26th February, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government has refunded N209 million to the students of the Lagos State University, LASU, following the reversal of school fees by the government.
The refund is the fees paid in excess by the students before the reversal of the tuition fee by Governor Babatunde Fashola last year. The N209 million is the first tranche of refund.
Cheques were presented to some of the beneficiaries today at the LASU Main Auditorium, Ojo, Lagos, southwest Nigeria by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga.
The recipients were 100 level students and 200 level Direct Entry students while the remaining will be paid during the second tranche of refund. The students collected refund ranging from N100,000 to over N200,000.
Speaking at the event, Fashola, who was represented by Olukoga, said government was committed to ensuring the wellbeing of the students.
According to him, when the government reversed the fees, many people dubbed it political, adding that LASU remains the institution paying the least school fees in the country.
Fashola said the government was aware of comments from critical stakeholders that had made mockery of university education in the country through the low school fees.
“We are also not unaware of the moves by the same stakeholders to frustrate our efforts at ensuring the quality of LASU programmes. Notwithstanding the frustration, we are relentlessly committed to making LASU a world class university of our time.
“Information at our disposal reveals that initial computation of excess money to be refunded to 100 level and 200 level Direct Entry students for 2013/14 academic session stood at N209.874 million. However, following the release of the fund, the university management later reported a shortfall in computed excess money to be refunded, particularly to those in 200 level-400 level,” he said, adding that the shortfall would be released after the reconciliation exercise is over.
LASU’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa said 5,031 students were supposed to have their money refunded in two tranches, saying that in the first tranche, N209 million had been released for disbursement.
He disclosed that the school is still expecting N89 million to be released by the state government which would come under the second tranche.
According to him, some people thought that it would not be possible to get refund of the money from the state government, but that such people had been put to shame.
“What some people thought it was impossible, we are witnessing it. Some individuals try to take advantage of the slow pace of the refund and kept on saying that government or management has no intention of making the refund,” he said.