LASU students shut down Lagos over school fees
The students, who blocked the popular Lagos-Abeokuta expressway and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport road, chanted various songs against the state governor, Babatunde Fashola and his government. They also promised to continue to hold public protests until their demands are met.
The President of the Lagos State University Students Union (LASUSU), Mr Nurudeen Yusuf, called on Fashola to direct the closure of the institution’s payment and registration portal until the government reduced the tuition fees.
“We hereby appeal that the payment and registration portal be closed till the government makes pronouncement on LASU fees as proposed by the students union. This is to ward off unforeseen eventualities that may arise in the nearest future,” he said.
Yusuf said the deadline by the management for students to pay their fees and register courses for the 2013/2014 academic session before May 30 has lapsed.
He said students were bent on their “no reduction, no resumption” policy and that discussions on how much the students would pay were still ongoing.
Fashola, at a meeting with LASUSU on March 31, directed the students to come up with a proposal on how much they could afford.
The students decided that the fee should be reduced to N46, 500 for returning students and N65, 500 for fresh students.
The proposal by the students was submitted on April 24, while several reminders were sent to the governor on the issue.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, at a media briefing on May 8, said the government would soon make a pronouncement on fees.
Yusuf said the students were not satisfied with the government’s statement since “the word ‘soon’ does not indicate a definite time”.
“If a 50-year- old can die and we say gone too soon, hence, anytime can be soon,” he said.
Yusuf said that sequel to several peaceful protests by the students, the State Exco Ad-hoc Committee met with the union on the review of LASU tuition on May 27.
He said the Committee, chaired by Mr Kayode Opeifa, the Commissioner for Transport, had decided that quality education could not be achieved based on the students’ proposal.
Opeifa said the tuition of N46, 500 would make LASU a university for the poor and all comers. Some students of the school pay up to N350,000 now.
“The committee said the state government is subsidising education in LASU by 90 per cent and government is only responsible for free education up to secondary level,” he said.
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