Jigawa: Students take refuge inside mosque after polytechnic hikes hostel fee
Students of Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse have reportedly resorted to sleeping in mosque after the school’s authorities increased their hostel fee.
The students have reportedly pleaded with the institution’s authorities to consider a reduction in the fee, which was increased from N3,000 to N5,000, to no avail.
Speaking with newsmen on the development in Dutse on Friday, Malam Yusufel Idris said the students have been left stranded with little or no option.
Another student, Malam Kabiru Musa, said that the school’s mosque has become the only option for those who can’t afford the new fee. Other students have begun sleeping outside the campus.
“This is the naked truth I am telling you,” he said.
The school’s Director of Administration and Academic Planning, Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim, has however defended the hike in hostel fee as necessary for general renovations. He denied that the school was aware that some of its students were sleeping in the mosque.
Ibrahim, on behalf of the Rector Prof. Garba Goje, said that the surge in costs of building and other materials in the market has led to the increase.
“We don’t have any option than to increase our fees to solve the problems,” he said.
