“I Won’t Increase LASU School Fees” – Ambode
Lagos State governor-elect, Mr Akinwumi Ambode has promised not to increase tuition fees at the Lagos State University (LASU). This was disclosed by the Lagos State Governor-elect during a radio programme on UNILAG FM anchored by Dr Ayo Ogunsan, who runs a higher education training firm, Executive Trainers Limited (ETL).
LASU school fees was reduced by Governor Babatunde Fashola from between N198,750 and N348,000 to N25,000 last August after a three-year agitation by students for a reduction.
“‘I want to assure all the students of LASU, we would not increase school fees,” he said.
However, he added that something must be done to guarantee the quality of education delivery at the university.
He said: ‘’If there is anything we must do, we would sit down together and see what can be done, and even review the fees they are paying now. I am a product of a lot of Ivy League schools, I have been to different schools, and I understand and know the kind of standard and quality of education I have been able to benefit from those schools.
“If we say Lagos is a centre of excellence, we must then strive deliberately to ensure that whatever it is we are providing in terms of infrastructure, curriculum and content, the students actually benefit, because they are actually the future leaders of this country.”
Ambode, an alumnus of the accounting department of UNILAG, said as governor, he had great plans for education in Lagos State – plans to correct what he described as the worrisome quality of graduates churned out by Nigerian higher institutions.
He said the quality degenerated because of the poor attention previous governments have paid to higher education.
‘’We have a major programme for higher education in our manifesto. We will pursue that together with the national government when we win the election on Saturday,” he said during the programme held before he won last Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
He continued: “The truth is that if we don’t start a succession plan from our higher institutions, then we are joking, because it is not about the people who are almost getting to 50 or 60 years and are going away. It is actually about the younger ones whose capacity we really need to start to build and then allow them to take over from us. ‘
“I am going to take advantage of my social capital, being in the party at the centre; combined together to allow us use it for the improvement of higher education in Lagos state.’’
Ogunsan’s firm has organised training for vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and other top executives in tertiary institutions to be more proactive.
