Recently, the Lagos State Government made about 725 per cent increment in the school fee for new intakes at the Lagos State University, Ojo. The development came as a shock to stakeholders, especially students and parents. Expectedly, it has since been generating reactions from many quarters within and outside the institution, with many calling on government to rethink its action and rescind the decision or risk the possibility of making education the preserve of only the rich.CURRENTLY, there is restricted access into the premises of the Lagos State University, Ojo. Specifically, students are barred from entering the campus. This is consequent to a government order after students protested against the newly introduced school fees regime.Under the new arrangement, newly admitted students, for instance, are expected to pay nothing less than N200, 000.00 for the first academic year. The increment will have students of Faculties of Arts/Education, Social and Management Sciences, Law, Communication/Transport, Science, Engineering and Medicine pay N193, 750, N223, 750, N248, 750, N238, 750, N258, 750, N298, 750 and N348, 750 respectively as against the current fees, which ranges between N25, 000 and N45, 000.This has generated heated debates nationwide, with affected students, parents and stakeholders in the educational sector describing the development as unjust. To many people, there is no justification for such increment, since it is part of the constitutional obligations of government to provide qualitative and affordable education for the citizenry.While the argument raged, the aggrieved students, under the auspices of the Student Union, fiercely protested the development, demonstrating and carrying placards with different inscriptions, accusing the Governor Raji Fashola-led administration of being insensitive to their plights.Although the Lagos State House of Assembly has set up a committee to look into the students' agitations, respite seem far from the students, as there are indications that the increment has come to stay.The state government has severally reiterated its position, stressing that the increment was part of measures adopted to revamp the education sector in the state.Students Bemoan Their FateSOME of the students who spoke with The Guardian expressed displeasure over the development. Olayemi Dosumu, a newly admitted student, said the new fee would be difficult for parents to afford, adding that, 'If my parents had gotten that amount, I would have been in a private school.'Olawale Abisola, a final year student, who refused to disclose his department, corroborated Olayemi's position. 'For me, the hike is unjustifiable. Though, I am not going to be affected, I think government should have been considerate.'According to Ayodele Ojo, a 400-level student, the increment is going to discourage the children of the less privileged from going to university. Many of them will now prefer to go for vocational works.'To Oluwaseun Saka, another newly admitted student, there is no way her parents could afford the new fees. She said: 'The amount is too much and not everybody can afford it. Gvernment is trying to justify the increment with its transformation plans for the education sector. But it is the duty of government to provide education for the citizenry without adding to people's pains.'NANS, LASUSUG, Civil Liberty Groups Protest HikeTO the President, Lagos State University Students' Union Government (LASUSUG), Akeem Durojaiye, the action of the government is ill-advised and anti-masses, adding that it is an attempt to commercialize education.'This is happening in a country with the lowest per capital income and where the State Government has refused to implement the N18, 000 minimum wage. If this is successfully implemented, thousands of students would be forced to drop out of school while the academic ambitions of others could be jeopardized.'The union leader said, 'since the fee was increased from N250 to N25, 000 in 2004, there have been no obvious infrastructural development in the school. Yet, more students are enrolled annually.'Akeem added that the government argued that the new tuition fees shall not be applied retroactively, as old students are exempted from the increment.The new increment, according to him, represents a 725 percent increase, with no physical development to justify previous increment and trust for a hopeful transformation, as promised.'Instead, the school is presently characterized with overcrowded classrooms, waterlogged environment, ill-equipped libraries and laboratories, inadequate lecturers, among others.Some civil liberty groups, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) through its Joint Campus Committee, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Joint Action Front (JAF), among other groups have also joined the aggrieved students in the protest.To ERC National Coordinator, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, the increment is 'unjust and unacceptable.' He equally expressed displeasure over the threat to ban student unionism in the school, saying such would amount to 'autocratic system of government,' stressing that the students union represents the democratic platform of the students.He however encouraged all parents and individuals who would be directly or indirectly affected by the hike to challenge it before it is too late.According to the National Secretary, Joint Action Front (JAF), Abiodun Aremu, 'this was not the promise made by Fashola to the students and we the parents are objecting to the increment.' He advised the parents of the newly admitted students to resist the increment,On its part, Joint Campus Committee (JCC) of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Lagos Chapter, the increment is an attempt by government to make education unaffordable to the poor masses.According to its chairman, Bello Ibrahim, students are already suffering from the economic hardship imposed on their parents and would do everything possible to resist further repressive action.A parent, who also pleaded anonymity, also condemned the increment, saying it is 'too astronomical and absurd.' 'They increased the fee and made today (Thursday) the last day of payment, which means they want to weed-off some of the students they earlier admitted. I did not believe my son. That is why I came here myself. I am a retiree and IF I have to pay the new school fees, it means I have to borrow to meet up with the payment deadline.'School Authority: 'We Would Give Value For Money'IN an interview with newsmen on Thursday, Head, Information and Public Relations Unit of LASU, Mrs. Anthonia Oyeniji said the school would reopen on Monday, December 5.She however explained that there are some mandatory conditions that must be fulfilled by all students before normal academic activities continue.According to her, 'On returning, students would sign a letter of undertaking as well as fill the Guarantor's Form at their respective faculties.'Oyeniji thereafter assured the new students, who would be affected by the new increment, of value for their money.'First, let me correct the wrong impression. LASU fees were not increased. The University Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa and the Registrar, Lateef O. Animashaun, have said this repeatedly that Returning Students of LASU from 200 to 500 levels are to pay twenty five thousand naira (N25, 000.00) only.'The regime of the new fees commences from 2011/2012 academic session that we are currently in and with fresh candidates offered provisional admission through Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry only. Returning students of LASU, till their graduation, are not and will not be subjected to pay the newly introduced tuition fees''But at meeting of all stakeholders on education in LASU, called by a highly placed executive of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), he said, 'The government is wrong to unilaterally increased the school fees. I know that the new school fees will not stand the test of time, whether now or later, the money must come down.
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