Reduce LASU Fees, Jakande Urges Governor Fashola

[emezico]

Elder statesman and former Lagos State Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, yesterday urged Gov. Babatunde Fashola to review the recent hike in fees at the state university, in the interest of peace.

Jakande, who made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the sudden increase was not encouraging, especially for a state that had been in the forefront of mass literacy campaign.

The state government had in September announced an upward review of tuition fees for the institution from N25,000 to N350,000.

NAN reports that the raise had triggered mass protests by students of the university, who accused the authorities of the institution and the state government of being insensitive to their plight.

The House of Assembly has waded into the matter with the inauguration of a committee to meet with the stakeholders.

Jakande said: "I am pleading with the governor to review the new fees, so that our heritage would not be destroyed. Jakande, whose administration established the institution in 1983, said the high fees would affect the children of the poor.

"Before now, the poor people have been struggling to see their children through school, the increase in fees will affect their children,'' he added.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of LASU, Prof. John Obafunwa, has explained that the new fees would not affect old students, who he said, would still pay the old fees until they finish their programmes.

"The increase is meant for new students and not the old students. The upward review was in line with the efforts of the state government to reposition the institution to a world class standard,'' he told NAN.

It will be recalled that the Lagos State House of Assembly had in November also kicked against the hike in tuition fees in the University, saying the institution's authorities did not follow due process. It argued that the school authority ought to have sought the approval of the House before going ahead with the idea.

Dailytrust