 |
| ERC members at Dec 30, 2011 mass protest organised by Mrs. Ganiyat Fawehinmi |
Nothing
happening today at the Lagos State University (LASU) is strange to us at the
Education Rights Campaign (ERC). When a supposedly elected government decides
to price education out of the reach of ordinary people, the only possible
fallout is crisis. In other words, the LASU crisis is a crisis foretold.
Below
we publish a series of public statements, leaflets and articles issued by the
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) and our mother organisation - the Democratic
Socialist Movement (DSM) - right from October 2011 shortly after the Babatunde
Raji Fashola administration of Lagos State increased fees at the Lagos State
University (LASU) from N25, 000 to between N193, 750 to N348,750. This series
covers various articles issued condemning the increment, our written advices to
students and unions of the University at different stages to fight the fee hike
and the best method to go about it.
Indeed,
this series shows that the ERC strictly monitored and wrote every year about
the steady decline in the fortunes of the University in the aftermath of the
fee hike most dramatically manifested in the sharp drop in the patronage of
LASU admissions.
Today
LASU has just a little over 12,000 full-time students and at this rate of
decline, by the time current 300 level and 400 level students graduate, LASU
may not have up to 5,000 students. As we predicted three years ago, academic
and non-academic staff of the University will suddenly wake up one day to find
out their services are no more needed. This is about happening. There are
reports that there is just a student at 100 level of the French Department, 6
at Islamic studies and 25 at the Faculty of Law. This is a recipe for mass
sack!
The
reality of this eventuality is why ASUU LASU has in the past few months
publicly condemned the fee hike. This is a welcome development. The series
published below becomes all the more relevant from the point of view of what
the students union and staff unions of LASU should have done or not done.
Throughout
all these articles are the calls on staff unions to stoutly resist the hike
with the repeated warnings that the implication would ultimately affect
education workers in the institution. Indeed if ASUU and other staff unions had
publicly resisted alongside with students the fee hike when it was introduced
in 2011, perhaps it would have been possible to achieve a reversal of the fees,
and this crisis would have been avoided. Also key here is the attitude of the
Students Union leadership when the fee was increased. LASU, especially its
students union, has always had an unfair share of state influence. The APC
government and its hirelings are adept at taking control of and weakening the
fighting organisations of the oppressed people especially students. The LASUSU
of the era of the fee hike fought but could have fought better if it trusted
and relied more on the power and initiative of its student-members and civil
society allies than on members of the ruling elite and so-called Ex-Lasuites
members of the State Assembly and in larger corridor of power. Indeed the union
at a stage of the struggle paid a visit to Bola Ahmed Tinubu ostensibly to
plead for reversal of the fees. Unfortunately this unnecessary visit did not
achieve anything. In our opinion, this kind of method only brings illusion and
ultimately derailment into a mass struggle.
The
point being made here is that but for the political timidity of the then
students union leadership, LASU students had the opportunity of defeating the
fee hike during the mass struggles that broke out against the policy in the
later part of 2011 and then 2012. Some would say today that the struggle was
defeated because 100 level students paid or because the Students Union was
proscribed but this is not the whole truth. Naturally new students hungry for
admission would rush to pay. But so unaffordable was the fees that payment
deadline had to be extended 4 times from September 2011 till March 2012 when
matriculation was eventually organised. Even by this time, only 39.8% of the
students that applied to LASU matriculated meaning that about 60% actually
abandoned their admission! If this 60% any day and at any time had been
properly mobilized by the union they would have joined any struggle against the
outrageous fees. Therefore if the union had mounted stout resistance without
any illusion in any member of the ruling elite but putting their trust in
students and the mass of Lagosians, they would have won.
And
it wasn’t that there was no public support for
the cause of LASU students. For instance when LASUSU leaders sought the
assistance of Chief Ganiyat Fawehinmi (wife of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi), she
said since she had no money to give but she would offer solidarity. She there
and then declared December 30th 2011 as a day of protest against the
LASU fee hike. This was to give prominence – including national headlines – to the cause of LASUSU. This would
have forced Fashola to a corner. Alas on 30th December, no single
member of the LASUSU leadership showed up.
These
lessons have to be learnt today if we are going to win this battle. But
unfortunately today the same game is playing out. Faced with an unfair, unjust
and completely unacceptable resolution of the Lagos House of Assembly (LAHA),
the outgoing Students Union Executive has no idea of what to do while the newly
elected executive is fearful of making its opinion known on this matter. The
staff unions on campus are equally cautious of being accused by government as the
instigators of the January 23 students protest and are therefore keeping quiet.
So just as it happened in 2011, this conspiracy of silence or siege mentality
from all quarters that matter is slowly but surely allowing the Lagos State
government and the LASU management to get away with their crimes. No one is
talking about injured students lying in pains at the hospital - one of whom was
given a higher version of the "Magnus Abe treatment" with a tear gas canister
searing his skull! Not only this, now the victims will be further penalised as
the Lagos House of Assembly has sworn to fish out the "ringleaders"!
