fashola On LASU

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on
Thursday bowed to pressure from academic
unions and students of Lagos State University, Ojo,
by reversing the increase in school fees.
Fashola, who made the announcement at LASU’s
convocation in Ojo, Lagos, ordered the fees to be
reversed to N25, 000.
Three years ago, the state government increased
the tuition to between N180,000 and N350,000.
The governor, who arrived the venue of the
convocation at about 10.40am, was greeted with a
series of protests from members of the Students’
Union Government, Senior Staff Association of
Nigerian Universities and the Non Academic Staff
Union.
The ON9JA had reported on Thursday that
SSANU-LASU had planned to disrupt the second
leg of the convocation ceremony.
The union was protesting – among other things –
the payment of their salaries for the months of
June and July 2014.
The university authorities, in a bid to scuttle the
planned demonstration and ensure a hitch-free
convocation, used security operatives to arrest
some of the union executives and members.
While some of the union members were arrested at
about 9.16am, some others were manhandled,
even as others had their phones seized.
Journalists and passers-by were also harassed.
Following the arrest of their officials, other
members of the union took their protest to the Vice
Chancellor’s office.
Efforts by a renowned industrialist and Chancellor
of the institution, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, to
stop the protest proved abortive.
The protesters also attempted to prevent the VC
and his entourage from leaving his office to the
convocation venue.
This prompted security operative to shoot into the
air to disperse the protesters.
The protest however, took another dimension as
some students and the non-academic staff
members joined the agitation on sighting the
governor’s convoy.
Some security officials, who tried to confront the
protesters, were prevented by the governor, who
alighted from his vehicle to address the union
leaders.
He assured them that their grievances would be
looked into.
The students, in their solidarity, chants, “PDP!
Power! APC! Ole (thief).”
They displayed placards with various inscriptions
such as, “Further reduction of LASU school fees;
Stop the reduction in our bursary; Open
registration portal.”
The atmosphere, however, took a different
dimension when the governor announced the
reversal of the tuition to N25, 000.
The students erupted in wild jubilation and their
solidarity song changed to praise – to “APC,
Change!”
However, the government gesture did not stop the
SSANU members from continuing their protest.
The union members started chanting “Obafunwa
must go!”
The Students’ Union President, Nurudeen Yusuf,
thanked the governor for the gesture.
He said, “We thank God for everything, even
though our people betrayed us by paying their fees
contrary to the union’s directives.
“We would have got to this point long ago, but for
their betrayal.