UNILAG Students Resume Protest Against Tuition Hike

Students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) have staged  another protest barely a week after it protested the hike in their tuition fees.

They called the school authorities and the federal government to revert to the old rate.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the protest was supported by the Students Solidarity Group Against Fees’ Hike in alliance with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

The protest was peaceful compared to the first one which was disrupted as the security operatives including the police, Nigeria Civil Defence Corps and the school’s security personnel barricaded the entrance gate and clamped down on some of the protesters. The police teargassed, swooped and arrested some of the students.

However, the students reconvened a week after the first protest was disrupted by security operatives as colleagues from other universities  joined them in solidarity.

The protesters chanted solidarity songs and expressed their desire to continue to fight and press the school authorities to reduce the fees.

The university had increased the tuition and asked the students to pay in the region of N190,000 as tuition fees as against the over N19,000 as their tuition fee.

The protesting students were accompanied by security operatives of the Nigeria Police Force as well as personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC).

Security operatives barricaded the school gate as heavy security checks were conducted to prevent the protest from being hijacked by unknown elements that might foment trouble.

A student simply identified as Daniel expressed the students’ desire to continue protesting until the tuition hike is reverted to the former rate, saying it had been a tussle for their parents to survive on their meagre salaries with the hike of commodities’ prices in the country.