The Lingering Crisis At Lagos State University
by Our Reporter on Jun 17, 2014
Editorial
Nigerian Vanguard
For the past three weeks or thereabout, the Lagos State University (LASU) has been embroiled in protracted strikes by both students and lecturers who are protesting the outrageous hike in school fees and non-implementation of staff welfare, respectively. Before embarking on the present strike, the teachers had given the state government a 14-day ultimatum from April 15, and another seven-day ultimatum on May 1, followed by a threeday ultimatum on May 12, which expired on May 14, 2014 as stipulated in the Labour Dispute Act.
According to them, the non implementation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment) Act of 2012 by the institution had been a bone of contention between them and the authorities. Their grouses include the hike in school fees imposed on students, refusal to promote qualified members of staff during the 2011/2012 promotion exercise, outstanding promotion exercise for 2012/2013 and the non-implementation of the retirement age for nonteaching staff as approved by the Federal Government. Other demands are the immediate regularization of the appointment of academic staff currently on temporary appointment and recall of all staff on temporary appointment that were disengaged unjustly.
For the students, they are protesting against the arbitrary increase of tuition by the Lagos State Government from N25, 000 to N350, 000, an ungodly fee hike that is not only outrageous, but also antieducation, given the economic plight of most Nigerians presently. If allowed to take effect, the fees would be among some of the highest paid by any public university in the country. In a country where more than 70 per cent of the citizens live on less than $2 per day, it is inconceivable that a citadel of higher learning should dream of consciously denying a critical section of the society of education, which is a veritable tool to escape poverty and encourage national development. There is no gainsaying the fact that the tuition fee hike would lead to a drastic drop in student enrolment.
The annual enrolment in 2011/2012 before the increment was 3,052, for example. But the figure dropped to 1,119 in 2013/2014. In view of the development, LASU is lagging behind the recommended National University Commission’s (NUC) carrying capacity for universities, as available facilities are underutilized. The university has at least 6,000 carrying capacity, but it is now carrying 1, 500. Besides, the embattled university seems to be compounding its problems by failing to address the more salient problem of staff promotion, which has been lingering for so long.
The institution has continued to maintain the ‘no vacancy no promotion’ policy which is creating a ponderous backlog of staff waiting to get to their next career grade, thereby causing avoidable stagnation. And in wanting to wriggle out of the quagmire, the authorities are alleged to be resorting to retiring many staff on the professional cadre. Such exercise is not just defeatist; it is equally robbing LASU of quality personnel that should have been retained to further improve its service offering. Given the frequency of strikes in the institution, it is becoming doubtful whether the school can still remain competitive or match the educational standards of its peers.
This is why the recent climb down by the government and reduction in the school fees is not coming any sooner than expected. That it took massive protests by the students and academia to make the authorities see through the futility of their actions calls for sober reflections. It makes a mockery of, and questions the relevance of an administration that rode to power on the pledge of making quality education affordable to the ordinary Nigerian.
A government that touts ‘progressivism’ as its mantra ought not to be placing roadblocks on the educational progress of its people as has been witnessed in Lagos in the past few weeks. While we welcome the reduction in school fees, it is also pertinent to point out that most of the students will still be incapable of footing the bills, given their indigent backgrounds. Therefore, the authorities should fashion out ways of helping them pay the new fees without compromising their academic pursuits.
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| Lagos State University still faces education crisis. |
Editorial
Nigerian Vanguard
For the past three weeks or thereabout, the Lagos State University (LASU) has been embroiled in protracted strikes by both students and lecturers who are protesting the outrageous hike in school fees and non-implementation of staff welfare, respectively. Before embarking on the present strike, the teachers had given the state government a 14-day ultimatum from April 15, and another seven-day ultimatum on May 1, followed by a threeday ultimatum on May 12, which expired on May 14, 2014 as stipulated in the Labour Dispute Act.
According to them, the non implementation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment) Act of 2012 by the institution had been a bone of contention between them and the authorities. Their grouses include the hike in school fees imposed on students, refusal to promote qualified members of staff during the 2011/2012 promotion exercise, outstanding promotion exercise for 2012/2013 and the non-implementation of the retirement age for nonteaching staff as approved by the Federal Government. Other demands are the immediate regularization of the appointment of academic staff currently on temporary appointment and recall of all staff on temporary appointment that were disengaged unjustly.
For the students, they are protesting against the arbitrary increase of tuition by the Lagos State Government from N25, 000 to N350, 000, an ungodly fee hike that is not only outrageous, but also antieducation, given the economic plight of most Nigerians presently. If allowed to take effect, the fees would be among some of the highest paid by any public university in the country. In a country where more than 70 per cent of the citizens live on less than $2 per day, it is inconceivable that a citadel of higher learning should dream of consciously denying a critical section of the society of education, which is a veritable tool to escape poverty and encourage national development. There is no gainsaying the fact that the tuition fee hike would lead to a drastic drop in student enrolment.
The annual enrolment in 2011/2012 before the increment was 3,052, for example. But the figure dropped to 1,119 in 2013/2014. In view of the development, LASU is lagging behind the recommended National University Commission’s (NUC) carrying capacity for universities, as available facilities are underutilized. The university has at least 6,000 carrying capacity, but it is now carrying 1, 500. Besides, the embattled university seems to be compounding its problems by failing to address the more salient problem of staff promotion, which has been lingering for so long.
The institution has continued to maintain the ‘no vacancy no promotion’ policy which is creating a ponderous backlog of staff waiting to get to their next career grade, thereby causing avoidable stagnation. And in wanting to wriggle out of the quagmire, the authorities are alleged to be resorting to retiring many staff on the professional cadre. Such exercise is not just defeatist; it is equally robbing LASU of quality personnel that should have been retained to further improve its service offering. Given the frequency of strikes in the institution, it is becoming doubtful whether the school can still remain competitive or match the educational standards of its peers.
This is why the recent climb down by the government and reduction in the school fees is not coming any sooner than expected. That it took massive protests by the students and academia to make the authorities see through the futility of their actions calls for sober reflections. It makes a mockery of, and questions the relevance of an administration that rode to power on the pledge of making quality education affordable to the ordinary Nigerian.
A government that touts ‘progressivism’ as its mantra ought not to be placing roadblocks on the educational progress of its people as has been witnessed in Lagos in the past few weeks. While we welcome the reduction in school fees, it is also pertinent to point out that most of the students will still be incapable of footing the bills, given their indigent backgrounds. Therefore, the authorities should fashion out ways of helping them pay the new fees without compromising their academic pursuits.
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