[size=13pt]PFN Slams Christian Varsities Over Crazy Fees[/size]

Posted By On January 19, 2011 @ 1:49 pm In Metro,News

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Lagos State Chapter has criticized owners of Christian private Universities for charging crazy fees, saying they are not showing good example to the world.

Rev. Femi Asiwaju, Vice Chairman, Lagos State PFN lamented that the churches which owned the universities ostensibly shut out the children of poor people in the church whose money owners of the churches used in building the universities and then charged unaffordable school fees.

He was speaking at the annual get together of the All Christian Leaders/Ministers Forum, ACLMF, in Lagos State, South West Nigeria, saying that many churches now wanted to set up universities because of the immediate profit it would yield rather than the education they wanted to offer.

According to him, these days, churches set up universities and the tuition fees they charge can’t be afforded by the children of the poor while only the rich could afford to send their children to those schools.

“It was not like this when the missionaries first brought education to us. Why are churches no longer setting up secondary schools? They prefer to set up universities because of the money.

“If a government in Osun State sets up a university and raised the fees and a church sets up a university and does the same,” the priority is lost, adding that churches had failed in this regard.

According to him, these churches need to trim down the exorbitant fees they charge in their universities, saying that “what example are we laying for the world? The money used in establishing the universities came from the church.

“The fees should be subsidized. In any of these churches, no poor people can send their children to these schools. If the missionaries had set up these schools, they will be cheap. The poor deserves to go to the best schools because they have brains too.”

The following Christian universities in the country charge these fees per session: Covenant University, N380,000 -N450,000; Redeemer University, N330,000 -N390,000; Crawford University N420,000; Bowen University N450,000; Babcock University, N612,000-N757,800 for resident students; and Ajayi Crowder University, N363,000 – N385,000.

However, Asiwaju has called on Lagosians to turn out enmasse and register in the ongoing voter registration exercise, saying the hiccup currently being experienced would soon fade away.

“On Monday, when I got to the centre to register, the battery of the DDC machine was flat. We need to be patient. Those operating the machines are new and the exercise will get better by the day,” he said.

Asiwaju also called on Lagosians to vote for Governor Babatunde Fashola in the forthcoming election, saying that he had really performed beyond expectation, adding that “Fashola is the man; he has done so much; look at Oshodi, the transformation there is great. That is the type of people we are looking for.

“While some governors are weeping and crying for lack of security in their states, this man has been able to liaise with the police to provide security. I did not vote for him the first time but this time around, I will vote for him.

“What we are having in Lagos State is a man that says, “let us do it right.’ Such a governor will never be poor but those who are stealing will only bring curse upon their families. What is being done in Lagos State can be replicated in other states,” he stated.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Christian Religious Matters, Rev. Sam Ogedengbe formally launched a campaign calendar on behalf of the ACLMF for Fashola’s second term ambition, calling on Lagosians to vote for him.

According to him, the launch of the calendar was to show appreciation to the governor for what he had done in repositioning and moving the state to greater heights, adding that he had performed beyond expectation.

He stated that he had been educating members of his church to go out and register in the ongoing voter registration exercise so that they could vote in the forthcoming general elections.

— Kazeem Ugbodaga