NAPTAN Urges Lagos Govt to Reconsider LASU Exorbitant Fees:
The National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) on Wednesday urged the Lagos State Government to reconsider its stand on the new fees regime at the state university.
NAPTAN said the “extortionate fees’’ being charged in the institution might have triggered the Jan. 23 violent protest by students.
The association’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the students engaged in nefarious activities to enable them to pay the fees.
He spoke against the backdrop of the recent crisis at the main campus of the university at Ojo.
NAN reports that students of the institution had protested the refusal of LASU management to re-open the portal to register for courses before the rain semester examinations were slammed on them.
Ogunbanjo said:“It is rather unfortunate that the state government could not anticipate the impending trouble.
“It is unfortunate that this kind of situation is coming up at a time when most universities are struggling hard to cover the lost ground due to the prolonged strike of 2013.
“I want to point out that LASU is one of the highest fee-paying public universities in the country and, therefore, must understand where the students are coming from.’’
NAPTAN publicity scribe stressed the need for the state government to ensure that the legacies of the founding fathers of the institution were preserved.
“If the state government truly wants to follow Obafemi Awolowo’s free education legacy, then there is need for it to fashion out modalities that will help in realising this goal,” Ogunbanjo said.
Also speaking, Mrs Funmi Sessi, the immediate past Chairperson, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), LASU Chapter, called for a better understanding and rapport between the institution’s management and the students.
Sessi said the unfortunate situation would have been averted if a platform had been created for interaction.
NAN also reports that the state government had in 2012 jacked up fees at LASU from N25, 000 to N250, 000 for new students. (NAN)