The authorities of the Lagos State University (LASU) say it has the right to review and increase fees, aside tuition fees which the State government was in charge of.
Mr Akin Lewis, LASU registrar, made this known on Friday in Lagos.
LASU authorities had increased the acceptance fee for the newly admitted students from N10, 000 to N20, 000 and indigenous students’ fee from N1, 000 to N5, 000.
However, the University Students Union (LASUSU) had demanded for a reversal of the fees with immediate effect to prevent crisis.
Lewis said that the university had not asked students, expect the new students who had been offered provisional admission, to pay an acceptance fee.
According to Lewis, payment of the acceptance fee had been a norm in the institution and the decision to increase it rests on the university management.
“This is not the first time new students are paying acceptance fee, so, an increment should not be an alarm, the management has the right to review and increase fees.
“This is not an increment in tuition fees, but an increment in acceptance fee and the management has reasons for its decisions,” he said.
Meanwhile, a statement by LASUSU, signed by its president, Mr Adeyemi Onikoro, directed the new students to stop the payment “till the issue was addressed”.
The statement said the students’ union was not carried along in the process of the increment.
It said that its potential members should not be subjected to paying a fee without the union’s knowledge.
”The recent increment of the new students’ acceptance fee and indigenous verification fee, from N10, 000 and 1,000 respectively to 20,000 and 5,000 came as a shock to LASUSU.
“We state emphatically that the management coming out with this increment at this time is a calculated attempt on the part of the management.
“The idea is to introduce what we tag as a “divide and rule” principle between students and the newly admitted students, which the students’ union firmly and judiciously stands against.
“This is also an attempt to bring back the already solved issue of school fees hike; an increment in the acceptance fee will surely lead to an increase in the school fees of new students, which we reject in its totality, “it said.
The union urged the management to revisit and reverse the increment, so as to maintain the relative peace currently enjoyed on the campus.
