Students of the Lagos State University (LASU) have ruled out the possibility of any of them paying the hiked school fees announced by the Governor Babatunde Fashola aministration.

Their position was made known by President of the Lagos State University Students Union (LASUSU), Comrade Nurudeen Yusuf.

Addressing a press briefing at the Ojuelegba Campus of LASU, Comrade Yusuf said: “The students had unanimously agreed not to pay the increased fee, as they resume a new session, next week until a reduction is made.”

He disclosed that “the union held a meeting with the governor on April 3 and he made it clear that total reversal of the fee is not possible.

“Fashola instructed that we should go and look at the breakdown of the fee and come up with how much we want the government to reduce it to.

Criticising the new fees, the LASUSU President said: “For instance, N15,000 is charged for teaching practice at the faculty of education, like housemanship for medical students, which is a service rendered by the students to the public.

“We are supposed to be paid for rendering these services and not pay for rendering it.

“The N350,000 charged as tuition fee for a year without feeding and accommodation is more expensive than in some private universities which charge N450,000 a year with feeding and accommodation,”

Comrade Yusuf said that following Fashola’s directive, the union met with LASU students on April 7 and that the meeting came up with a proposal of N46,500 for returning students and N65,500 for freshers as the new tuition fee.

The union leader said the proposal on the amended fee was submitted to the governor on April 24 with a list of 86 students who dropped out of the institution after the fee was increased.

“Unfortunately, we had not received any response from the government since then and we had further written another letter to the governor last week as a reminder,” he said.

The LASUSU President vowed that the students would cripple the Lagos economy if their demands were not met.

“The dreams of thousands of youths out there have been shattered by the fee hike and one day, they will come back asking for their right,” he said, adding:

“There is a correlation between peace and literacy rate, so Lagos must begin to invest heavily on security as the insurgency in the North today can be premised on their level of literacy.”

•Photo shows LASU students during a protest against the new school fees.

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