15th September, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Hundreds of part-time students of the Lagos State University, LASU, on Monday protested vehemently at the office of Governor Babatunde Fashola over gross decay negligence in running the external campus system.
The protesting students blocked the entrance to the Governor’s office as no vehicle could enter or go out of the office while the students chanted solidarity songs that they wanted Fashola to attend to them or they would not leave the place.
Security officers attached to the governor’s office ostensibly shut the two entrance gates as they watched carefully to ensure that the students did not take laws into their hands.
The protesters carried placards, some of which read: “Our future, our life, Fashola help us”, “Academic excellence with future, APC, we are not happy”, “Education is a right, give us good education,” among others.
Some 500 level students complained that since they gained admission they not seen their 100 level results, others said the school used one calendar year for a semester while others lamented that they sat for examinations without receiving any lectures at all.
Some others said they were in 300 level and had received their admission letter, while some added that even when they graduated from the school, they would not get a statement of result for years.
A 500 level student, Miss Omobolanle Bakare lamented that she had not seen the results of 25 of her courses and that their lecturers were not teaching them and yet set examination for them to write.
“I am now in 500 level having spent seven years in the school. I have not seen the results of 25 of my courses. I have not even seen all my 100 level results. They are not organised and yet, they are collecting money from us,” she lamented.
Another 400 Level English student, Justice Okosun said “we don’t have lecturers teaching us and we write examination for their courses.”
Spokesperson of the protesters, Abolaji Azeez, who is the Speaker, Students Representative Council of the LASU External Campus said since 2012, LASU has only conducted three examinations, adding that the students who gained admission in 2008/2009 set were still in 500 level first semester when their five years academic studies should have been concluded in 2012/2013.
“The management of LASU External School, LASUES, should conduct examination every three months as it is the practice all over the federation. The trend since 2012 has shown that LASUES is not interested in how we stand equal to our peers from other tertiary institution. We are not interested in being awarded degrees, we want to earn them and we want to be able both to stand and defend our degrees,” he said.
According to him, the LASUES management had also failed to include students’ continuous assessment to their results when computing the final result, saying the recent trends showed that the 30 per cent Continuous Assessment scores were not being added resulting in the main failures of students.
The students also complained of increment in school fees, demanding that the fees be reduced from N68,700 to N38,700 for 500 level students; reduction from N75,700 to N45,700 for 400 level students and reduction from N85,700 to N65,700 for 300 level students.
They also lamented the non-issuance of exemption letters to part time students after graduating from the school, adding also that it was only LASUES students could not calculate their Cumulative Grade Point Average, CGPA, as their results were not released as at when due.