NANS protests LASU fees in Lagos

NANS protests LASU fees in Lagos

Ikeja – The National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS) on Monday staged a protest at
Government House, Ikeja against the hike in fees of
the Lagos State University (LASU).
About 200 of them stormed the governor’s office
chanting songs and carrying placards with various
inscriptions.
Some of the inscriptions read “Education is our
Right,’’ Fashola Reduce LASU fees’’ and “What have
the poor done wrong?’’.
Security details manning the governor’s office gate
had a hard time controlling the students as they
attempted to gain access to the Government House.
Gov. Babatunde Fashola, however, later ordered that
the protesters be allowed to come and express their
grievances.
On their entry, Sunday Ashefon, NANS South-West
Zone Coordinator, who led the protest, described
the increase in LASU fees from N25,000 to
N250,000 as prohibitive.
He said the increase had taken its toll on the
students of the institution as some of them had
dropped out because they 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.
Responding, 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.