Parents and guardians of students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, have lent their support to the university management over the new regime of charges approved by the university senate for the delivery of quality service and training to their children and wards.

They, however, appealed to the authorities of the institution to take steps to re-open the University to save their children and wards from further hardship. The university was closed down on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 because of demonstrations by students ostensibly against the new charges.

The support and appeal of the parents/guardians were contained in a seven-point communiqué issued at the end of a stakeholder’s forum of parents by students and teachers of the university which held recently to find ways of re-opening the institution.
They condemned their children and wards for kicking against the new charges without recourse to their parents/guardians whose responsibility it is to pay the charges.

The parent/guardians considered the behaviour of their children/wards as an act of indiscipline and acknowledged that qualitative education was expensive, requiring resources input from sources other than government and, therefore, supported the new level of student charges.

They also condemned in strong terms the involvement of student in cultism and supported the university’s senate zero-tolerance for cultism and the expulsion of students involved in such anti-social vices.
The parents/guardians, therefore, resolved to counsel their children/wards on the cancerous nature of cultism and agreed to advise them to be law-abiding and God-fearing as a way of life.

The parents/guardians had earlier agreed that the forum be made a regular event in the University’s calendar of activities. They observed that the new charges became inevitable because of high operational costs in the face of dwindling running costs received from the Federal Government just as they acknowledged that the university had hitherto, overstretched itself financially in order to meet the needs of the students including generating its own electricity, producing its potable water and undertaking its waste management.

The parent/guardians warned that the university may be forced to offer sub-standard services if the new charges were not realized and commended the university management for adequately consulting with Student Union Officials to find a mutually acceptable level of charge and the Senate for handling the introduction of the new charges maturely and with utmost consideration of the interest of students.