The Students’ Solidarity Group Against Fee Hike at the University of Lagos (Unilag) has alerted that thousands of students of the institution are on the verge of dropping out as they cannot afford the ‘reduced fees and the palliatives’ announced by the management.
The group, which addressed a press conference in Lagos at the weekend in Ikeja, Lagos, stated that its recent survey has revealed that the students have been passing through great difficulties due to the commercialization of education.
The group’s statement read by Femi Adeyeye, one of their coordinators, stated: “It is the responsibility of government to improve the living, teaching and learning conditions of students and staffers and not to commercialise these conditions
“We want to use this medium to assure Akokaites and by extension all Nigerian students that no stone shall be left unturned to force the Tinubu regime to respect the rights of students to affordable education.
“We will continue to mobilise across the board until education becomes affordable to all. We shall take all steps necessary and within the ambit of the law, to stop this crime against humanity – privatisation and commercialisation of education in Nigeria.”
The group said it was disheartening to see that even with the fee hike, the school management had been unwilling to provide a smoother and more inclusive accommodation process for students.
“As we approach the commencement of academic activities in just four days, this inefficiency leaves many students in a state of uncertainty, which is unacceptable by the masses of students.
“It would interest you, members of the Press, to know that the UNILAG Management still has a case of extortion to answer.
“They will have to explain to the world which account the N390,000 extra goes into, for an overpriced Sodeinde Hall wherein the price announced to the world is N135,000. We promise you that we won’t allow this criminal act to slide,” it stressed.
The group announced that in the coming weeks, it would reel out activities of resistance in line with the demands of the #FeesMustFall movement.
The group urged the students to follow religiously all activities it would be organizing to check activities of the management which are against them.
It informed that the activities would include a physical Congress on campus in the coming days on resumption to discuss all welfare issues such as hiked fees and actions needed to be taken to safeguard their interests as students.
“The Congress shall take into cognisance the importance of organising for a vibrant Students’ Union. We wish to state that we will not wait for the management to ‘teleguide’ our union. It is called a Students’ Union and not Management Union, for a reason.
“Solidarity meetings with Staff Unions shall be duly held. Solidarity meetings with civil society organisations, to further deepen the struggle will also take place.
“In conclusion, we wish to salute the courage displayed so far in the struggle, we appreciate the resoluteness of all UNILAG students despite the intimidation and we are confident that the time for a resurgence of activism and unionism, to change society for the better, is upon us at the University of Lagos.”