We
have to break this confounding silence. We cannot allow this injustice to be
swept under the carpet. The ERC calls on the Students Union of LASU as well as
ASUU and other staff unions of the University to publicly reject the LAHA
resolutions. We should all insist that if anyone is to apologise, it is the
Lagos State government whose criminal fee hike policy is the remote cause of
the crisis. For us in the ERC, opening the portal for two days is not enough.
Reversing the fee hike and investing more public funds into LASU are the only
solutions that can guarantee peace and progress in LASU. As far as we are
concerned, every of the 1,292 students must write examinations. This means that
the only real obstacle to their ability to register which is the unaffordable
fee must be reversed.
We
at the ERC shall continue to fight, in every way we can and alongside all those
willing, to ensure that this anti-poor fee hike is reversed and there is
adequate funding of the University.
The
LASU fee hike has fully exposed the vicious anti-poor characteristic of Fashola
government and the APC as a whole. The LASU fee fully demonstrates that the APC
is the same as the ruling PDP. Neither of them deserves our support. We should
boot them out, take control of our country and put in place a working peoples’ government that can democratically
plan and use our collective resources to provide free education and a better
life for us all.
H.T Soweto
ERC National Coordinator
07033697259.
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14 October 2011
Fee Battle Looms in Lagos State
University
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government in Lagos state has announced a 725% increment in fees payable by students of Lagos State University (LASU). The highest fee proposed for medical students is N348, 750 - several times higher than the minimum wage!
Coming
on the heels of harsh anti-poor attacks (planned removal of oil subsidy and
electricity tariff hike) by the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) Federal
government, this latest fee increment is beginning to show clearly the
consensus of all political parties including the ACN on attacks on the living conditions
of young people, students and workers.
The
Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) has always argued that there is no
fundamental difference between the ACN and the PDP. They both defend the same
neo-liberal and anti-poor policies of removal of fuel subsidy, deregulation,
fuel price hike, education commercialization and privatization of public
assets. Only the building of a mass-based and democratic working class
political party can provide the vast majority of working masses and angry
youths with a political way out of the crisis of capitalism in Nigeria. With
public ownership of key sectors of the economy linked with a socialist plan,
Nigeria's resources are more than enough to provide free and functional
education at all levels.
As
anger boils among young people and students, most of whom would be forced out
of school as a result of fee hike, there is the urgent necessity to begin to
build a mass-based struggle that can defeat education attacks and that can link
demands for free education with the necessity for socialist change. The
takeover of the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students
(NANS) by pro-capitalist government agents has been a key obstacle, in the last
10 years, to students struggle against education attacks. There is the urgent
need to rebuild the Students' Unions and make them real democratic and fighting
organs of students through which a new mass-based and fighting national
students' platform can emerge.
The
DSM calls on students of LASU to resist this fee hike with boycott, protest and
demonstration. We urge staff unions and the trade unions to give support and
solidarity to the struggle. Young people and students must resist the glaring
insincerity of a ruling class which bails out banks while imposing ever higher
school fees on students and taxes on poor people. Even though the fee hike is
planned to kick off next session, the plans and activities to resist it must
begin right from now. Below is a leaflet issued by the Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) to sensitize the students' populace and other members of the
university community on the need to struggle against the outrageous fee
increment.
-----------------
Fee Increment? No Way!
Greatest LASUites! Fee Hike is Anti-POOR
Prepare to Resist with Lecture Boycott and Sustained Mass Action
The Education
Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns the announcement of increment in the school fees
of Lagos State University (LASU) by the Lagos State Government. This
announcement was contained in a document titled "Government's view on the
report of the visitation panel to Lagos State University" released in
September, 2011.
The document read
thus "in view of the enormous financial commitment required to run a
University vis-Ã -vis other competing demands in the public sector, Government accepts
the recommendation to increase tuition fees…Government directs that the new
tuition fees shall not be applied retroactively as current students are
exempted from the increase. The new tuition fees will take effect from
2011/2012 academic session".
The fee increment
will have students of Arts/Education, Social and Management Sciences, Law,
Communication/Transport, Science, Engineering and Medicine pay N193,750,
N223,750, N248,750, N238,750, N258,750, N298,750 and N348,750 respectively as
against the present fees which ranges from N25,000 to N62,500. This represents
a 725% increase! The new fees include illegal fees like N15, 000 for Teaching
Practice/Field Trip, N50, 000 for Moot Court Fee for Law students, N2,500 for
General Studies, N10,000 for Caution Fee, N20,000 for Acceptance Fee, N10,000
for registration fee amongst many other obnoxious fees.
It is ironical
that even though the same visitation panel recommended "increase in the
Budgetary Allocation to the University using the UNESCO benchmark of a minimum
of 25% of Annual Budget of the State to be expended on education", the
Lagos State ACN government is only quick to implement the one that suits it
best.
PRICING EDUCATION OUT OF THE REACH OF THE POOR
The fee hike is
another attempt by the Lagos State Government to commercialize education out of
the reach of children of the poor and the working masses. It is indeed
saddening to note this is coming from a major opposition party, the Action
Congress of Nigeria which lays claim to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo's
philosophy of free education.
