Following the hike in tuition fees for students at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, protests have erupted.

Expressing their disapproval, students are lamenting the devastating consequences of tuition fee increases.

They claim the hike has pushed many into financial difficulty, forcing students to resort to prostitution and rituals for survival.

The protest also mentioned the delays in the deployment of Higher National Diploma (HND) students for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

In a video, a student said, “The school authorities should bring down the increment to a reasonable amount. We have parents that have more than three children in MAPOLY. How will they cope? Now because of the increment, many of our students have been engaging in prostitution and rituals. And it is all over the internet.

“As at Monday, a MAPOLY student ran mad all because she was striving to secure her tuition fee.

“Not only the particular person I'm referring to, but a whole lot of students have been engaging in prostitution. You can see them at Iwe-Iroyin, Miami, and every other strategic place where they position themselves. It is a slap on us all in the state.”

Another student said, “We have engaged Dr (Babatunde) Jolaoso (MAPOLY Rector) for over three weeks, pleading with him to please reduce at least the tuition fee for the students so that we will be able to have students who will afford it. Even at the former fee of N63,000, we were still finding it difficult to pay.

“If you check the streets of Abeokuta, you will see most students are involved in illegal jobs or businesses.

“We have tried our best, we have involved dignitaries, security personnel and virtually everybody and we have honoured virtually everybody but it is quite unfortunate that all our efforts have been met with resistance from the management. And this is what has led to the outburst of MAPOLY students.”

The protest led to the management of the school, closing down the campus until further notice. In a statement, Public Relations Officer Yemi Ajibola said, “The management expressed its zero tolerance to fake results from any quarters.

“Consequent upon this, students have been advised to stay away from the campus in their own interests, as parents and the general public are assured of timely updates as events unfold.”