TAKING UP FASHOLA ON LASU FEE HIKE

Since the announcement of the fee hike in
Lagos State University in October, 2011 by
the Lagos State Government, I have had every
reason to think about the rationale behind
the fee hike. What could make a so-called
"progressive" government hike tuition fees in
her sole university by 985 percent! The fees
was hiked from N25,000 to between
N193,750 and N348,750. I keep thinking and
thinking about the rationale.
How on earth will a state government hike
tuition fees outrageously without considering
her citizens’ ability to pay? How on earth will
the government hike tuition fees by 985
percent when it finds it difficult to implement
a 58 percent increase in minimum wage?
Officials of the Lagos State Government
including the Governor have on many
occasions tried hard to justify the increment.
Following the fee hike Governor Babatunde
Fashola while speaking at Government
College, Ughelli’s annual luncheon party in
Lagos battled hard to justify the hike.
Vanguard Newspaper of 6th December, 2011
reported him to have said:
“Countries that do not prioritize education
are always at the mercy of those who place a
high premium on education. Where in the
world have we seen tuition fee of university of
N25,000? You cannot find this anywhere.
Even the nations that are developed and
wealthy do not give education for N25,000.
LASU started very well and over the years, the
population grew and beyond the available
facilities and the school began to deteriorate.
We are determined to rescue LASU and we
will not make it a school for the poor. We are
unconsciously making Nigeria a society where
there will be a school for the rich and one for
the poor. Several people in this country pay
so much for education abroad while the
schools here continue to deteriorate. It is only
in the university that the children of the rich
and children of the poor can sit in the same
classroom.”
The speech of Mr. Governor painted the
picture of a "sincere" governor who desires
quality education for his people. But I beg to
ask – How best can a government prioritize
education if not by devoting 26% budgetary
allocation to the sector in line with UNESCO
recommendation which other developing
countries are already implementing. Governor
Fashola should translate his commitment to
educational development into practical
actions that would hike the state's education
budget to UNESCO standard as against the
current 10.49% education budget. Ghana for
instance commits 31% of her budget to
education. What is needed to transform LASU
into a world-class institution is hike in
education budget as against hike in fees.
You also cannot compare the tuition fees
payable in Nigerian public universities with
those paid in other developing and developed
countries. The socio-economic set-up is
different. The living and working conditions
differ. We all know that civil servants despite
earning a minimum wage as low as N18,000
end up spending a large chunk of this on
providing electricity (generator), water,
security etc. for their families, which
ordinarily is the duty of government. Just as
there are countries that have universities
charging far above N25,000 as tuition fees,
there are also countries that provide free or
heavily subsidized university education to
their people. In fact there are countries with
loan and other welfare packages for students
to finance their university education
regardless of ethnic or social background.
True to his word, Mr. Governor has achieved
his purpose of not making LASU a school for
the poor, remember he said “We are
determined to rescue LASU and we will not
make it a school for the poor”.
Mr. Governor missed the point when he said
“several people in this country pay so much
for education abroad while the schools here
continue to deteriorate”. Several people? Like
how many? What percentage of parents in
Lagos State have their children in foreign
universities? He needs to provide answers
backed with facts and figures!
About 1.7 million applicants participated in
the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME) but tertiary institutions
in Nigeria could only accommodate about
500, 000 candidates. This implies that 1.2
million candidates would have to wait till
another year.
This underlines the fact that a greater number
of youths from poor background rely on
public universities for university education.
Mr. Governor should show us that middle-
level staff of his whose salary encourages
him to send his child to a private university
whether home or abroad. It is majorly the
children of top management executives,
religious leaders, public officers that access
university education oversea.
In my four year sojourn in Lagos State
University, I had friends across all faculties
and I never at any point in time came across
children of the super-rich. Most of my friends
came from communities like Ajegunle, Agege,
Ajangbadi, Ketu, Ebute metta and other
communities that host the not-too privileged
in the society. Of course the rich want the
best education for their children with an
assurance of a definite time of graduation, as
such they will definitely be unwilling to send
their children to public universities which
have been characterized by incessant strike
actions, infrastructural decay, underfunding
among other problems.
Similarly, Mr. Governor while addressing
newsmen shortly after the first session of the
seventh executive and legislative parley held
at the Golden Tulip, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos in
2011 also fought hard to justify the fee hike.
Daily Trust Newspaper of 27th November,
2011 reported the governor to have said:
“Before we took that decision, the state
executive council carefully considered the
current state of infrastructure and personnel
in the institutions vis-a-vis what it should
be. And also considered the cost of properly
funding the institutions as against what
currently accrue to them from all sources.
