SCHOOL FEES HIKE: STUDENT GROUP PLANS PROTEST

by Chibuike David Nwachukwu

A group of students and alumni of the University of Lagos backed by the Students Solidarity Group against Fee Hike, have said they would protest the recent hike in students fees by the University management on September 5.

Mr Femi Adeyeye, one of the co-ordinators of the group, had said in a statement that the students demanded an immediate reversal of the fees to status quo.

Recall that the University of Lagos had announced on July 21, 2023 an increase in the tuition fees of the undergraduate students of the undergraduate students from N19,000 to N190,000 for medicine undergraduates and N140,000 for courses that required laboratory and studio, due to what it describes as as “prevailing economic realities”.

The group said that it’s previous meeting with the school management had yielded no results, and had described the decision taken by the UNILAG management as authoritarian, illogical and economically inconsiderate. In it’s statement, it said: “It has become imperative to inform the public of mass protests against Fee Hike scheduled to start on September 6, 2023, as all Nigerian students, parents, civil society organizations and informal workers are set to hit the streets to say enough of untold hardship meter out to us.

Our argument remains that the responsibility of finding public education can not be shifted to poor students and their parents even in a draining economy such as this”

“We believe our civility should be reciprocated with respect, especially from people saddled with the responsibility of serving the public” the statement read in part.