LASU Students Task Fashola On Closure Of Payment Portal

The Lagos State University Students Union
(LASUSU) on Tuesday urged Gov. Babatunde
Fashola to direct the closure of the institution’s
payment and registration portal.
According to Mr Nurudeen Yusuf, the union’s
President, the closure of the portal was
necessary until the government reduced the
tuition fees.
“We hereby appeal that the payment and
registration portal be closed till the government
makes pronouncement on LASU fees as
proposed by the students union.
“This is to ward off unforeseen eventualities
that may arise in the nearest future,” he said.
Yusuf said the deadline by the management for
students to pay their fees and register courses
for the 2013/2014 academic session before May
30 has lapsed.
He said students were bent on their “no
reduction, no resumption” policy and that
discussions on how much the students would
pay were still ongoing.
Meanwhile, Fashola, at a meeting with LASUSU
on March 31, directed the students to come up
with a proposal on how much they could afford.
The students decided that the fee should be
reduced to N46, 500 for returning students and
N65, 500 for fresh students.
The proposal by the students was submitted
on April 24, while several reminders were sent
to the governor on the issue.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Education,
Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, at a media briefing on
May 8, said the government would soon make a
pronouncement on fees.
Yusuf said the students were not satisfied with
the government’s statement since the word
‘soon does not indicate a definite time”.
“If a 50-year- old can die and we say gone too
soon, hence, anytime can be soon,” he said.
Yusuf said that sequel to several peaceful
protests by the students, the State Exco Ad-hoc
Committee met with the union on the review of
LASU tuition on May 27.
He said the Committee, chaired by Mr Kayode
Opeifa, the Commissioner for Transport, had
decided that quality education could not be
achieved based on the students’ proposal.
Opeifa said the tuition of  N46, 500 would make
LASU a university for the poor and all comers.
“The committee said the state government is
subsidising education in LASU by 90 per cent and
government is only responsible for free
education up to secondary level,” he said.