Lagos Lawmakers Wade Into LASU Crisis

Unable to contain the continued protest by students of the Lagos State University, LASU, over the hike in their tuition fees by the state government, the Lagos House of Assembly has decided to mediate.

The House, therefore, summoned the state Commissioner for Education, Olayinka Oladunjoye; the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Education, Otunba Fatayi Olukoga and the LASU Vice Chancellor, Oladapo Obafunwa, to appear before it tomorrow to explain the reason behind the hike which members consider too high.

The lawmakers expressed worries when the House Deputy Leader, Lola Akande, raised the issue under Matters of Urgent Public Interest.

Akande told her colleagues that the fees were hiked by 1, 272 per cent as reported in the media and that this has been causing unrest in the institution.

She said it was also reported that the government had approved the increase in the school fees. “This means that from the N25,000 that they have been paying, they would now pay between N193,750 and N348,750 depending on the programme that they are running.

She lamented that the institution has been facing crisis. “If we want to run a private school, then we should know that we are running a private higher institution,” she said.

While some lawmakers thought that the issue should not be discussed since it is emanating from a newspaper report, Sanai Agunbiade from Ikorodu Constituency 1 maintained that the issue was important to be discussed.

A representative of Ojo Constituency 2 at the House, Lanre Ogunyemi, explained that a notice was pasted within the school premises to intimate the students about the hike.

He stressed that the House needed to act fast as “On Thursday, when the students protested, they held hostage a political office holder and they stripped the person naked. The increase as far as I am concerned is too astronomical and it has already tallied with that of private schools.”

His views were supported by Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu who said the parents and guardians of the students should be put into consideration while fees are increased.

Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who supported his colleagues, said: “For the benefit of our constituents, the hike may not be it. Even when the fee was increased from N250 to N25,000 in 2005, it degenerated into a big crisis. I don’t think it’s proper to decide here whether the fees must be increased or not.”

However, with the permission of his colleagues, he named those to be invited to include the executive members of the institution’s Student Union Government.