Presently Lagos
State University is characterized with overcrowded classrooms, inadequate
lecture halls, water-logged environment (as a result of poor drainage system),
ill-equipped libraries and laboratories, inadequate teaching and non-teaching
staff, lack of transportation facilities, poor sport facilities, poor ICT
services among others.
However for
students of Lagos State University, this new anti-student policy is not new at
all as it has always been the case with every second term of all ACN Governors
that have ruled the State recently. In 2004, the immediate past Governor,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu hiked the school fees from N250 to a minimum of
N25,000 along with the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor in the person of
Prof. Lateef Hussein. Despite this there was no improvement in infrastructure
as the University Management mismanaged both subventions and Internally
Generated Revenue of the institution.
Similarly this new
increment is coming on the heels of the re-election of Governor Babatunde Raji
Fashola and the appointment of Prof. John Obafunwa as the new Vice Chancellor.
Students must not be fooled by Government propaganda which gives the impression
that paying high fees is the solution to the infrastructural deficit in LASU.
Rather the only
solution to the deficit in quality and infrastructure in the University is for
the state government to fund education adequately and democratize the running
of schools through the involvement of elected representatives of students and
staff unions in all decision making organs. This is the only way to ensure that
resources allocated to schools are judiciously used to cater for the
infrastructural improvement of the institutions.
WE CAN WIN IF WE FIGHT!
This fee increment
is coming in a country characterized by low per capital income with over 80% of
the population living below the poverty line. If this anti-student fee is
successfully implemented, thousands of students will be forced to drop out of
school while the academic ambitions of others will be jeopardized. This will
make tertiary education to become the exclusive preserve of children of the
rich and the highest bidders. It is an obvious fact that most students of Lagos
State University are from low-income or lower class family as rich politicians
like Governor Fashola and his cohorts do not even enroll their children in the
university.
This struggle is
therefore a struggle for the present and future generations. This is why the
ERC call on the Students' Union of Lagos State University (LASU) to resist this
increment with mass actions and lecture boycott. Only a mass-based programme
can force the state government to rescind her decision. We also appeal to staff
unions to equally condemn the fee increment and give support to students'
resistance.
Most importantly
we call on the generality of students not to allow the government to divide us
along stalelites and freshers. Even though the fee hike will affect mainly the
fresh students, we all must see it as an attack on everyone's right to quality
education and unite to struggle collectively for the reversal of the fees.
The Students'
Union must call an immediate CONGRESS of all students to discuss how to fight
back. With congresses backed up with regular sensitization activities, it will
be possible to unite all students around a program to fight for reversal of the
fees and for genuine government commitment to education funding and improvement
in the infrastructures of LASU. The struggle against fee increment can only be
waged successfully if linked with the demand for adequate funding of education
and the democratic running of schools to ensure resources are judiciously used
to cater for genuine needs.
FOR A STATE-WIDE LECTURE BOYCOTT AND MASS ACTION
However the fee
hike introduced in LASU appears as an initial step to test the mood of students
in the state. Sooner than later, more outrageous fee hike will be introduced in
other tertiary institutions owned by Lagos State. Only a sustained mass action
of students of all the state-owned tertiary institutions in Lagos State
directed at the Lagos State government can halt the fee hike and force the
government to concede to the demands for adequate funding of the state-owned
tertiary institutions. This requires the Students' Unions and students of all
other state-owned tertiary institutions uniting together under a programme of
joint and collective struggle. Such a programme will include series of one-day
lecture boycotts, mass protests and demonstration planned, coordinated and
executed together.
Also, the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) should commence the mobilization of
Nigerian students in a national campaign for adequate funding of education and
democratic management of schools. This movement is urgently needed to roll back
the wave of fee hike, education commercialization and other neo-liberal attacks
on education by the Federal and all state governments in Nigeria.
OUR DEMANDS
1. No to fee
increment in Lagos State University.
2. Increase in the budgetary allocation to Lagos State University up to UNESCO recommended 26%.
3. Massive investment in infrastructural development to cater for the provision of auditoria, laboratories, libraries, teaching facilities etc.
4. Development of Lagos State University, Ojo Campus into a residential campus with the provision of affordable and comfortable hostels.
5. Democratic running of the university with elected representatives of education workers and students in all the decision making bodies.
------------------------------
11 February 2012
Education Rights Campaign statement
SAY NO TO FEE HIKE AND ATTACK ON SCHOLARSHIP IN LASU!
FOR A ONE-DAY LECTURE BOYCOTT AND MASS PROTEST TO DEMAND:
(1)Reversal of
Outrageous Fee Hike, (2) Reversal of the Review of Scholarship Scheme, (3)
Restoration of LASUSU, (4) Improved Funding of Education
All right-thinking
people will certainly condemn the Lagos State Government and the Lagos State
University management for their continuous disregard of the calls by students
and parents for the reversal of the outrageous fee hike. It shows the state
government has nothing but contempt for the people.
The public would
recall that the state government introduced a 725% hike in the tuition fees
payable in Lagos State University last year with new students expected to pay
between N193,750 and N348,750 as against the old fee of N25,000.
