Tuition fee hike: UNILAG students to stage mass protest

Under the banner of Students Solidarity Group Against Fee Hike, University of Lagos (UNILAG) students have set Wednesday, 6 September as the start date for a large-scale campus demonstration against the administration’s increase in tuition fees.

The group demanded that the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government immediately reverse the school fees and properly support education in a statement released on Saturday.

Students across the country were urged to protest increases in tuition fees.

According to the statement, “all Nigerian students, parents, civil society organisations, and informal workers are set to hit the streets to say enough of untold hardship meted out to us,” mass protests have become essential.

“…we in the Students Solidarity Group Against Fee Hike engaged in a series of actions to enlighten members of the public of the dangers this anti-poor policy portends for the generality of the people,” the statement partly read.

“Our argument remains that the responsibility of funding public education cannot be shifted to poor students and their parents, even in a draining economy such as this. We also maintain that the decision taken by the UNILAG Management, supervised by their employers, remains authoritarian, illogical and economically inconsiderate.

“It is also important to state that after engaging in a discussion for over four weeks, the UNILAG Management failed to reconvene the meeting with the student delegation.

“We are civil, and we believe that our civility should be reciprocated with respect, especially from people saddled with the responsibility of serving the public.”