The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday urged Governor Babatunde Fashola to release the students of the Lagos State University (LASU), who were arrested during their protests against hiked tuition. The students’ leaders made the request at the State House, Alausa, while presenting certificate of commendation to the governor for reverting LASU fees to N25,000.
The Chairman of NANS in Lagos State, Mr. Yakub Eletu, said students who participated in the protest against hiked LASU fees “are being victimised.”
The students’ leaders fingered the management of the institution of victimising some of the students involved in the protest with its policies and decisions.
He lamented that some of the students “have been asked to face the senate, while some are being denied the opportunity to go for their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) because they protested over the increase in school fees.
“In order to deny students the opportunity to serve their fatherland, the school management withheld their call up letters sent from NYSC headquarters, Abuja.”
Eletu specifically mentioned the names of the victimised students as Mr. Yemi Cole and Mr. Ogungbe Maruf, among others, thereby calling for Fashola’s intervention.
According to him, “we want the governor to prevail on the management of the university to sheath his sword and allow the student who wants to go for NYSC to do so and others not to face any panel.
He, therefore, argued that since the school fees “has been reduced by the governor, there is no need for the school management to victimize anyone.”
He appealed to Fashola to prevail on his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amosun to re-open the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago-Iwoye and to revert the tuition of the institution.
Reacting to the students’ request, Fashola assured them to interface with Amosun to resolve the face-off between him and students of the OOU.
He, also, urged the leadership of students unions across the country “to brace up for future leadership roles in the country and use student unionism as a platform and opportunity to prepare themselves for future leadership that earnestly awaits them.”
The governor argued that action and inaction as student leaders would define their perception of leadership both now and in the near future.
He pledged to always pursue policies, which he said, would enhance the standard of education while urging the students’ union in the country to change its style of pressing home its demands,
He said: “We did not just wake up one day and decided to increase the tuition of the school. But it was you the students who protested to the state House of Assembly to complain over the state of the school. And based on your complaints, we acted accordingly.
“Part of the recommendation by the visitation panel was that the tuition of the school should be increased for the progress of the school,” he added.
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