By Kenneth Ehigiator
AUTHORITIES of Anambra State University have increased fees payable by students by about 150 percent as part of measures to shore up the institution’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.

The university reopened recently after a six-month of strike action embarked upon by the university’s Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and other unions in the institution over improved welfare package and adequate funding of the institution.

Addressing reporters at the Uli campus of the university, the new acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fidelis Okafor said that the new fees were fixed at a meeting attended by the stakeholders, including the management and officials of the Students Union Government, SUG.

Details show that old students are  now to pay N84,000 per session, while fresh students, who are pursuing non professional courses are to pay N108,000. Fresh students studying professional courses are to pay N128,000. Before the strike, fees paid by the students ranged from N30,000–N35,000 for all courses.

According to the Vice Chancellor, the fees cover such items as student’s identity card, academic regulation, x–ray for incoming students, medical laboratory, students’ union fees, among others, adding that members of SUG saw  need for the increase.

He said: “The school cannot provide all the needs without increasing school fees. The agreement signed with the unions stipulates that we should increase our IGR and that is why we increased the fees.

“In doing that however, we took into consideration its effects on the parents and we believe that the reasonable not such that could have negative effect on the parents.”

He said that efforts were also being made to improve the staff structure, adding that while deserving academic staff would be promoted, new ones would be hired from outside.

He explained that with the lifting of the ban on the admission of new students in some state –owned universities for the 2011/2012 academic session, the university was striving to conclude the present academic session by October this year, noting that the staff have agreed to make the necessary sacrifices to ensure that the lost time were recovered without lowering standards.