Date: 2014-06-21

REPORTS of students' protests are anything but new anymore. For some time now, schools have been shut over students' endless protests which sometimes assume violent dimensions.

The protests are not limited to a section of the country, neither are they restricted to a range of tertiary institutions. In the past months, various universities, polytechnics as well as colleges of education in different parts of the country have recorded protests and closure. There have been protests over poor learning and living conditions. There have even been protests over demands for examination and release of results, but the chief reason for most protests is hike in tuition.

But the hike in tuitions did not start weeks ago. Different schools seem to have had a fair share of the problem in the past years. The University of Ado Ekiti (UNAD) had in 2009 announced about 400 per cent hike in school fees for new students of the school. The then vice chancellor of the institution, Professor Dipo Kolawole, had pointed out that the increment was the only option left for the university to survive.

The hike, which was greeted with protests, saw students in arts, law, management and social sciences mandated to pay N90,000, while those in engineering were asked for a tuition of N120,000. Medical students were required to pay N200,000, as against N19,500 and N21,500 earlier paid respectively.

But five years after the Ekiti debacle, there seems to be no end to such arbitrary hikes. For some time now, the media have been awash with news of protests in various schools over this problem.

The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has shut the institution over protests by its students. The students had since the increment of fees embarked on protests. For weeks, those of the Lagos State University (LASU) have been at it, while just over a week ago, the same drama unfolded at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, where students also protested arbitrary hike in fees.

Tuition increase-induced crises have also been reported at the University of Port Harcourt, University of Calabar and University of Ilorin in recent times. Perhaps the most dramatic of them all is the situation at LASU, where protests have continuously trailed the declaration of the Lagos State government to jack up the fees payable by the students.

Since the government first fiddled with the idea a couple of years ago, peace, which has somehow always been fragile in the school, owning to LASU's penchant for having problems associated with cultism, seems to have completely evaporated.

In October 2011, the state government approved and introduced a new fee regime, which saw the overall tuition shoot up from N25, 000 to as much as N348, 750. Needless to say, many of the students who are mostly from average-income families found this difficult to pay.

Though the state government, in obeying calls from various stakeholders, has reviewed the hike with a proposed 34 to 60 per cent reduction across all faculties, there seems to be no end in sight to the crisis, which has seen the institution witness a shutdown twice within the last three academic sessions (2011/2012, 2012/2013, 2013/2014). This is because students of the institution, led by members of its students union, have insisted on 67 per cent reduction.

At this juncture, it will be noteworthy to state that starting from 2011, the students of the school were mandated to pay N193,750, N223,750, N248,750, N258,750, N298,750, and N348,750 for students in the faculties of arts/education, social/management sciences, law, science, engineering and medicine, respectively.

Thus, if the government's proposed 60 per cent reduction is eventually adopted, it means students in arts/education would be paying N77,500, while those in law would end up paying N99,500. Those in engineering would be expected to part ways with N119,500, while their counterparts in social/management sciences and science would be expected to cough up N89, 000 and N103,500 respectively.

Students split

There, however, appears to be cracks within the rank and file of the student's body. While some see the government's 60 per cent reduction proposal as a fair bargain, others insist that it is either 67 per cent reduction (or even more) or no deal.

Belonging to the first group is a student in the Faculty of Management Sciences, who sought anonymity. He told Saturday Tribune that he believed that the government had been considerate enough on the matter, and as such, the students should embrace the olive leaf waved by the government. He expressed the fear that failure for students to reach a compromise might push the government against the wall, thus leaving it with no choice but to close down the school.

"I think the government has been considerate enough to have proposed a 60 per cent reduction in our fees. It is time we students played our own role in the entire peace process. If students keep clamouring for further reduction, the problem could last forever. If you look at what the government has put on the table and what the SUG is offering, you will discover that the difference is just seven per cent, just a few thousands of naira in this case. So, I don't think it is really worth it to keep fighting over this," he stated.

But Fade Odewo, another student of the school, disagreed with his colleague. He insisted that there were many others who would still find it difficult to pay the fees, irrespective of the government's proposed 60 per cent fees reduction. According to him, agreeing to the government's suggestions or proposal would be synonymous with denying a group of people access to education in Lagos State.

