Save LASU Group Protests In Lagos

A body known as The Save Lagos State University Campaign Movement staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday at Ogba, Lagos, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

It was learnt that the protest was in response to the high fees imposed on newly-admitted students of the institution.

The protesters are made up of members of the Save LASU groups, including the Education Rights Campaign, the National Union of LASU Students and some sympathetic members of the public.

They chanted solidarity songs and marched from the International Press Centre, Dideolu Court, Ogba, where they had addressed reporters.

They carried placards with inscriptions, `Fee hike, and the root cause of crisis in LASU ’, ‘Save LASU Save the future’ and ‘LASU is for all and not the rich only.”

The National Coordinator of ERC, Mr. Hassan Soweto, said that his group was campaigning to reposition LASU.

Soweto said the protest was also intended to
sensitise members of the public to the need to rescue the institution from collapse.

He said, “The Save LASU Campaign has the interest of not just LASU students but youths out there, who have been deprived of quality education due to the obnoxious policies of the state.

“We have employed the use of intellectuals and mass protest, so as to help us to achieve our aim of making LASU a citadel of excellence.”

The coordinator noted that the group would march peacefully to the Lagos State House of Assembly on February 18 to submit a petition.

He said the petition would demand the immediate re-opening of LASU and a reversal of the fee hike, among other requests.

He said that they would demand adequate funding as well as democratic management of the university.

The group also warned that students should not be made to pay compensation or be victimised as a result of the protest that led to the closure of the institution.

“We call on all well-meaning Lagosians, Nigerians, ‘LASUITES’ and the world at large, who believe that education is right and not a privilege to help to form a force against the cabal, who wish to price education out of the reach of the poor,” he said.

The coordinator also urged the Lagos State Government to comply with the recommendation of UNESCO that 25 per cent of state’s annual budgets should be devoted to education.

According to him, a state that makes over N80bn monthly as Internally Generated Revenue should not leave the funding of the university to the fees of students.

The management of LASU shut down the institution indefinitely on January 23, following a protest by some students of the institution over what they claimed was outrageous fees being charged.