on december 31, 2013 at 9:52 am in news

*Student of the Lagos State Univesity
protesting hike in school fees

Dr Adekunle Idris, Chairman, Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos State
University, Ojo (LASU) chapter, on Monday
called on the State Government to urgently
address some burning issues in the institution.
Briefing journalists in Lagos, Idris urged the
state government, university council and
management to address the lingering issues to
forestall looming crises.

He said that the ASUU congress in the
university had mandated the executive
committee to explore avenues of dialogue to
resolve the contending issues.

The union leader, however, said that they may
be forced to declare an industrial action if the
dialogue with the government failed to achieve
the desired result.

Shedding light on the issues at stake, Idris said
that the state government had not
implemented the Universities Miscellaneous
Provision Act 2012 in LASU.

“This law was passed by the Federal Republic
of Nigeria for effective running of universities
and we were part of ASUU /FG 2009
agreement.

“One of the provisions of the agreement is that
academic staff on professional cadre shall
retire at age 70 and non-academic staff at 65.
“It also says that principal officers shall serve
for a single term of five years,” he said.

Idris said that the state government had,
during a deliberation with the institution’s
four unions on Dec. 31, 2010, promised to
implement the agreement but failed to do so.

According to him, the government also made
some promises to the union at a meeting held
on Nov. 29 but has yet to keep them.

“The union had consistently called on all the
stakeholders of the institution to intervene and
resolve the pending issues in LASU during the
five and a half months ASUU strike,” he said.

Idris also urged the government to review the
tuition fees in the university, noting that it had
become the most expensive public university
in Nigeria, making it unattractive to applicants.
“The 1416 candidates who applied for the
2013/2014 Post-UTME used to be just two
arms of the accounting department when the
fees were N25,000.

“There is an assurance that the number of
candidates short-listed for admission will drop
when some of them finally know the total
amount they will be paying.

“It is exorbitant for a student in the faculty of
education to pay N197,000 while other
departments pay N250,000 and the medical
students pay N350,000.

“The founding fathers meant that education
should be made available and affordable to all
citizens of Nigeria especially indigenes of Lagos
State but the current school fees has defeated
that objective,” he said.

Idris noted that the Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria Universities (SSANU), LASU chapter had
been on strike since Sept. 29, while the non-
academic staff suspended theirs on Dec. 3.
(NAN)

INTERESTING!!!

http:///2CxPla

Please does that mean the student's them self are still on strike....and are they any positive change regarding the school fees.....