Turnout Was Small But Very Combative
Over the past three weeks, the Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) which is a platform formed by the Democratic Socialist Movement
(DSM) to campaign for proper funding of education and democratic management has
been playing role in a campaign called #SaveLASU it initiated alongside the
Lagos State University Students Union (LASUSU), National Union of Lagos State
Students (NULASS) and radical students group at the Lagos State University
(LASU).
The campaign culminated in a small but combative
demo yesterday Tuesday 18 February 2014
as scores of Lagos State University students turned out to demand reopening of
their University and reversal of hiked fees.
The #SaveLASU Campaign was formed on February 1st
2014 at a public meeting called by the ERC in reaction to the January 23 2014
students protest at the closure of registration portal against 1,292 students
of the University. The protest soon turned violent after campus security and
riot police shot indiscriminately at students thus leading to alleged
vandalisation of properties and brutalisation of students and closure of the
University.
The #SaveLASU Movement identifies fee hike as the
root cause of the crisis and is mounting a determined campaign to compel the
State Government to reverse the outrageous fee hike which ranges between
N195,750 and N348,750 depending on the course of study. This is the highest fee
of any Federal or State University and is almost at par with the fees of some
private Universities.
The protest which was a culmination of three weeks
of meetings, sustained propaganda and other activities of the movement took off
from the Textile Labour House - the Secretariat of the Textile workers Union.
An online petition opened for about 14 days gathered 120 signatures. This is
small but significant given the political situation and level of mass
consciousness. The purpose of the demo was to submit this petition listing
students demands on reopening, the January 23 crisis and fees to the Lagos
State House of Assembly.
 |
| Abiodun Aremu, JAF Secretary |
JAF Solidarises with Student Protest
Abiodun Aremu (JAF Secretary) and other members of
the Joint Action Front (JAF) attended the protest to solidarize with students.
Indeed JAF has publicly endorsed the #SaveLASU campaign both on social media as
well as physically as demonstrated by the turnout of JAF members and civil
society activists for the demo. This is a big boost to the campaign and the
effect was not lost on students that participated in the protest. In Abiodun
Aremu's words "JAF has endorsed this protest because we believe that the
right to education is non-negotiable".
Speaking at the protest, H.T Soweto (ERC National
Coordinator) berated the government for increasing fees in LASU. According to
him, the fee hike is anti-poor and shows that the All Progressive Congress
(APC) is not different from the PDP. He also mentioned the hypocrisy of the APC
government which claims to be progressive but implements anti-poor policies.
Practise
What You Preach
Indeed the hypocrisy of the APC was the uppermost
in the hearts and mind of protesters as well as members of the public who
witnessed the demo. The party has been the ruling party in Lagos State since
1999 yet vast majority of Lagosians wallow in untold poverty, many are still
homeless and education has been priced out of the reach of the mass majority.
Truly the Lagos State government invests on road and infrastructure projects
but the reality has dawned on many that these projects are done for the purpose
of farming public resources to cronies and are not necessarily meant to address
people's real needs and this tells with the poor quality of the works. Also is
the fact that most of these road infrastructures are restricted to the main
roads and areas where the rich go as thousands of inner community roads are
still untarred, pot-hole dotted and generally in a state of utter neglect over
14 years since the APC has been in power in Lagos State.
 |
| Taiwo Kolawole, Deputy Speaker Lagos House of Assembly |
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu said the following
"We
formed the APC so Nigerians from all walks of life and social station might
gather under one tent to develop the nation on the basis of equity and shared
prosperity. What we seek is a fair social compact so that we may avoid social
calamity. A core element of our mission is to make all levels of education,
from primary to university level, accessible to all people, regardless of
economic circumstance. To survive in the modern economy, education is a must.
As such, responsible leadership must view education as a public right and no
longer a luxury to be enjoyed only by those with the money to purchase it for
themselves. Government must help financially those who can't help themselves in
this essential regard".
Linking this with a similar and widely-condemned trip last year
by the President's Wife Dame Patience Jonathan to an Asian University to
receive an award during a six month strike by the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) which had shut all public Universities in Nigeria, Soweto
simply asked the Deputy Speaker who is also an APC member to practice what they
preach.
Next
Steps
The protest ended with assurances that the petition will be
given attention by the House. So elated were the students about the impact of
the protest that many were immediately asking for the next step. This is a good
one. It shows that having sensed their power the students are ready to take the
next step.
 |
| HT Soweto, ERC National Coordinator |
For this purpose, the #SaveLASU Campaign will hold another
mass meeting on Saturday 22, February 2014 by 10am at the ERC Secretariat
located at 162, Ipaja Road, Agbotikuyo Bus Stop, Agege Lagos. This meeting is
important to plan the next stage especially now that the University management
in an effort to divide the mass of students has announced the re-opening of the
University for Monday 24 February 2014 but for final year students alone. Other
categories of students who are suspected to have initiated the January 22 and
23 protests would not resume until 1st April 2014 after fresh students would
have been admitted and matriculated. This is absurd and many students
instinctively feel this should be resisted.
The #SaveLASU Campaign has also rightly condemned it with a
promise to resist it. The campaign has
demanded that all students must resume on the 24 February and all the 1,292
students must be allowed to register on the portal. It is however also very
important to plan strategies on how to resist this "divide and rule"
tactics and build the best possible unity of all students against the
University Management's highhandedness and the fee hike and other anti-poor
education policies of the State Government.
The #SaveLASU movement has the potential to become bigger if
built with the right tactics and commitment of all groups and activists within
it. Widespread media reportage of the protest already shows the impact of the
movement at this early small stage and is also a confirmation of the
correctness of the issues the movement is campaigning over.
It is however crucial right from this early stage for
students and other participants in the #SaveLASU Campaign to draw the political
conclusion that to fully defeat APC's anti-poor education policies requires not
only protests at this or that of their policies but also the building of a
political alternative to boot them out of power such as the Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) which the DSM in collaboration with other working class fighters
is presently building. It is only by proffering a Socialist alternative that
the second leg of the #SaveLASU movement's slogan "Save LASU! Save the
Future" can be realised for the benefit of the mass majority of working
class youth who can never hope to have neither good education nor a good future
for as long as the APC and PDP capitalist bandits continue to rule.
