Lagos state University:Committee submit Report

Lasu  students continue protest on monday

The committee set up by Governor Babatunde Fashola to look into students’ complaints concerning school fees at the Lagos State University, LASU, has submited its report to  the  governor on Monday.

The expectation is that the fees would be reviewed downward to stave off protests by the students of the institution.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, toldP.M.NEWS Monday that the committee had concluded its report which it was about to submit to the State Executive Council for approval and consideration at the time of filing this report.

After the submission, the recommendations of the committee would be made known to the public when the governor has approved it.

 Ibirogba declined to reveal the content of the report, saying  it would be made public after the governor had approved it.

Following protests by the students demanding for reduction in the school fees, Fashola set up a committee headed by the Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa to look into the students’ demand.

The committee concluded its findings last week and said the report will be submitted to the State Executive Council headed by Fashola today.

The students had demanded that the governor reduced the fees from N390,000 to N46,500, a demand which is likely to be rejected by the governor, but appreciable reduction is certain as recommended by the committee.

The students had last Thursday shut down the governor’s office as they barricaded the entrance to the governor’s office for over four hours. They even cooked beans and observed Muslim prayers at the entrance to the governor’s office in the most embarrassing manner.

The following day, the students came again to occupy the governor’s entrance with a ram which they intended to kill and cook at the entrance but they were warded off by policemen from the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, who condoned off the entrance.

President, Students Union, LASU, Yusuf Nurudeen said at least 1,000 students had dropped out of LASU since the exorbitant school fees was introduced three years ago.

Before the students staged protests, the president said the number of drop-outs was just 192, contending that the affected victims “could not afford the new tuition fee. But when we started the protest, we discovered that over 1,000 students have left the school because of the new fee.

“I have a list of students with me that are out of the school because they could not pay the tuition fee. We have the list of students who paid for the first session and could not pay for the second. I know of students who wrote exams in the first semester but could not afford fees to pay for the second semester.

“It is of no business to the VC if the government decides to reduce the tuition fee or make it free. His own is to administer the school. On his own job, he is lagging. We have decided to face the government now. After this battle, he is next. We will make him realize his lapses.

“Probably, I want to challenge him to a public debate on this issue. He is too hypocritical on it. At first, we did sit with the management to set the new tuition fee. We discovered the 192 students who have dropped out of school because they could not afford the new tuition fee,” he said.

Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. John Obafunwa had debunked claims of the union that the fee regime introduced in 2011 has led to a high rate of drop outs due to students’ inability to pay, saying there was no truth in the claims as investigations by the authorities of the university revealed that the majority of the students who dropped out did so because of reasons other than the fees.

According to the university don, when the list was checked against the records of the institution, it was discovered that some of the names on the list submitted by the students were those of non students of the institution while others were those who dropped out because they did not meet the appropriate CGP of the school.

 “We went back to the university to look at them. Of course, we found some of them were not even students of LASU. We saw some who actually dropped out, but because they did not meet up with the appropriate CGP. We found that some people had actually collected bursary and scholarship and either dropped out or still did not pay,” the Vice Chancellor said.

Source:PM News