TROUBLE is brewing again at the restive Lagos State University where the state government, in a highly insensitive move, has imposed an oppressive fees regime that violates the objectives of public education. Under the new rates, new students will now pay between N193, 750 and N348, 750 as fees and levies per annum. The rates demonstrate a disregard for public opinion and the financially weak that constitute over 70 per cent of Lagos States 18 million-strong population. Students admitted to the faculties of Arts and Education will now pay N193, 750 per session, up from N25, 000, a 775 per cent hike. For students reading Medicine, their parents/guardians will cough up N348, 750, a 558 per cent increase over the previous fee of N62, 500. Law attracts N248, 750; Social and Management Services N223, 750, while Communication/Transport and Engineering students will pay N238, 750 per session. Some of the rates fall under such arbitrary headings as Acceptance Fee of N20, 000; Registration Fee of N10,000; and Caution Fee of N20,000.Moreover, they do not include the cost of books and stationery, transport, feeding and sundry cost of living. Besides, LASU is an off-campus institution, which means that students who reside far away from the campuses at Ojo, Epe and Ikorodu rent rooms nearby, making the cost of studying in LASU affordable only for the children/wards of the privileged. Yet, evidence suggests that it is precisely the societys financially weak, who are in the majority, that patronise Nigerias state-owned universities. LASUs new fees regime therefore threatens to close the door of university education on their wards.Governor Babatunde Fashola misses the point because education is a social service, an essential activity of all modern governments. The Nigerian Constitution, in fact, imposes a duty on all levels of government to provide free education at all levels as soon as it is practicable. The visitation panel set up on LASU in 2009 recommended that the Lagos State Government allocate up to 26 per cent of its annual budget to education in line with the benchmark set by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Curiously, the state government has not increased funding for education but has been quick to raise fees!It has also not addressed the dire infrastructure deficitshortage of lecture halls, bad roads, lack of laboratories, etcthat has seen many of its courses de-accredited by the National Universities Commission. LASUs Law, Accounting, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, Marketing, Banking and Finance courses, among others, have been de-accredited.Fashola appears to have derailed from the vision of the founding father of LASU, former Governor Lateef Jakande, who established it as the apex of his acclaimed administrations free education programme (1979-1983). It was part of a populist programme to make education available to all and create a formidable pool of human capital to drive development. LASU was never intended exclusively for the elite. Imposing fees comparable to the private, for-profit universities is a violation of public trust. It is particularly galling that this is being done in a state that has tasted free education programmes since 1955, when free education was first introduced at the primary school level. The Jakande administration made education free at all levels and even successive military juntas ensured very low fees, or none at all, were introduced in public educational institutions.Fashola should take a cue from Osun where Governor Rauf Aregbesola slashed the astronomical fees imposed on Osun State University students by his predecessor to an affordable level and from Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, who, in slashing high fees, also placed a ceiling of N50, 000 per session at the state university. Ironically, all three belong to the same political party, though Osun and Ekiti are much poorer than Lagos, Nigerias richest state. The Blair Commission for Africa strongly recommends increased funding by donors for higher education in Africa. The UNs Millennium Development Goals advocate massive funding of basic and higher education to bridge the human capital gap between the continent and the rest of the world. Governments that desire to compete in a globalised world invest heavily in education and this factor has helped the Scandinavian countries, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, China, South Korea and India to drive economic growth and combat mass unemployment. For instance, almost all educational institutions in Denmark are free.It is the responsibility of the Lagos State Government to fund LASU and keep fees low. By insisting on the oppressive fees, it is saying that an employee on the minimum wage of N18, 000, except he is corrupt, cannot have his offspring in LASU. No doubt, students from the poorest families would be fenced off from accessing university education. Or how is the Fashola administration planning to offset the deterrent effect that higher fees can have on those from the poorest backgrounds' The state House of Assembly should follow through on its ongoing inquiry into the matter by strongly resisting the new fees. The students should employ all peaceful means of protest and avoid violence and lawlessness to force a reduction in fees.All other stakeholders, including parents/guardians, federal lawmakers from the state, and civil society groups should join hands to ensure that the oppressive fees are rescinded.
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