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 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 the same 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.
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