Students under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Monday have staged a protest over the hike in fees of the Lagos State University (LASU) at Lagos state Government House in Ikeja.
The group of students have stormed the governor’s office chanting songs and carrying placards with various inscription “Education is our Right,’’ Fashola Reduce LASU fees’’ and “What have the poor done wrong?”.
Meanwhile, Security officials manning the governor’s office gate had a hard time controlling the students as they attempted to gain access to the Government House and have a personal discussion over their predicament.
However, after much disruption within the governor’s office premises,Gov. Babatunde Fashola, ordered that the protesters be allowed to come and express their grievances.
Speaking on behalf of the students, Sunday Ashefon, NANS South-West Zone Coordinator, described the increase in LASU fees from N25,000 to N250,000 as prohibitive.
According to him, the increase had taken its toll on the students of the institution as some of them had dropped out because their parents could not afford to pay.
Ashefon described the situation as appalling, saying Nigerian students want a reduction of the “arbitrary fees’’.
“The fees are not just affordable; some of our colleagues have opted out of LASU simply because they cannot pay from N250, 000 to N350, 000 school fees.
“These prohibitively high fees are some of the highest paid by any university in the country. Children of the poor can no more attend LASU and this is sad.
“What Nigerian students want therefore, is nothing but reversal of the fees to the initial N25, 000. APC as a political party promises change, we want that change in LASU too,’’ he said.
Ashefon said the students were also worried about the lingering Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and College of Education Academic Staff Union strike.
He appealed for the governor’s intervention in ending the crises.
Also speaking, Nurudeen Yusuf, LASU Student Union President, noted that the hike in fees in the institution had resulted in many problems in the school.
He said that the hike had not only forced out some students because they could not pay, it had also resulted in falling standards.
“The glorious days of LASU are disappearing and we can’t really see any justification for the new fees,’’ he said.
Reacting, Governor Fashola said the decision of the state government to increase fees was to reposition the university and make it a centre of academic excellence.
According to him, the N25, 000 paid before now by students will not guarantee the kind of high quality education they deserve to get.
He said that the fees were part of efforts to create a university where the children of the poor and the rich could learn and achieve together.
“It is not right to keep a university only for the children of the poor. That doesn’t make a university anymore”, Fashola said.