On Tuesday, students of the Lagos State College of Health Technology, Yaba, said they would storm the Lagos State House of Assembly if legislators fail to intervene in the ongoing school fees crisis. Speaking to NEXT, the president of the school’s student union government, Abraham James, said he hoped the protests on Monday and the current probe of the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, would not make the lawmakers forget about the students.

“I want to believe that when we barricaded the road to the State Assembly (last week), we got their attention,” Mr. James said. “They will not want us to repeat it, so I’m sure they will not forget us. (If they do), we will embark on another peaceful protest; a more disturbing one because they promised to do something this week about our matter.”

The speaker of the House, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, when he addressed the students briefly after collecting their protest letter told them he would address the matter. “You can all go home,” he said. “By next week we would have resolved the issue.”

Déjà vu

The students of the school had barricaded the entrance to the assembly complex last Thursday, when security officials denied them entry. They were protesting the decision of their school’s management to increase tuition to N40,000 per session. Previously, students only paid about N4,700 for other fees, as tuition was free.

A large number of the returning students are in their final year and have professional examinations in June 2010. They are being denied lectures now. Last week’s protest was the second protest in a month by the students. The students asked the legislators to intervene by asking the management to allow them pay N8,000 instead.

No to N40,000

During the protest last Thursday, the students carried placards that read, “Save us from untimely graduation”, “We want complete autonomy now!”, “UNESCO’s 26% for education must be implemented” and “We say no to N40,000 tuition.”

More than a dozen police officers stayed close to the demonstrators.

The students insisted on meeting the legislators since that wasn’t possible when they protested there late last year.

“We were here on 22nd of December, 2009 and met only two SS (State Security) men,” Mr. James said that day. “But nothing was done. We are determined not to go anywhere until they come and listen to us.”

The new fees affect over 300 students, many of whom have no sponsors.

Their money’s worth

The students say their school is not worth the amount of money they are being asked to pay. “Can you imagine a health institution that does not have a clinic?” asked Seun David, a student of Medical Laboratory Technology. “When we fall sick, all they give us is Panadol. We have to take care of ourselves.”

The school has no hostels, so students from other cities have to put up with friends and relatives. Some said they sleep in the classes.

“My mum lives in Ibadan, so I stay with some friends here,” said Enitan Ogunfunwa, another student. “When I told her the government increased our fees to N40,000, she said they better increase her salary as a local government worker too.”

As it is, there is no sense of what will happen next. “All the students are just roaming about and some are reading, as there are still no lectures,” said Mr, James. “We hope something happens fast.”