The Democratic
Socialist Movement (DSM) and the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) believes this
fee increment is wicked, unacceptable and a brutal anti-poor agenda to price
education out of the reach of poor working and middle class families. Just like
the Federal government, the Lagos State government is forcing these harsh
anti-poor policies down the throat of students, staff and parents. This
explains why the Students' Union of the University was banned recently at the
height of the public agitations against the hike.
PRICING EDUCATION OUT OF THE REACH OF THE POOR!
The criminal
manifestation of this outrageous fee hike is already being felt. As the
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa himself admitted in a letter dated
Thursday, January 5, 2012 to the Governor seeking extension of payment
deadline, "extension of the registration deadline would correct the
shortfall in the required number of students registered till date then which is
just 10,367 or 59 per cent of the 17,679 students expected to fulfill the
registration requirement." "As at January 5, this year 9,217 or 70
per cent out of the 13,111 returning students have paid their school fees and completed
their registration process, while only 1,150 or 25 per cent of the 4,568 fresh
students have registered for their various programmes."
It is instructive
to note that the university management had mandated all students to conclude
payment and registration for the new session on or before November 30, 2011!
But faced with the glaring reality that most cannot afford it, the university
management had since extended the deadline for payment of school fees and
registration four times in a row including the approval of installment payment
of school fees on a 70-30 ratio!
This again
demonstrates the fact the new fee regime is beyond the reach of students from
poor working and middle class backgrounds. This is why we again call for
immediate reversal of the criminal fee hike and urge the Lagos State government
to commit adequate funds to reposition LASU and other tertiary institutions in
Lagos State.
ATTACK ON STUDENTS' SCHOLARSHIP
While jerking fees
through the roof, the government is at the same time tampering with the LASU
scholarship scheme which had before now been the last straw available for some
indigent but bright students to hang onto to complete their studies.
In a bulletin
released by the university management on Friday, 20th January, 2012, the
Governing Council of LASU "agreed that it was necessary to regulate
further, the requirement for the award of university scholarship. Scholarship
should be restricted to the best 5 students in each year per level. Minimum
CGPA to qualify as a scholar should henceforth be 4.50". By this review,
government is attempting to reduce the inadequate scholarship funding it
provides for bright students instead of increasing it.
Prior to this new
policy, there was no limit to the number of scholarship awardees with
qualification pegged at a minimum CGPA of 4.00. 424 and 525 students benefitted
from the scholarship awards in 2007/2008 and 2009/2010 academic session
respectively but given the 2010/2011 results, fewer than 20 students will be
eligible for the scholarship under the new policy.
This attack on
students' scholarship represents a new low in the anti-poor record of the state
government. Indeed under the old scholarship scheme, awardees are paid back
their whole school fees with an additional N20, 000. Now under the new scheme
approved by the Governing Council some days ago, students are expected to pay
the full school fees first and upon qualification for the scheme, only 25% of
the fees paid will be refunded!
The LASU Students
Union, Staff Unions, trade unions and civil society organizations must condemn
this criminal attack on the Lagos State University Scholarship Award Scheme by
the university's governing council.
Besides it is a
contradiction of Governor Babatunde Fashola's claim that the government will
mitigate the effect of the fee increase on indigent students with the provision
of scholarship awards. Rather than boost the existing scholarship schemes, the
government is trying to reduce the beneficiaries of the university scholarship
scheme.
The scholarship
review together with the fee hike is part and parcel of the neo-liberal package
of the ACN government to destroy public education in the State. This is why the
state government is pushing forward this agenda to reduce number of scholarship
beneficiaries at the same time that fees were outrageously increased by 725%
such that many new students are being forced to abandon their admissions.
FREE AND QUALITY EDUCATION IS POSSIBLE
The whole
anti-poor education policies of the Lagos State government further demonstrates
how much far the party is from being a credible alternative to the PDP looters.
While this can
only be fully possible with the enthronement of a working and poor peoples'
government that is completely committed to using Lagos State's resources
primarily for the benefits of ordinary working Lagosians and the poor, yet a
lot of difference can still be made if the present government is really sincere
about turning the fortunes of public education around in the State.
Just by cutting
the outrageous salaries and allowances of all political office holders in the
State and the wasteful spending going on at the state government and local
councils, it is possible to free huge sums of money that can be used to begin
to renovate all the state public institutions, expand faculties, laboratories
and libraries, build decent students' hostels and employ more teaching staff
without burdening poor parents with high fees.
Equally by fully
and thoroughly democratizing governance through the establishment of committees
comprising elected representatives of the working people, youth and poor with
the task of monitoring government revenue and spending, it can be possible to
equally block the corrupt leakages through which taxes and other revenues of
the state are siphoned by political office holders and contractors.
Or is it not a
contradiction that while Lagos State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is the
highest among the 36 states, the fees of its only public university is among
the 5 most expensive public university in Nigeria? This is because a lot of
these revenues (a sizeable chunk of which are taxes paid by poor Lagosians!)
end up in the bank accounts of politicians, god fathers and looters of various
shades.
But unfortunately
Governor Fashola and his ilk are merely interested in turning Lagos to a
"mega city" on the bones of ordinary Lagosians and the working class.
