EDUCATION- The recent hike in the goods and servive in student community in Ondo State has continued to receive condemnation across various quarters.
The latest being from the National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS) and Joint Campus Council (JCC) chairman, Comr Akinola Elijah T and PRO Comr Okeniyi Elijah O. which frowned at what it called ‘nhumane and completely unacceptable’ in a statement made available to Itrybe.com addressed to the state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
The association said, “the attention of the leadership of NANS JCC, Ondo axis has been drawn to the continuous hike and deliberate inflation in the prices of goods and services within the student’s communities within Ondo State.
“It is no more news that few weeks ago, the entire country was thrown into a huge disarray following the anti-masses cash policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, with regards to the acceptance of the Old Naira notes as legal tenders despite the Supreme Court ruling declaring our old 200,500 and 1,000 Naira notes as legal tenders till December, 31st 2023.
“It is worrisome yet disturbing that despite the Supreme Court judgement, a lot of economic and socio activities have drastically changed, thereby forcing many small scale business owned by predominantly the students and youth to run out of business because of the prices of products and services within students’ environments, leaving the students with no option than to patronize those who have deliberately inflated the prices of goods and services by a hundred percent.
“Info at our disposal from a 300-level student of Adekunle Ajashin University Akungba-Akoko reveals that when students eat at some restaurants within the student’s community, they are stylishly been extorted for paying through either mobile transfer or via POS.
“One of the price hike issues that also needs to be addressed is the transport fare on campus. For example, the FUTA Campus Shuttle transport fare spiked double (from #50 to #100) with the excuse of Fuel & Naira Scarcity. Now that both issues are no longer threats, the transport drivers are yet to drop the prices back to normal.
“An ND-1 student of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, RUGIPO, who also lodged his complaint to the apex student’s governing body in the state expressed disappointment at the refusal of a shoe repairer to give him his amended sandal until an #100 extra charges was paid even after the student already sent the agreed amount for service rendered.
“It has been further been discovered that the unavailability of the naira in circulation has made many business owners and vendors to add extra charges to their normal prices of goods and services despite the Supreme Court judgement, an act we consider as extortion, and will be vehemently resisted.
“It is quite sardonic that a cold bottle of drink which normally is been sold for #200 has been inflated to #250 by cash and #300 via mobile transfer or POS.
“These are the agonies of Nigerian students’ populace across the different tertiary institutions in Ondo state.
“We are calling on the Executive Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu. SAN, to kindly come to our aid as a lover of Nigerian Students even as we shall consider consulting the Ondo State chamber of Commerce, Industry and Cooperative Services because we expect them to serve as checks and balances against stylish and deliberate extortion.
“Finally as a peace loving yet radically inclined students organization, we are willingly willing and ready to sanitize the entire Ondo State Students’ community and its inhabitants, either students or non students, basically to curb this awful, inhumane, calculated and deliberate inimical attitude in the best possible way.
“It is extremely important and morally right for food vendors, fish sellers, meat sellers, POS agents, snack-sellers, pepper sellers, shawarma vendors, among others to ensure they get their prices back to the normal status-quo and be considerate on buyers.
