The Council of Higher Institutions (COHI) has faulted the hike in Acceptance Fee and Indigene Verification charges by the management of the Lagos State University.
COHI which is an organ of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, made this known in a statement made available to the press by its Coordinator, AbdulWaasi’ Muddaththir.
COHI stated that the said fee to be paid by students was against the current fee regime of the institution, which was just reversed from the previous over N250,000 to its initial N25,000.
It would be recalled that the management had on Monday released a bulletin via its website, stating that the successfully admitted students should within a week pay a non-refundable acceptance fee of N20,000 naira and indigeneship verification fee of N5,000.
COHI said, “Whereas the Acceptance Fee increased from N10,000 to N20,000, the verification fee rose to N5,000 from N1,000. The increment in the fees may lead to chaos and another closure of the institution which has just been witnessing calmness after several years of unease if care is not taken.
“Of what benefit is it to the government to deny students of having access to education? Why should a whooping sum of N5,000 be collected from indigenes whom the state aimed to mitigate their sufferings through availability of scholarship.”
He also raised the alarm that the move by the institution was a means to strategically return to the obnoxious fee of over 1000 percent increment.
“If an administration at it’s early stage can introduce an unjustifiable increment in acceptance and verification fees, then there are high tendencies that the same government may return back to the obnoxious 1000 percent increment later reversed by thesame All Progressive Congress-led administration,” he added.
He also urged the management to extend the time for payment of the normal fee more than a week so as to enable indigents pay appropriately.