This neo-liberal mindset explains the concessioning of the Lekki-Epe expressway
and the imposition of tolls which elicited mass protests that were crushed with
armed police at the instance of the state government. Instead of cutting their
salary and halting the criminal waste of public funds so as to save more money
to fund education and other vital social services, they prefer to implement
policies that satisfy the private sector or ensure the continuous looting of
resources by politicians to the detriment of working class and poor people.
MASS STRUGGLE IS THE KEY
We must take our
destinies into our hands and begin to fight against the fee hike in LASU while demanding
that the state government must increase the budgetary allocation to education
in the state. This must go hand in hand with building a working class political
alternative to the anti-poor ACN and their neo-liberal attacks on the condition
of students, youths, workers and the poor.
LASU students and
the Students Union have a responsibility to continue to organize mass
resistance against these anti-poor attacks. Student activists and progressive
groups in LASU must insist that the union does not use the excuse of its
purported proscription to suspend the struggle. Indeed, the only reliable way
to get the Union restored is by pushing the struggle against fee hike to a
logical conclusion. Most importantly too, the student union leaders and
activists must convene an immediate STUDENTS' CONGRESS to discuss the attacks
and how to continue the struggle.
As a starting
point, the DSM and ERC call for a one-day lecture boycott and mass protest. If
this action is declared by a STUDENTS' CONGRESS in defiance of the ban of the
union, it can force the school management and government to the negotiation
table. However this action must be part and parcel of series of mass actions
like rallies, boycotts and demonstrations that must be organized continuously
until the criminal policies are reversed.
The DSM and ERC
urge the staff unions of LASU, trade unions and civil society organizations to
equally condemn the fee hike publicly and join forces with LASU students to
demand affordable and quality public education in Lagos State.
Join DSM and ERC to fight for:
(1) Immediate
reversal of the fee hike
(2) Immediate
reversal of the scholarship review. Instead we demand the increase in the
funding of the scholarship scheme
(3) Immediate
restoration of the banned students union
(4) Increase in
education budgetary allocation up to 26% as a step towards provision of free
education at all levels
(5) Reduction in
the outrageous salaries and allowances of political office holders and the
usage of the saved money to fund public education and other vital social
services
(6)
Democratization of the decision-making bodies in LASU and other higher
institutions in the State to ensure involvement of elected representatives of
students and staff unions in vital decision making organs.
(7) Public
ownership of the commanding heights of the economy under the democratic control
and management of the working people.
HT Soweto
National Coordinator, ERC
-----------------------
17
April 2012
LASU: Fee Hike Causes Drop in Admission
By Keye Ewebiyi
Last year, the
Lagos State Government introduced a 725% hike in the tuition fees of Lagos
State University. This is an increase up to between N193, 750 and N348, 750 as
against the old fee of N25, 000. To fully impose this increment, the Students'
Union was banned for mobilizing for protests and demonstrations.
The brutal reality
of this attack is already manifesting. As the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John
Obafunwa himself admitted in a letter dated Thursday, January 5, 2012 and
written to the Governor seeking extension of payment deadline, only 25 % of the
over 4000 fresh students have registered for their various programmes.
DECLINING ADMISSION
Before now the
university management had mandated all students to conclude payment on or
before November 30, 2011! But faced with the reality that most cannot afford
it, they had to extend the deadline four times in a row including allowing
payment by instalments on a 70-30 ratio!
This picture
became clearer at the matriculation ceremony held on 12th March, 2012 when only
39.8 %, 1,951 students out of over 4,903 students offered admission turned out
to take the oath. This is a far cry from the admission last session. It is to
the credit of this anti-poor fee hike that only 801 students could pay the fees
between January, when the VC pleaded for extension, and March!
Lying through
gritted teeth, the Vice-Chancellor tried to explain away the drop in the
admission figure to be a result of an allegedly new admission policy which he
said emphasizes merit. But the real truth, which they find so uncomfortable to
acknowledge, is that it is the fee increment that is responsible for the
decline in admission.
A TWIN-PRONGED ATTACK
While jerking fees
through the roof, the government is also tampering with the LASU scholarship
scheme which had before now been the only straw available for some indigent but
bright students to hang onto to complete their studies.
In a bulletin
released by the university management on Friday, 20th January, 2012, the
Governing Council of LASU "agreed that it was necessary to regulate
further, the requirement for the award of university scholarship. Scholarship
should be restricted to the best 5 students in each year per level. Minimum
CGPA to qualify as a scholar should henceforth be 4.50". By this review,
government is attempting to reduce the inadequate scholarship funding it
provides for bright students instead of increasing it.
Prior to this new
policy, there was no limit to the number of scholarship awardees with
qualification pegged at a minimum CGPA of 4.00. 424 and 525 students benefitted
from the scholarship awards in 2007/2008 and 2009/2010 academic session
respectively but given the 2010/2011 results, fewer than 20 students will be
eligible for the scholarship under the new policy.
This attack on
students' scholarship represents a new low in the anti-poor record of the state
government. Indeed under the old scholarship scheme, awardees are paid back
their whole school fees with an additional N20, 000. Now under the new scheme
approved by the Governing Council some weeks ago, students are expected to pay
the full school fees first and upon qualification for the scheme, only 25% of
the fees paid will be refunded! Students and education workers, trade unions
and civil society organizations must condemn this criminal attack on the Lagos
State University Scholarship Award Scheme by the university's governing
council.
