By TEMIBI SAMUEL, Lokoja

The management of Federal University of Lokoja (Fulokoja) has described the report making the rounds of school fees hike as fake and misleading.

In a statement from the office of the vice chancellor, the school management said there was no plan whatsoever to increase school charges contrary to what is being peddled by purveyors of fake news.

According to the statement issued on Tuesday in Lokoja, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Akinwumi Olayemi, has no plan to increase the school fees at a time the country is facing economic challenges.

“The Vice-Chancellor has not contemplated increasing school charges, not any time too soon. He understands very well the plight of his students and the prevailing economic predicament in the country. He therefore urges the students, parents/guardians and the general public to disregard this falsehood as there was neither a protest nor any being anticipated in FUL. It is also unfortunate that the publisher of the said negative reports never deemed it fit to publish any of the numerous achievements of the current Administration including the proposed establishment of the College of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering, the recent Webometrics Ranking that placed the eleven years old University 35th among the first 100 Universities in Nigeria and 3rd among the 12 newly established Federal Universities,” the statement said.

It alleged that the rumoured fee increase was “meant to incite the people against the new Vice-Chancellor whose emergence has brought development to the institution.”

“In the purported publication of Monday, 30th August, 2021, the blogger attempted to incite the students and the general public against the person and goodwill of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi whose leadership in the last few months has been highly applauded by all well-meaning Kogites, describing him as a long-awaited blessing to the University. His all-inclusive leadership style, student friendliness is incontestable. It is important to note that within the last 7 months of this Administration, the University has witnessed a quantum leap in its development and has been ranked 35th out of the first 100 Universities in Nigeria by Webometrics Ranking report of July, 2021.

“Finally, the University urges the general public to disregard the purported publication and take advantage of all the new programmes being introduced by the current Administration. Thenigerianpost.com.ngis hereby urged to always crosscheck facts before publication to avoid misleading the general public,” the statement further said.