On Thursday, May 15, 2014, Wande Baruwa, a 300 Level student of Fishery, LASU, lamented: “I am spending five years in this school and you can imagine me paying that outrageous amount of money with other miscellaneous fees. I support ASUU impending strike wholeheartedly. Who knows, there might be a total reversal” –. The Nation
Greatest LASUites, who do we blame for our woes? Ourselves, or parents, for their apathy towards politics where they could have amassed enormous wealth to airlift/sponsor us to foreign universities or indigenous private institutions to learn?
In the last couple of months, we have suddenly turned ‘young Turks’- agitators, fighting for our rights – School Fees Reversal. To say the least, between January 22-23, till the present time, June, 5, 2014, we have neither retreated nor surrendered. One of such was the uprising at the main campus- Ojo, as a result of Portal Closure which forced the university’s management to shutdown the school. This came few weeks after the nationwide ASUU trike, which lasted for nearly six months, by which time, academic activities and the likes were paralysed.
Now, another one (internal strike) which will further prolonge our statutory years of graduation has begun. We have used various means to enlighten the government on the need to back pedal on its hard-line position in the midst of the ongoing struggle but it turned blind eye. Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana has at different fora, urged the governor to rescind his decision on the LASU Fee Hike, but Mr. Fashola chooses to remain adamant. With the current grounding of activities in the institution, it further justifies the claim in some quarters that ‘LASU is an upgraded secondary school’.
It is unfortunate that this infamy has earned LASUites several aliases few of which are “LASU students are arrogant”, “LASU students are radicals” e.t.c., even though they do complement it by saying: “though they are radical intellectuals as well”. But the fact that the name, ‘LASU’ is often found on the front pages of national dailies, in my opinion, does not speak well of our degrees in the labour market. This explains why there are reports of discriminatory remarks on the bearers of LASU certificates while searching for employment.
In fact, the recent protest by the students which was disrupted by the police use of tear gas canisters around Bolade-Oshodi axis on June 2, 2014, seems to be another justification for our sobriquets. But, the public should rather blame the government and not LASUites because, ‘you cannot beat a child and expect him to be silent.’
Meanwhile, the management team headed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Obafunwa, has been very tenacious to annihilate this scourge, as could be seen in its slogan:
“LASU…….Repositioning for Excellence”. However, this perestroika need to be complemented by the government through proactive and students – friendly policies.
Our collective struggle in the last few months has been strengthened despite challenges, appealing to the governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), to heed to our demands.
No doubt, the Students’ Union (SU) under Comrade Nurudeen (a.k.a OPTIMIST), has become more vibrant than ever; his counterpart, Speaker, Students Parliamentary Council (SPC), Comrade Funsho (a.k.a BHF) has been very gigantic; the National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS), under Comrade Adeyemi (a.k.a ONIKORO), is blazing; and Comrade Momodu (a.k.a EMBASSY), has turned ‘advocate of the students’ through his writings on the LASUites’ struggles- all in the quest to SAVE LASU for ourselves and future generations.
On numerous occasions, we have been maimed and frustrated for agitating for a just cause. In whichever way, note this, whatever it will cost us, no matter how long it will take, we must remain resolute and repudiate any advances of being susceptible to compromise to enable us triumph in this struggle, which in my opinion, has trans-generational benefits. It is noteworthy that whatever little things we enjoy today, be it democracy, education, individual freedoms, etc. were not gotten on a platter of gold, but through stress and strain, undergone by our heroes past.
Recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, when he said: “the tree of liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants and patriots”. Though, while this struggle is far from being bloody, we must let- go all the demons of fears in ourselves and put on the jackets of brevity in order to record maximum success; because, as the saying goes: “an injustice to one, is an injustice to all”.
I want to strongly urge the Lagos State government to urgently take immediate action to save the image of LASU and restore its dwindling glory by implementing the Students’ Union Proposal submitted to it five weeks now. Delay is dangerous. The government can no longer hide under the excuse that N46,500 can’t train a student.
In a related development that appears to be a relief to our greatest headache today, the PUNCH of Wednesday, May 14, 2014, had reported the Lagos State government, through its Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, as saying: “you will hear our pronouncement as a government on the issue. We are not insensitive. We know what is happening and we are proactive Government will soon present the proposal before the executive council. In a similar vein, the special adviser to the governor on education, Mr. Fatai Olukoga, also lent his voice to the same issue. This is in contrast to our deep seated high-expectation that the issue of our school fees may soon be a thing of the past as the government may have been putting finishing touches to all that is needed to make a favourable pronouncement on the issue. For obvious reasons, the government seems not to be in a haste to take a decision as their children are having it smooth elsewhere? After all, LASU is now a private institution, what remains now is for the governor to give it another name, which will translate to giving indigent students a red card. I pray the government is not pushing us to go ‘gaga’.
In the cause of this struggle, the government, through its security apparatus on Tuesday June 2, 2014 arrested eight of our students and arraigned same, during a peaceful protest. It is unfortunate that we are experiencing this under a government superintended by one of us (educated politician) whom we thought would be more sympathetic to his ‘academic’ constituency.
Accordingly, The Nation of May, 15, 2014 editorial was not left out of what I consider massive media sympathy on our plight. In its story entitled: “Teacher, students join forces against LASU”, a wide range of issues affecting us were brought before the public. Almost all newspapers are now awash with reports of LASUites struggle.I must therefore use this medium to express the students’ appreciation to media houses for their concern by ensuring that whatever we write or say pertaining to this struggle is publicised.
As the struggle and the lecturers’ strike continues, I hope the government will act fast to cure us of our headache.
Momodu writes from the Department of History & Int’l Studies, LASU, Ojo.
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