By Kenechukwu Ofomah, Awka
The Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, COOU, Igbariam has debunked the allegations making the rounds that students of the university were being forced to pay a mandatory N15,000 as ‘app fee’.
Posts on X, formerly Twitter, reposted also by credible sources have alleged the university management had introduced an app and is forcing students to pay for it, failure of which attracts an additional fee as penalty.
The post of X formerly Twitter read, “We have been receiving constant negative reports from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra state, on https://campusintegrity.ng of the Vice Chancellor introducing an app and forcing every student to pay N15,000 for it.
“To make matters worse, a deadline was attached to the payment, and any student unable to pay before the deadline is expected to pay ₦35,000 instead.
“An app that students don’t understand the purpose.”
But, when our correspondent reached to the university’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Harrison Madubueze with the accusation, he made it clear that there was no such fee as ‘app fee’ introduced by the university management.
According to him, what the students are paying is ‘ICT levy.’
Explaining further, Dr Madubueze said the levy was the outcome of an organizational review the university management embarked upon assumption of office in 2023, which threw up the institution as an ‘analog institution.’
He further explained that the levy was the collective decision of the university management and the student leaders in the institution, who agreed that there was a need to digitize processes within the university, to align with the demands of 21st-century education demands.
“There is no truth in what is peddled that our students were being forced to pay N15,000 ‘app fee’. However, the students are paying what is known as ICT levy.
“On assumption of office in 2023, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Kate Omenugha inherited what was adjudged to be an analog university where almost everything was done manually. Because of the manual process, corruption thrived due to human-to-human interactions, where students are asked to part with some money at every point while doing clearance or processing transcripts.
“We then set up an organizational review to rejig the process and mechanisms and set the vehicle in motion to transform the university. To change the situation, the institution commenced a lot of processes to transform the university to digital.
“We discovered the need to create an ICT policy that will aggregate everything we do into a digital platform, including a collection of transcripts and certificates, doing clearance after graduation, prompt uploading of results, admission processes and many other activities in the system.
“But management did not decide this alone. It decided to carry the students along, and a meeting was scheduled between the management and the student leaders, including the Student Union Government, SUG, the faculty and departmental leaders, where a lot of issues came up. The students complained of how the manual system was affecting them negatively. It was at that meeting that the N15,000 would have to be paid to commence the digitization process immediately.
“The ICT levy was therefore a decision between the university management and the student leaders to commence in this year’s academic session,” he said.
The COOU spokesperson observed that since the digitization journey began, a lot has changed in the system, with the students and staff better off.
The process, he noted, included onboarding of the teaching staff and other staff in the ICT drive, which has ensured that there is a comprehensive digital growth within the system.
“As we speak, we are preparing for an SUG election, that will for the first time in history, be digitally conducted.
“If you check the University website today, you will see a significant change. There is also tremendous change in the way results are being released and uploaded.
“As we speak, the university is archiving over 55,000 certificates and transcripts, which will launch us into full automation, such that anyone who needs transcripts and certificates does not need to visit the university in person.
“We know what it costs to put up a digital infrastructure today, it is not cheap. And that is why we are doing what we are doing,” he said.
Regretting that students may push a wrong narrative about the levy, to justify the purpose of collecting money from their parents, Madubueze acknowledged that some people branded the levy ‘app fee’ because at the time, the university was also helping to build an app called the student’s life cycle.
This app, he noted, is where the student’s transcript and certificate will be processed upon graduation, adding that the app is just a part of the digitization process.
Describing the allegations of a mandatory app fee for students as misleading, the PRO revealed that the payment is just a one-off payment, which lasts till the student leaves the institution.
“Other universities around us are paying about N20,000 and above.
“People who think that university governance is a tea party should have a rethink. There is also the need for our people to investigate information they are sharing on social media, and not just share them because they appeal to their sentiments.
“The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Omenugha, is very busy with her agenda to deliver a world-class university and will not be distracted by this kind of falsehood, which has no iota of truth in it.
“I believe instead of peddling such lies, these individuals should be commending the Vice Chancellor for the transformation she is bringing to the university,” Madubueze concluded.
