“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
The astronomical increase in Lagos State
University school fees in 2011 from a not easily obtainable N25,000 to
N250,000, that is beyond the reach of even the so called middle class
of Lagos state, is no longer news. Just as the several protests,
lockdown of the university and pleads by prominent Lagosians, youth
forums, Civil Society Organizations, Unions in LASU; LASUSU, ASUU-LASU,
SSANU-LASU, are becoming a nuisance to all and sundry.
Just recently, it was reported that the Special Adviser on Education to Lagos State government, Otuba Fatai Olukoga, who oversees the affairs of tertiary institutions in the state vowed that the state government is resolved to sack the striking lecturers. If they persist in their agitation for the reversal of LASU school fees by not calling off their strike. From all indication, the student union leadership won’t be left out of the clampdown by the repressive and un-progressive state government after it launched the #NoReductionNoResumption campaign. It is all a matter of time, let the Union be prepared.
The above report credited to the S.A on
Education is a clear indication that the APC led administration of Mr
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, has lost track on what a government voted
by the masses in a state where 75% of its population feeds below one
dollar per day and its civil servants earn 18,000 as minimum wage ought
to do or prioritise.
This act further reinstate the elitist
nature of governor Fashola’s administration, which encourages civil
servants, to grab as much as they could to protect the interest of their
children. It is also a government that celebrates and encourages crime
because every youth denied access to education which ordinarily should
be a leveller would find succour in crime.
In the views of Nelson Mandela, “equality
of opportunity through education is key to emancipation”, a principle
yet to be realized in Nigeria, or elsewhere. Madiba posits that the best
way you could empower the masses is through the power of Education,
since it is the catalyst to change. Education enlightens the citizens
to the rights and obligations in the society, invariably, the position
of Gov. Fashola, is antithetical
to change, a brighter rewarding future and a clog in the wheel of change.
to change, a brighter rewarding future and a clog in the wheel of change.
The progressives as they today called
themselves profess to be following the ideologies of the late Sage,
Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Fortunately for us on the side of common sense
and unfortunate for the “progressives”, Awo opined that, “In order to
attain to the goals of economic freedom and prosperity, Nigeria must do
certain things as a matter of urgency and priority. It must provide free
education (at all levels) and free health facilities for the masses of
its citizens.” To this end, Gov. Raji failed woefully, APC failed
substantially and all those who kept quite while a tinny few subject the
majority to servitude can be classified as retrogressives. Under this
canopy of retrogressives are all ex-unionist, ex-lasuites and
administrative staff sabotaging efforts to regain economic liberty and
freedom for all.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo believes it’s only
through education that a society could achieve development, patriotic
citizenship and unity, inculcate the spirit of nationalism and bridge
the gap between the social classes. “Any people that are starved with
books, especially the right type of books, will suffer intellectual
malnutrition, stagnation and atrophy,” Awolowo said in one of his famous
quotes.
This LASU fee hike is a daylight robbery
on all Lagosian, it is a deliberate attempt to deny the masses the
opportunity to join the upper class through their anti-masses policy,
because a free and compulsory education at all level would have serve as
succour for the poor masses, if the likes of Jakande and Awolowo had
denied the present ruling class access to education, the likes of
Fashola, Ikuforiji, Olukoga, Opeifa, and their cohorts who study
through free scholarship throughout their study years would be nowhere
in today’s Lagos.
The increment has caused more havoc than
good, LASU used to be the best state university in Nigeria, our faculty
of law happens to be one of the best not just in Nigeria but in Africa
as a whole, our college of medicine is one of the best in Nigeria as
well as our faculty of Education, where are all this achievement today,
they have disappear like tiny lights. Our LASU is now known for
troubles, strikes and incessant protests, we today alternate between
peace and havoc; one day peace, one day wahala. If Mr babatunde Fashola
thinks he has a few months to use in power, he should remember history
would never forget the oppressors and those who misuse power.
My candid advice to Lagosians is, if the
APC led government in Lagos State is adamant to our yearning, thus,
denying us the power of the pen, a deliberate attempt to make us the
slaves of their children, it’s high time we all revolt and deny them the
power of our votes and kick them out of office.
Lagos belongs to all of us and not a selected few. We shall overcome.
#SaveLASU
#SaveThePoorMasses
#SaveTheFuture.
Written by Sanni Sodiq Adewunmi,#SaveThePoorMasses
#SaveTheFuture.
Ex-Speaker,
Lagos State University Students Union,
2012/2013 academic session.
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