Ogwashi-Uku Poly students seek refund of N5, 500 JAMB fee

Aggrieved students of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, in the early of hours yesterday embarked on a demonstration, asking the management of the institution to refund the N5, 500 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) regularization fee to them.

The students were alleged to have locked the entrance and exit gates of the institution as part of measures to press home their demand, but other sources hinted that it was the management of the polytechnic that directed the security men to lock the students out in order to forestall any break down of law and order.

Some of the students who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed to our reporter in Ogwashi-Uku that the money was paid to the management of the institution for the regularization of their JAMB number some time last year.

“But recently, they came out with a new directive that JAMB has directed that the fee is no longer N5, 500, but N12, 000. They even said we are to go to the JAMB Office or any other accredited JAMB centre for the regularization of the new payment, contrary to what it was before”.

“What we are demanding is that they should first of all give us the N5, 500 which we paid to them, rather than asking us to go and pay additional N12, 000 when the initial N5, 500 we paid has not been refunded”, said one of the sources.

When our reporter visited the school, the gates were still under lock and key with most of the students outside the gate in protest; while efforts to speak to the President of the student union did not yield result as sources said he was with the management of the institution in an effort to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Efforts to reach him on his cell phone did not yield result either as several calls put through to his number indicated that it was not available.

When contacted, the Dean of Student Affairs of the Polytechnic, Mr, Frank Ikeji, said that while it was true that the students had initially paid the sum of N5, 500 for the regularization of their JAMB number, the money was paid to the management of JAMB and not to the school purse.

“Now, JAMB has said that the money was no longer N5, 500 but N12, 000. We had gone to JAMB to ask for the refund of the said amount the students initially paid, but JAMB said the money was paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and that the process of re-withdrawing money paid into the account takes some time”.