By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Palpable tension now pervades the campus of newly-christened Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), Ikorodu, over the payment of new school fees.
The Lagos State Government recently announced the upgrading of the institution from a polytechnic (LASPOLY), to a state university of technology.
But ThisNigeria gathered at the institution last week that students are now poised for war, pegged on the payment of new school fees, even though on the surface, they might seem ‘marginal’.
Some of the students who spoke to our correspondent said they are uncomfortable with the hardship imposed on them and their parents/sponsors by the school authorities, allegedly on the prompting of the state government, immediately after the upgrading.
They accused the state of compounding their woes with new fees, even when they are not going to be participants in the new degree-awarding status, as it were.
A first-year Ordinary National Diploma (OND) student said, “Immediately after the conversion, they raised the school fees from about N67, 000 to N81, 000.”
Another respondent, an OND Mass Communication student, who requested anonymity, corroborated the claim, but with a slight variation: “We normally paid N67, 000, but it has now been raised close to N100, 000.”
On the impact of the new regime of fees, he added, “We have decided not to pay.”
The fees, he stressed, are greatly affecting the students, adding that, as a body, they have decided to reject the payment, on the grounds of “what is the essence?”
According to him, what makes the scenario more painful “is the fact that the new fees were announced immediately after the state government announced the change of status of the institution.”
An OND two student, Kemi (she withheld the surname), in the Department of Computer Science, said: “They have increased the fees, and it is seriously affecting us.”
According to her, “there is no money, yet, there is nothing we can do.”
Yet another Science student, whose first name the correspondent was only captured from his dangling identity card as ‘John’, also acknowledged the rise in fees, but noted that the payment had become difficult because the deadline was Friday, when he was spoken to.
“I checked the porters yesterday. Just checked again this afternoon. They said the deadline is today. But you don’t know whether they are going to extend the date, but what difference does that make?”
He added, “The increase is affecting us.”
Curiously, some lecturers are silent on the matter. A lecturer in one of the departments (name withheld), simply said on inquiry: “We don’t grant interviews.”
However, a representative of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Adesina Wonuola, finally responded to a phone call, after many follow-ups, “Everything has been settled. The situation is going back to normal.”
An independent source attempted to break the ‘deadlock’. “It is now paid as you enter,” he said.
Another female student, however, told our reporter on Tuesday, “No, they have not resolved the matter. They are just using us to ‘do’ university.”
The new university’s head of public relations, Lanre Kuye, however, spoke on the matter when accosted in his office on some students’ resolve not to pay the new fees.
He said, “How can you say you cannot pay? I am a parent too, but I know that the new fees are not too high to pay.”
Sounding a note of warning, he fumed, “Let them not pay; it’s deemed that you have withdrawn from the school if you do not pay.”
The controversial fees
Checks on the campus show that charges have, indeed, been raised, especially for part-time students, to which most of the students are enrolled.
Samples displayed at a business centre near the Students’ Union Government (SUG) building show that for those in the non-sciences in the OND programmes, the increase ranges from N75,000 to N83,000. Business and allied studies now attract between N66, 000 and N69, 000, and Sciences, N72, 000 to N76, 000, depending on the payment module (100 or 60 per cent).
For Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes, non-sciences’ fees have been pegged at between N79,000 and N80,000; Business, N65,000 to N67,000, and N74,000 and N80,000 for Science.
Angry students who claim they are foot-dragging on payment hinge their position of lack of capacity by parents to afford the bills.
But the main reason, according to one of them, is that “those of us currently in the school are undergoing programmes on the old schedule -OND/HND. I am in ND One, and they are only saying it is when we complete OND 2 that we can apply for direct entry for the degree programme.
“So, why the rush to increase fees,” he queried.
Conversion blues
LASUSTECH was accredited for a change of status by the National Universities Commission (NUC) on February 13, 2022. The Lagos State government immediately appointed the new rector of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOLY), as the acting Vice-Chancellor (VC) of LASUSTECH.
Since the conversion, no noticeable changes have been seen on the campus, minus some building projects advancing in some departments like the School of Agriculture and School of Technology.
A hawker at the main gate which prides itself as “The Polytechnic of Excellence; Bedrock of Technology”, on Sagamu Road, lamented that those making their livelihood at the gate through retailing and artisanship have been given marching orders, to reflect the new-look status. One of those affected said, “They said we are now defacing the school.”
Signboards at the main entrance still give contrasting signals: “Lagos State University of Science and Technology” and “Lagos State Polytechnic respectively.
A trader spoke of the challenges and the expected reward to be derived from the new status. She said, “It is not like before. They will now be doing masters and other degrees here. Money will increase, and farming and other units will join.”
