FUPRE Students, Parents appeal for Establishment of Banks on Campus

• Says other Federal Universities have banks on their campuses.

 Students of Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE) and their parents are appealing to the management of the institution, under the leadership of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, as a matter of urgency to liaise with Nigerian Banks to establish their branches on the campus.

The appeal is coming on the heels of the pains and frustration being experienced by the students over the biting effects of naira crunch and the ripple effect of paying to get money from the Point of Sales (POS) agents on campus.

Some of the students and parents who lend their voices, however, spoke on condition of anonymity during the recent matriculation ceremony held in the school.

According to the students “all transactions that we make on campus are through the POS operators and it comes with heavy charges that are draining our money sent to us by our parents on campus. We will be happy to see the establishment of different banks on campus like other universities.”

“Some days ago, I went to a PoS operator to get some money to buy foodstuff. I was charged N1, 000 for the N5, 000 I withdrew,” a student said.

Some parents who graced the recent matriculation ceremony also spoke on condition of anonymity, stressing that the challenge is not even about not having money now, but the inability of the students who have money in their bank accounts but cannot access the money they have in their bank accounts because there are no banks on campus.
“Many students can no longer pay for food and other basic services as money sent to them is trapped in banks. Students have to resort to PoS operators around the campus to get money for basic needs. These POS operators charge exorbitant rates. We are appealing to the management of FUPRE to liaise with banks to establish their branches on campus in order to ameliorate the suffering of the students for them to get the money sent to them via banks and save some money that could have gone to POS exorbitant rates,” they added.

Gentechnews gathered that Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE) in Delta State, Nigeria was established and approved during the Federal Executive Council meeting of 14 March 2007 and admitted its first set of undergraduates in 2008.

The university was established under the Federal Government of Nigeria initiative, to build a specialized university in the Niger Delta to produce middle and higher level manpower and expertise for the oil and gas sector.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) approved sharing of facilities between the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun and Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun until it moved to its permanent site on development of its main campus at Ugbomro, Uvwie Local Government Area Delta State, in 2010.FUPRE, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun is the first petroleum university in Africa and sixth in the world.

The University has received many recognitions. Some of them include:

NUGA Games 2011 Best University in the game of Chess;

Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Best Engineering Department Award in 2015;

SPE Young Member Outstanding Services Award, Africa Regional, August, 2016;

SPE International Young Member Outstanding Services Award, 2017;

5th Best Petroleum University in the world,2016;

Most Fuel Efficient Urban Concept Gasoline Vehicle Prize at the 2nd Africa Shell Eco-marathon Competition, 2015;

Most Innovative Design Award Vehicle Prize at the 2nd Africa Shell Eco-marathon Competition 2015.

Investigation has also shown that a Federal University, like University of Benin in Benin City, Edo State have banks such as Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, UBA, Unity Bank, First Bank on their campuses. Other universities also have banks on campus and so FUPRE cannot be left behind.

Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun Students and their parents are therefore appealing to the management of their great institution as a matter of urgency to liaise with banks to establish their branches on campus to enable the students make easy transactions, pay school fees and levies, among others.