FREE AND QUALITY EDUCATION IS POSSIBLE
The whole
anti-poor education policies of the Lagos State government further demonstrates
how much far the ACN is from being a credible alternative to the PDP looters.
Clearly the present government is not sincere about turning the fortunes of
public education around in the State.
Just by cutting
the outrageous salaries and allowances of all political office holders in the
State and the wasteful spending going on at the state government and local
councils, it is possible to free huge sums of money that can be used to begin
to renovate all the state public institutions and expand their faculties.
Equally by fully
and thoroughly democratizing governance through the establishment of committees
comprising elected representatives of the working people, youth and poor with
the task of monitoring government revenue and spending, it can be possible to
equally block the corrupt leakages through which taxes and other revenues of
the state are siphoned by political office holders and contractors.
MASS STRUGGLE IS THE KEY
LASU students must
take their destinies into their hands and begin to fight against the fee hike
in LASU while demanding that the state government must increase the budgetary
allocation to education in the state. This must go hand in hand with building a
working class political alternative to the anti-poor ACN and their neo-liberal
attacks on the condition of students, youths, workers and the poor.
LASU students must
continue to organize mass resistance against these anti-poor attacks. Student
activists and progressive groups in LASU must insist that the union does not
use the excuse of its purported proscription to suspend the struggle. Indeed,
the only reliable way to get the Union restored is by fighting the struggle
against fee hike to a logical conclusion.
As a starting
point, a one-day lecture boycott and mass protest should be organized. This
must be connected with other mass actions like rallies, boycotts and
demonstrations until the criminal policies are reversed.
-----------------------------
31 May
2013
PRESS STATEMENT
Planned Rationalization of Courses in LASU by Lagos State Government
University Workers and Students Must Struggle to Stop It
The Education
Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns the planned rationalization of academic
programmes at Lagos State University (LASU). The university Governing Council
at its 100th meeting resolved, with the backing of the Lagos Government, to
embark on rationalization of courses. This will lead to the scrapping of
departments and sacking of some lecturers and non-teaching staff.
It is on record
that the ERC warned that government's cuts in the funding of the University and
the commercialization of the institution through the astronomical increment in
fees was aimed at drastically reducing the number of students and workers
(lecturers and non-teaching staff) as a step at rendering the university
prostrate and subsequently selling it at a give-away price.
This plan was kick
started with the commercialization of LASU wherein students who gained
admission into LASU in the 2011/2012 academic session were forced to pay
between N193, 750 and N348, 750. The brutal consequence of this was that only
1,951 students (representing 39.8%) of over 4,903 students offered admission
for the 2011/2012 academic session only enrolled in the university. This goes
to confirm that the ACN-led government like the PDP, ANPP, APC, APGA etc., has
an agenda to destroy public education. Besides, this is a clear testimony of
the failure of the policy of commercialization in the education sector.
The ERC warned in
2011 when fees were increased that this was going to have dire implication for
staff and the University in its entirety since some departments would have to
be scrapped because few students would be admitted. It explains why the ERC was
correct when it proposed that the lecturers through ASUU and the non-academic
staff should actively and publicly support LASU students when they were
fighting the fee hike, but this was ignored. Regrettably, the Student Union
leaders equally sold out in the course of the struggle thus abandoning students
to their fate.
It is the
consequence of the failure to seriously challenge the criminal fee hike policy
of the Fashola administration of Lagos state that is now manifesting in the
slow destruction of the Lagos State University and public tertiary education in
Lagos State today. If this rationalization of courses is allowed to sail
through, it is lecturers and non-academic staffs that will be hardest hit as
several jobs will be immediately lost. Also it would in the short and long-term
lead to further shutting the door of university education to thousands of
aspiring undergraduates who want to pursue academic careers in the arts,
socials sciences and other courses/departments that the governing council has
penciled down for rationalisation. The negative impact of this on staff morale
and university education in Lagos State will be deep and long-drawn.
The ERC therefore
calls on staff unions and students of LASU to be prepared to challenge this new
anti-poor and anti-growth education policy of the LASU management at the
instance of the state government. We believe that it is only the solidarity of
different sections of the working class and students in an organized and
sustainable manner that can struggle to win concessions and also defeat
anti-poor education policies.
The ERC demands
the reversal of the fees hike as a step towards scrapping of fees and
cancellation of the planned rationalisation policy. We also demand adequate
investment in LASU and education in its entirety as a means of educating all
those that need it.
Lateef Adams
Lagos State Coordinator
Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
-----------------------------------------------------
7 September
2013
LASU FEE-HIKE: Two Years After
(By James Foluso)
Barely two years
after the introduction of the 725% hike in tuition fees of Lagos State
University, the resultant effect of this anti-poor policy has become very
obvious in the institution. The hike which resulted in new students paying between
N195,750 and N348,750 as against the old fee of N25,000 has successfully denied
thousands of poor Lagosians access to university education.
