T HE on-going drama in Lagos State between the students of the Lagos
State University (LASU) and its owner, the government of the state over
school fees, puts a lie to all the talks of being progressive, trumpeted
by the All Progressives Congress (APC). The fiasco shows the last
battle between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the
Federal Government as a child’s play: not because of the duration of
that last strike, but that a supposedly “progressive” state can consider
charging the huge fees that Lagos government threw at the students.
It is difficult to understand why the government will contemplate
charging between N190, 000 and N330, 000, when in the same Lagos, the
federally-owned University of Lagos charges less than N20, 000. Many
have suggested that the APC government is desperately in search of funds
to prosecute the 2015 national elections, but that sounds too
preposterous even for the leader of the party to consider. But there may
be some measure of truth in the other suggestion that funds are needed
for the huge, deep pocket projects that the Lagos government is
embarking on.
A
day after the Lagos Assembly gloatingly commended the students’ union
last January for using the e-voting system for a successful election of
its officers, and called on Professor Attahiru Jega and the Independent
Electoral Commission (INEC) to take lessons from the students and
organise a credible e-voting elections in the country in 2015, the state
government suffered the embarrassment of the LASU management shutting
the school. What a way not to be an example!
It said in a statement then: “In the wake of the violent protest by
some affected students of Lagos State University (LASU) over the closure
of the university portal for registration of courses for rain semester
2012/2013 examination, the university management has decided to shut
down the university indefinitely. Also, examinations have been put off
till further notice. With this decision, students are expected to vacate
the university premises until further notice.”
For two days, students of the school made a mess of the image of an
APC government that claimed it was pursuing its education agenda better
than the PDP-controlled federal government that had universities shut
for five months on account of dissatisfied school lecturers. This time,
it was students who should be in school that were bearing the brunt of a
government that is being made to look irresponsible in its handling of
such a vital sector and its most important segment.
Students of the school went on the rampage, destroying the school’s
property, burning tyres on the expressway and disrupting the second
semester examinations.
According to newspaper reports, they were not happy with the
management for closing the registration portal against about 1,292 of
its students who had not yet registered for the second semester
examinations. The examinations were disrupted by the angry students who
vowed not to carry over their courses to the next semester due to their
inability to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the school.
At the time the students went ‘gaga,’ only about 700 students were
able to register before the portal was shut and were the only ones
approved to take the exams. Soldiers, the same federally-paid ones like
the policemen, got the Lagos government out of the logjam of dealing
with the riotous students.
The inscriptions on some of the placards the students carried were
instructive: “Fashola, pity us, our parents are poor,” “Obafunwa (the
vice chancellor), open the registration portal or there will be no
exams.”
The management of the crisis in the state university, the beacon of
the opposition APC, watchers have warned, is a clear indication of how
the party may handle education if it ever wins the election at the
centre. It is another vote of no confidence on the party that is at the
middle of an internal crisis. Even the much vaunted Fashola-magic is
failing to work in this crucial sector, and many are teasing that
governance is not all about construction and turning of the State into a
business haven. Lagos has the rich and the poor; the very rich and the
very poor that need services, so Fashola will do well to help all.
In his reasons for the imbroglio, the Vice Chancellor said “In a
joint meeting, Wednesday, between the Governing Council and the
university management team, it was deliberated extensively on whether
the registration portal should be opened for the affected students to
register for their 2012/2013 second semester courses or otherwise. After
the deliberations, it was decided that the portal should remain shut
for smooth commencement and effective administration of the scheduled
2012/2013 rain semester examination.
“There is little or nothing the management can do at this moment to
open the portal, because it is the decision of council and not
Obafunwa’s decision.
“Of the over 12,000 students in the university, about 1,292 could not
meet the registration deadline. Examination dockets have been printed
so there is no way the portal could be opened again for registration.
However, the council also decided that those who failed to register
before the deadline, but have paid their tuition fees and are not
eligible to write the examinations would not pay tuition fees again,
when they come for re-sit of the courses.”
However, the whole truth is that the LASU tuition is a burden on
parents who have children in the school. What is therefore the
difference in sending one’s child to a private university and LASU? I
hope the state government can reason with parents and revert to a
tuition regime that will be more comfortable for parents.
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