LASU Student Protest Partial Opening of School, Demand Reduction In Tuition

LASU Student Protest of School Opening

Hundreds of protesting students of Lagos State University (LASU) as well as rights activists under the aegis of Save LASU Group have rejected the partial resumption of academic activities in the school even as they called for the reversal of the hike in school fees.

Submitting their petition at the Lagos State House of Assembly, leader of the students, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, said the protest was against the idea of partial re-opening of the school which the management has fixed for next Monday.

"We are aware of the directive that all final year students should resume academic activities on Monday February 24, 2014. We want to make it clear that the resumption cannot be for final year students alone. All of us will be resuming on Monday," Soweto said.

The students leader said the remote of cause of LASU crisis is "the astronomical hike" in school fees while adding that the immediate cause of the problem is the "high-handedness" of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa.

"Apart from the increment in the school fees which we have consistently protested against, we are also asking the House of Assembly and the state government to look into the managerial competency of Prof. Obafunwa, the Vice Chancellor, whose refusal to re-open the school portal for students to register for examinations actually triggered the current wave of crisis," Soweto said.

The students also said they also want to be assured that none of them will be victimised when the school resumes.

Responding, the deputy speaker, Kolawole Taiwo, said the petition will be submitted to the investigating panel of the House handling LASU crisis, which will in turn inform the entire House of its findings.

It would be recalled that after the January 23 students' protest at LASU main campus in Ojo, Lagos, the school authority shut down the institution indefinitely.