LASU students rejoice as Fashola reverse the institution school fees back to the old rate.
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN)
Governor Babatunde Fashola reversed Lagos State University (LASU) school fees to N25,000 (the old rate).
Fashola said: “I appreciate the maturity of our students in the way they went about their agitation for the reduction of school fees. In the course of their protest, I invited them and they responded. The students submitted a position paper on what they felt the fees should be. We looked at their (students) position paper and the adjustment they recommended and made a reduction of between 34 to 60 per cent.
“But they (students) were not satisfied. They said the fees were still high and wanted further reduction. We looked into their demand and decided that school fees must revert to the old rate.”
LASU Pro-Chancellor Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas and the Students’ Union President, Nurudeen Yusuf, thanked the governor for reversing the school fees.
Recalling his experiences during the protests, Yusuf said: “I was almost shot by security agents. Each time we protested, the police wanted to know who the leader was and once I was pointed out to them, they harassed me.
“From the onset, we had a clear cut agenda on what we wanted to do. We opened facebook and twitter accounts with the slogan ‘Bring Down LASU Fees’. Contrary to rumours that some elements were funding us, we did not collect money from anybody. We had no money. At the initial stage, we went to the street and begged motorists and commoners to assist us. We raised N82,000 and that was what we used to fund the protests. They said I was being used by the opposition but it is not true. The opposition invited us, but we did not go.”
On the fate of his colleagues who fell out of school when the fee was increased, Yusuf said: “With the reversal, I believe they would return to LASU to complete their progammes. In one of our meetings with the governor, we drew his attention to the development and he asked us to compile their names. We submitted over 500 names to him and he promised to do something about them. The governor’s step today (yesterday) is a pointer that there is hope for those students.” (The Nation)
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