"I lost a couple of my friends to the first outrageous hike. I am talking about very brilliant guys, who had to withdraw from the school because they could not pay even half of their tuition fees. There are still a lot of our colleagues who may find it difficult to pay the new fees even if the government reduces it by 60 per cent," Odewo remarked.

Dwindling enrolment

There are indications that annual enrolment of students in LASU has begun to dwindle, as the soaring fees are beginning to drive prospective candidates back. According to facts made available to the media, student's enrolment as of 2009/2010 was 5,917, but after the introduction of the tuition in 2011/2012, student enrolment dropped to 4,903, out of which only 1,951 got matriculated.

The downward trend has continued ever since, thus in 2013/2014, 1582 students were matriculated. Though it is uncertain if other schools that have also introduced increased tuition fees have a similar experience as LASU, the general notion is that LASU's case is peculiar because of what has been called the outrageous nature of the increase.

It was also reported that the declining student enrolment has been a source of concern to the lecturers who suddenly found themselves caught in the middle of the fight, as their jobs could somehow be on the line if students keep on avoiding LASU.

Stakeholders speak

While the debate about why school managements as well as the government should deem it fit to increase tuition fees continue to rage, public analysts believe the trend may not end soon, because of government's continued attitude towards education.

But when condemning the new trend of jacking up fees indiscriminately, former General Secretary, Lagos State University Students' Union and member of Education Rights Campaign, Mr Ewebiyi Keye James, noted that it was wrong for any government to see hiking of school fess as the only way to provide quality education, which is the reason often cited by the government for increasing tuition fees.

"You cannot compare the tuition payable in Nigeria's 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, among others, 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, there are also countries that provide free or heavily subsidised 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," he stated. Similarly, in a recent chat with journalists, National Treasurer, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Ademola Aremu, said education was something that should be made affordable, available and accessible to the people.

"Over 70 per cent of Nigerians are living on less than $2 per day, meaning that they live in poverty. Yet, we expect these people to send their children to school and pay school fees to the university level.

"I do not agree with the policy that government cannot fund education without the students paying tuition fee. Let the Nigerian government stop 50 per cent of corruption that goes on in the system and I assure you that we can afford to have full free education at all levels in Nigeria because we are going to have a lot of money to finance several sectors," he said.

But the Lagos State government has continued to assure members of the public of the government's best intentions in the entire scheme.

Speaking in Lagos to assuage any ill feelings towards the hike in fees, which has subsequently been reduced by 60 per cent, Special Adviser to the Lagos State government on Education, Mr Fatai Olukoga, said the government was passionate about repositioning LASU, and would, therefore, spare no efforts in transforming the institution to a citadel of excellence.

"The government will continue its increased spending on infrastructure and physical development of the university to reposition it," he stated. The recent protest witnessed at TASUED was also not as a result of hike in tuition. It was said to have been spearheaded by students who could not complete their registration within the stipulated time. The affected students, penultimate Wednesday, paralysed the ongoing 2013/2014 first semester examination over the decision of the authorities to disqualify them from partaking in the examination over the non-completion of their registration. The students barricaded the entrance of the school and vandalised properties. It was gathered that the management had initially postponed the examination so as to give students who had not paid their fees to do so, but some refused to comply until the school's portal was finally closed against registration.

A student of the university, who identified himself as Mayowa Awoyemi, admitted that over 85 per cent of the students had paid the fees and were ready to write the examination. He noted that a few of the students who had challenges in printing out their receipts and those who had not paid at all were responsible for the protest.

As for the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, payment for ICT tablets, in addition to the tuition payable by fresh students, introduced last year by the school was said to have surprised many parents and wards. Their worry was said to be connected to finances that come with admission of students. Some of the parents reportedly saw no option but to pay the money in view of the joy of securing admission for their wards.

Meanwhile, the authorities of the university explained that the institution had not actually increased its tuition in recent time. Speaking with the Saturday Tribune in Ilorin, the Deputy Director of Information of the institution, Alhaji Kunle Akogun, said there was nothing like arbitrary increase in tuition, adding that first-year students were only asked to pay N20, 000 for the ICT tablets.

The institution's image maker, who said the computer tablets had since been distributed to the students to aid their learning, said that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, flagged off the exercise a few weeks ago in the institution. He said that there were no complaints from parents and wards as the reason for the money was clearly stated from outset.