The brutal reality
of this fee hike was first manifested during the first post-fee hike
matriculation ceremony held on 12th March, 2012 when only 1,951 students
(representing 39.8%) out of 4,903 students offered admission for the 2011/2012
academic session turned out for the oath. In the same vein, for the 2012/2013
academic session, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa disclosed that
out of the 2,784 students offered admission; only 2,008 were cleared for
matriculation. Meanwhile, about 3,000 students sat for the post UTME
examination. For the incoming academic session, according to a report by the
Punch newspaper as at July 19 only about 1,100 candidates had registered for
post-UTME examination (Punch July 30, 2013). These figures are a far cry from
what was obtainable in the pre-fee hike era. The number of students that used
to sit for similar examination in the four years before the hike fluctuated
between the 15,000 and 20,000. It also fall short of the 5,000 carrying
capacity issued LASU by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The low patronage
suffered by the institution has forced the management to make admission an
all-comers' affair by allowing those that did not choose the institution but
scored a minimum mark of 180 in the 2013 UTME to write the second-round of the
Post-UTME Screening Test. Meanwhile the university scholarship scheme which used
to provide a lifeline for indigent but brilliant students during the old fee
regime has come under serious attack by the university management. In a recent
publication by the university, the Governing Council directed that only
indigent students who obtain a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of
4.5 at the end of each session will have his or her tuition taken care of by
the university.
This is contrary
to the pledge made by the Lagos State Government in the heat of the fee hike
struggle that bursary and scholarship awards would be given to cushion the
effect of the fee hike. The scholarship scheme during the old fee regime
guaranteed all students with a minimum CGPA of 4.00 tuition-free academic
session plus a N20,000 textbook allowance. Record has it that 424 and 525
students benefitted from the scholarship awards in 2007/2008 and 2009/2010
academic session respectively but given the latest results, fewer than 20
students will be eligible for the scholarship under the new policy, and this
few will have to be subjected to a background test to determine whether they
are indigent or not.
It is pertinent to
note that Lagos State University is the highest fee-paying state-owned
institution in Nigeria, an institution owned by the opposition party and a much
taunted progressive party the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now known as All
Progressive Congress (APC). This goes to show that most opposition parties are
oppositions only in name and slogan. They implement the same anti-poor,
pro-rich policies with the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Meanwhile,
workers of Lagos State University are reported to have begun a face-off with
the management over its planned restructuring policy.
According to The
Nations Newspaper of July 18, 2013, "teachers at Lagos State University
are oiling their guns in readiness for a battle with management against the
institutions 'no vacancy, no promotion' policy and proposed restructuring of
some programmes. They believe that the planned restructuring would lead to the
sacking of some workers".
This assertion by
the teachers is not far-fetched. As enrolment level drops and drop-out rate
rises on account of unaffordable level of fees, some programmes and courses in
the university may be rationalized due to inadequate number of students, and
subsequently some programmes and departments could be shutdown. In this case,
teaching and non-teaching personnel will be sacked.
There is need for
an urgent fight-back! The campaign for the reversal of the fee hike should be
re-launched as a matter of urgency by both staff and students' unions. Given
the glaring facts and figures available on the outcome of the hike, a strong
campaign that will appeal to the masses is possible, to fight for the reversal
of the hike. A joint struggle by the Student's Union, ASUU, NASU and NAAT is
needed to defeat this anti-students/workers policy.
-----------------------
23 January 2014
Reopen
LASU Now!
ERC Demands Immediate Reversal of Hiked Fees!!
ERC Demands Immediate Reversal of Hiked Fees!!
Press Statement
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) demands the immediate re-opening of the Lagos State University (LASU). We also demand opening of the University’s portal for the 1, 292 students of the University to register so they can participate in the second semester examinations.
However LASU can only begin to know peace when the remote cause of the crisis rocking the University which is actually the hike of tuition fees beyond what ordinary working class people can afford is resolved through an immediate reversal. Any effort of the State Assembly to resolve the on-going crisis in LASU will fail if it does not address the question of fee hike. We in the ERC demand an immediate reversal of the hiked fees and the drastic increase of the state budgetary provision for the funding of LASU and other state-owned schools.
The ERC does not support violence as a method of struggle and agitation. Yet we hold that the protest of LASU students was justified.
The degeneration of the protest is on the one hand a reflection of the widespread frustration being felt by most students of LASU, especially 100 and 200 level students, who find it increasingly difficult to afford the high cost of tuition in the institution. On the other hand, the crisis is a reflection of the highhandedness of the University’s Vice chancellor and members of his kitchen cabinet who believe they can ride roughshod on students of the University.
We place the blame for the degeneration of the crisis on the shoulders of the Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa who rebuffed a peaceful plea of students a day earlier (Wednesday 22 January 2014) and told them emphatically they would not write the second semester examinations. This is particularly sadistic on the part of the Vice Chancellor as he did not consider the pain, anguish and deprivations parents of the few students still remaining in LASU today go through before gathering the hundreds of thousands being charged as tuition fee. Had the VC listened to students plea and done the needful, the crisis of Thursday 23 January 2014 would have been avoided. By his insensitive and sadistic refusal to listen to the students plea, the Vice Chancellor forced students to take the only course of action available to them to avoid repeat of the semester. It is ridiculous that the same Vice Chancellor who could not agree to open the University portal just for 24 hours has now closed down the University indefinitely!
