LASU Crisis: Lagos Assembly grills VC and management

Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, western Nigeria, on Friday grilled the management of the state owned tertiary institution, Lagos State University, LASU, following the crisis rocking the institution.

Among those who honoured the House summon on Friday include the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, representatives of the institution’s Students’ Union Government, SUG, led by Hassan Mojirade, and three representatives from the Students’ Ruling Council led by Sanni Sadiq and the state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye as well as the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Education, Lateef Olukoga.

Apart from allegations that the institution failed to present results and certificates to its graduates years after leaving the institution, thousands of aggrieved students of the institution took to the streets yesterday to protest the refusal of LASU management to allow them write their second semester examination because they had not fully registered as students.

The Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Mr. Olabode Augusto, who spoke first said at the beginning of every academic year, the students are expected to pay their fees and then go ahead to register through a portal for the courses they should take.

He said in the second semester, the portal was opened for two weeks, but that the students asked for more time and it was opened for another one month. Following another appeal, the portal was again opened for seven days.

During this period, he said over 11, 000 students registered while a little over 1000 students failed to register.

He said the university was re-opened close to the Yuletide period following a strike, and that the students again started begging for the portal to be re-opened, but that the management refused because it would disrupt academic activities.

“Moreover, the management thought we needed to teach the students how to act properly because at the beginning of every year, they are supposed to do the right thing,” he said.

He said he had met with the students when they earlier protested about the non-reopening of the portal. He said the Governing Council agreed with the management’s decision but said the agreement was that those who had paid the fees but could not register would have to carry over to the following semester, but would not pay another school fees.

He said the SUG officials argued that some of the students could not meet the payment deadline because they are from poor homes, but added that the institution has a payment plan and was lenient because of students from poor homes but that the students must inform the school.

Students of the institution who thronged the state Assembly for the hearing were prevented from getting into the chamber by armed security men at the gate of the House.

The VC noted that LASU has always been bedevilled by crisis of lack of early registration by students.

"When students fail courses, they go to the portal to delete courses in which they failed and add the ones which they passed. They call it add and delete,” he said of the fraudulent activities of the students."

The Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji said the House took the decision to invite members of the institution’s Governing Council and other relevant people concerning the mayhem that occurred at the school on Thursday.

“LASU is the only university that we can call our own and all well meaning Lagosians are concerned about the goings-on in the university,” Ikuforiji said.

He said it was the hope of government that the university would become world-class, adding that the government had spent billions of naira to put the institution where it is.

“However, the return has not been encouraging,” he said, adding that this and many other reasons accounted for their invitation.

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