Akinsola Ayomide
On April 3, the Council of Faculty Presidents(COFP), UI, reached out to the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) with a formal request to raise faculty dues from ₦3,000 to ₦5,000. The communication, jointly signed by COFP Chairman Abiola Samuel and Secretary Oyebanji Israel, expressed concern over the rising cost of running faculty activities and maintaining standards students have come to expect.
According to the council, the current dues barely stretch enough to cover essential programmes such as Freshers’ Week, faculty dinners, academic and sporting events, and materials like sessional notebooks. “A single decent notebook now costs up to ₦1,600,” the COFP noted, suggesting that what used to work financially in the past no longer holds up in today’s economy.
Just days earlier, on March 30, the Council of Hall Chairpersons (COHC) also made a similar move — proposing the same ₦2,000 increment in hall dues. If both proposals are approved, students will be paying ₦4,000 more than they did last session — a jump from ₦6,000 (₦3,000 each for hall and faculty) to ₦10,000 total. The SRC is yet to respond officially but is expected to meet with both councils soon to discuss the proposals and possible alternatives.