We condemn the invitation of armed police to suppress the protest of students. In the process lives of students have been endangered with some students already sustaining injuries as a result of the rash intervention of the police who shot teargas indiscriminately.
What is behind this crisis is the unjust hike of the payable fees in the University nearly three years ago by the anti-poor Fashola administration. Fees were increased to between N193, 750 and N358, 750 depending on the courses of study while the minimum wage earnings stood at a paltry N18,000. By this action, the Lagos State government shut the door of University education on the faces of working class Lagosians thus precipitating the crisis we are currently witnessing in the institution.
We support the opinion expressed by ASUU that LASU is now the most expensive University in Nigeria. LASU's fee hike is not only outrageous, it has become a single factor curtailing, limiting and reversing the progress and development of the University. This is a shame to the Lagos State Government and the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Nearly three years after LASU fees was hiked by the Lagos State government with the support of a toothless State Assembly, the University has become a shadow of its former self. With record-level annual decline in admission applicants and closure of faculties and programs, the jobs of the University's academic and non-academic staff are now threatened. Many projects are abandoned and University now gives the impression of a dying edifice thanks to the anti-poor and anti-education policies of the Fashola administration.
Unfortunately the ERC in numerous public statements and petitions warned of this same unsavoury outcome but the Fashola government, true to its characteristic disdain for public opinion including the opinion of the students of the university and their poor parents, turned a deaf ear.
We warn that unless the hiked fees are quickly reversed, no matter the value of the developmental achievement Governor Fashola may lay claim to when he leaves office, the carcass of LASU would be the only visible sign and legacy of his administration.
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) demands the immediate re-opening of the Lagos State University (LASU). We also demand opening of the University’s portal for the 1, 292 students of the University to register so they can participate in the second semester examinations.
However LASU can only begin to know peace when the remote cause of the crisis rocking the University which is actually the hike of tuition fees beyond what ordinary working class people can afford is resolved through an immediate reversal. Any effort of the State Assembly to resolve the on-going crisis in LASU will fail if it does not address the question of fee hike. We in the ERC demand an immediate reversal of the hiked fees and the drastic increase of the state budgetary provision for the funding of LASU and other state-owned schools.
The ERC does not support violence as a method of struggle and agitation. Yet we hold that the protest of LASU students was justified.
The degeneration of the protest is on the one hand a reflection of the widespread frustration being felt by most students of LASU, especially 100 and 200 level students, who find it increasingly difficult to afford the high cost of tuition in the institution. On the other hand, the crisis is a reflection of the highhandedness of the University’s Vice chancellor and members of his kitchen cabinet who believe they can ride roughshod on students of the University.
We place the blame for the degeneration of the crisis on the shoulders of the Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa who rebuffed a peaceful plea of students a day earlier (Wednesday 22 January 2014) and told them emphatically they would not write the second semester examinations. This is particularly sadistic on the part of the Vice Chancellor as he did not consider the pain, anguish and deprivations parents of the few students still remaining in LASU today go through before gathering the hundreds of thousands being charged as tuition fee. Had the VC listened to students plea and done the needful, the crisis of Thursday 23 January 2014 would have been avoided. By his insensitive and sadistic refusal to listen to the students plea, the Vice Chancellor forced students to take the only course of action available to them to avoid repeat of the semester. It is ridiculous that the same Vice Chancellor who could not agree to open the University portal just for 24 hours has now closed down the University indefinitely!
We condemn the invitation of armed police to suppress the protest of students. In the process lives of students have been endangered with some students already sustaining injuries as a result of the rash intervention of the police who shot teargas indiscriminately.
What is behind this crisis is the unjust hike of the payable fees in the University nearly three years ago by the anti-poor Fashola administration. Fees were increased to between N193, 750 and N358, 750 depending on the courses of study while the minimum wage earnings stood at a paltry N18,000. By this action, the Lagos State government shut the door of University education on the faces of working class Lagosians thus precipitating the crisis we are currently witnessing in the institution.
We support the opinion expressed by ASUU that LASU is now the most expensive University in Nigeria. LASU's fee hike is not only outrageous, it has become a single factor curtailing, limiting and reversing the progress and development of the University. This is a shame to the Lagos State Government and the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Nearly three years after LASU fees was hiked by the Lagos State government with the support of a toothless State Assembly, the University has become a shadow of its former self. With record-level annual decline in admission applicants and closure of faculties and programs, the jobs of the University's academic and non-academic staff are now threatened. Many projects are abandoned and University now gives the impression of a dying edifice thanks to the anti-poor and anti-education policies of the Fashola administration.
Unfortunately the ERC in numerous public statements and petitions warned of this same unsavoury outcome but the Fashola government, true to its characteristic disdain for public opinion including the opinion of the students of the university and their poor parents, turned a deaf ear.
We warn that unless the hiked fees are quickly reversed, no matter the value of the developmental achievement Governor Fashola may lay claim to when he leaves office, the carcass of LASU would be the only visible sign and legacy of his administration.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto Michael Ogundele
National Coordinator National Secretary
