SAD TALE OF UNDERGRADUATE WHO HAD TO RIDE OKADA TO RAISE HIS SCHOOL FEES YET HE GOT DISMISSED FOR LATE PAYMENT

Contending with poverty, Adegboye Oluwadare Adebare, 24, an indigene of Modakeke, Ife-East Local Government Area of Osun State, rides an Okada (commercial motorbike) to make a living. He also hopes to pay his way through the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State.

He is supposed to be in part three in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, but he is currently battling for reinstatement, having fallen a year behind be­cause he could not pay his fees on time at the 200 level. He told Daily Sun that he asked for withdrawal for a semester, because he could not pay the school fees.

Unfortunately, he has not only lost a whole session, but has now been asked by the school authority to withdraw for failing to pay school fees for that session. In the letter by the school’s Faculty Officer, Humanities and Social Sciences, the school said his inability to complete the 200 level and his failure to pay up the school fees, violated the school’s regula­tions and therefore nullified his studentship:

Adebare contended that he did not miss a whole session of his second year: He said

“I was offered admission to read Theatre and Media Arts by FUOYE during the 2010/2013 academic session. In 2014, I had difficulties paying my school fees for the 200 level ses­sion on time. I decided to ask for a temporary withdrawal from the school for the second semester of the session to enable me travel to Lagos and hustle for the fees. I submitted the letter to the school authority but was later told that the time I wrote the letter was late.
“Thereafter, I rushed to Lagos to hustle for money by riding the commercial motor­bike and eventually gathered the money. I promptly paid the school fees for that session into the school’s account in a bank in Lagos. The money was acknowledged by the school account’s unit and a receipt was issued to me online. So I thought that I would just have to resume for the new session and restart the 200 Level while my colleagues with whom I was admitted into the school resumed into the 300 Level.

“But just recently, I got a letter advising me to withdraw from the school for failing to show up for academic work and pay school fees for a whole session of the 200 Level. I promptly appealed to the school authorities, clarifying that I had only missed a semester in the 200 Level and not a session. I had attended lectures and sat for exams during the first semester of the said session.

“I also explained that according to the school regulations, a copy of which I have, I can only be asked to withdraw if I had missed a whole session. I added that prior to missing the second semester of the said session, I had written a letter to the authority, appealing for a deferment of the semester to enable me raise funds through self help for my school fees.
“I reminded the school authorities that I actually paid for the said session later and that my payment was even acknowledged by the school, only that my student portal later was shut. I pleaded with the school authorities to temper justice with mercy by reinstating me, considering my pitiable condition of lack of financial support from anyone. Up till the time I am talking to you, I haven’t got a reply to the letter of appeal from the school. And I have followed up the letter and even got to know  it. that the registrar and the Vice-chancellor have

“I am just appealing to the school authori­ties, relevant bodies and particularly, Mr. Presi­dent, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who graciously gave us this university, to kindly reinstate me. All I want is to get a degree that would enable me face the future more decisively. I don’t want to lose the opportunity to get a tertiary education. I really desire to be somebody in life.

The fact that my humble parents could not afford the tertiary education for me has not dis­couraged me from struggling to get it on self-sponsorship. This admission is my only hope for this dream. I am begging that it should not be withdrawn from me.”

Dean of the school’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Rasaki-Ojo Bakare, told Daily Sun:

“Where the ex-student missed it is that he didn’t apply for the defer­ment on time so that the Senate would give him a permission to be absent for the said ses­sion. It’s only when he gets permission from the Senate that he can go ahead and leave the school for a whole session. I know him, I am his Head of Department. He didn’t show up in the department for a whole session of 2013/2014, but he found his way to sit for the second semester exams somehow.

“He didn’t register and didn’t pay the school fees even till the late registration elapsed. He only paid it when a new session was about to start and that cannot work. The school authorities found out that he violated the school regulations by staying away without permission for a whole session. They wrote to him, advising him to withdraw because he has deliberately withdrawn himself from the school by his action.

“Appeal in this case cannot even work because he has already logged out of the school system. I advise him to go and re-take the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), examinations and start afresh in another university.”