bad I cant do nada.

Knowledge is power. By recommending this thread for frontpage you've armed Nigerians with a very strong weapon: Knowledge. So if you think your powers end here, think again

Anyways I think its late cos there is presently a similar thread on the frontpage.

Regards