By Eseoghene Emuke
Parents and pupils of NNPC Leadership Academy, Warri, Delta State, have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, to urgently intervene in school fees increment.
NNPC Leadership Academy is owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
They lamented that the hike was arbitrarily done by 200 per cent without any prior notice to Parents Teachers Assocaition (PTA).
A representative of the parents, Mr. Patrick Edema, who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday in Warri, charged the Federal Government to save the school from an impending crisis over the increment.
Edema disclosed that the hike was done two days to the resumption of second term.
He described the sudden increment in the face of the current economic hardship in the country as grossly insensitive and appealed for a review in the interest of the parents.
They stated that increasing the fee at the middle of the term will further deepen the financial burden of parents who had borrowed money to pay the school fee of their wards for the entire session.
They, however, commended the management of NNPC for subsidizing the school fee in the years.
According to Edema, “Whereas the school’s management has the right to review the fees of the Academy it should be done at the beginning of a new session with sufficient notice to parents as against the sudden increment where parents were only notified via an sms two days to resumption of the second term.
“We therefore call on President Buhari and Dr. Kachikwu to prevail on the management of NNPC to maintain the status quo since over ninety percent of pupils of the school are children of host communities.”
He, however, noted that refusal to review the decision may lead to mass exodus of pupils from the school which may lead to complete closure of the school which has brought succor indigenes of host communities.
