Apparently disturbed by the several crises which led to the closure of the Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Government has again responded to the question over the increment of school fees saying quality tertiary education cannot be cheap.
Speaking on the appropriation for Lagos State University, LASU, Commissioner for Economic Planning, Ben Akabueze said, the state government will spend N9.2 billion for capital and recurent expenditure in the state university in 2014.
He said: “LASU is not funded by the tuition fees paid by the students. It is not possible in today’s world to get quality tertiary education at N25,000. Many Nigerians pay more than that to fund their children’s education at the primary education level. Government around the world spends more money funding basic education than tertiary education. This is to create platform for more people to be educated.”
“We have N9.2 billion that would be spent on LASU in 2014. Out of the N9.2 billion, N2.6 is for capital expenditure while N6.6 billion is for recurrent expenditure.”
The commissioner added that the state budgeted the sum of N2.7 billion for Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, AOCOED, Ijanikin, Micheal Otedola College of Primary Education, MOCOPED; N1.2 billion and Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH; N3.6 billion.