The state government will continue to fund
the university substantially noting that the
resources of the government are not
unlimited and other important complicating
interests abound especially in the areas of
basic education, healthcare and infrastructure
among others. As a legitimate government,
we must never hide problems from our
people. We must share our difficulties with
them in our proposal for overcoming them.
This is the time we must commit ourselves to
the development of a first class institutions
which will compete with others”.
Furthermore, on February 22, 2013, while
giving an address at the 18th convocation
ceremony of LASU, Governor Fashola
represented by his Commissioner for Works
and Infrastructure, Dr. Kadiri Hamzat
expressed his commitment to make LASU a
world class University.
“…for the past few years, the fortunes of the
University have been mixed. I wish to
reassure of our commitment in developing the
institution to world class standard. This is
evident in the ongoing physical
transformation of the institution and our
journey to ensure that we get to the top 50
from the top 100” he said.
Contrary to Fashola’s pledge of improving
the ranking of LASU, the University has
plunged drastically in the recent ranking of
Nigerian universities. According to
Webometrics's ranking of 100 best
Universities in Nigeria for the first quarter of
2014, LASU holds the 37th position as
against the 10th and 11th position it held in
the past two years respectively.
This combined with the drastic drop in
student enrollment is enough reason for a
logical conclusion to be drawn that the fee
hike if not reversed would lead to further
crisis in the institution. The effect of the fee
hike on student enrollment has become very
obvious.
The first victims of the hike accepted their
admission without any prior knowledge of a
985% increase in fees. They had applied for
admission based on the old fee regime of
N25,000. The fee hike drastically reduced the
intakes for 2011/2012 with only 1,951
students (representing 39.8%) out of 4,903
students offered admission turning out for
matriculation. This act alone constitutes an
injustice to these students. The 2012/2013
academic session witnessed a drastic
reduction in the number of candidates that
choose LASU while registering for UTME. Out
of the 2,784 students offered admission, only
2,008 were cleared for matriculation.
During the matriculation ceremony for the
2013/2014 academic session held on 28th
March, 2014, the Vice Chancellor of the
University, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa said a
total of 1,582 candidates were offered
admission but only 1,119 candidates were
cleared for matriculation (Vanguard
Newspaper 29th March, 2014). This implies
that 463 candidates representing 29% were
unable to raise 70% down payment demanded
by the university management. If this trend
continues, by the time the incoming 400 level
students graduate in less than a year's time,
the cumulative student population in LASU
will just be a little above 5,000 as against
the pre-fee hike population of 20,000 and
above.
It is instructive to note that Governor Fashola
and his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
during their cumulative 15 years reign as
Governor never bothered to establish a single
tertiary institution in the state despite the
huge revenue accruing to the state purse and
teeming population of the state.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS), Lagos State generated N202.761
billion and N219.202 billion in 2011 and
2012 respectively making it the state with
the highest internally generated revenue.
Given this huge revenue, Lagos State has the
financial wherewithal to comfortably establish
and fund another state university and make
university education available and affordable
for more people.
The four Lagos State-owned tertiary
institutions were established by past civilian
and military government. Adeniran
Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED)
was established in 1958; Lagos State
Polytechnic was founded in 1977; Lagos
State University was established in 1983 by
Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Michael Otedola
College of Primary Education (MOCPED) was
established in 1994 under the leadership of
Col. Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The duo also failed
to expand the capacity of the existing
institutions to meet up with increasing
demand for tertiary education. Till date most
of the state-owned institutions rely heavily
on facilities provided by past regimes.
The former Governor of Lagos State and
founder of LASU, Alhaji Lateef Jakande had in
the wake of the fee hike pleaded with
Governor Fashola to review the fees.
Jakande said: "I am pleading with the
governor to review the new fees, so that our
heritage would not be destroyed. Before now,
the poor people have been struggling to see
their children through school. The increase in
fees will affect their children" (Daily Post
Newspaper, December 21, 2011).
Governor Fashola must as a matter of
urgency do the needful by hearkening to the
voice of the people. Any policy that will
reduce people's access to public utility
should not be allowed to live. Governor
Fashola should take a cue from late Chief
Obafemi Awolowo ( a man whose philosophy
Governor Fashola and his party, the All
Progressive Congress claim to pursue) by
applying his philosophy - "the greatest good
for the greatest number" to resolving the
crisis in LASU.
By: Ewebiyi Keye James,
Former General Secretary , Lagos State
University Students' Union and member of
Education Rights Campaign.
Twitter: @Keyestine