DAILY POST
The recent hike in school fees of some schools across the country, particularly the increment by the federal universities, has continued to attract the ire and condemnation of Nigerians, especially parents and students.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the umbrella body of teachers in the universities has also added its voice to the growing concerns, warning that if the trend was not reversed and adequately addressed, it would lead to mass dropout of students from the universities in the next two years.
The ASUU president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who handed down the warning, predicted that between 40 and 50 percent of students in the universities would definitely drop out of school in the next two years if the trend was allowed to continue.
The university don lamented that the people’s standard of living is at its lowest ebb following the high cost of living as a result of continued downward slope in the value of the naira against the dollar and other foreign currencies, and instead of finding a way to improve the living condition of the people, the university authorities are adding to the people’s pain and misery.
He said: “Today, universities are arbitrarily increasing tuition fees. Is that correct in an environment, where the minimum wage is N30,000 per month, and where they have to pay rent and pay heavily for transportation? And you are enforcing this thing on the students?
“As a result of this, I can assure you that if nothing is done about this heavy fee being introduced all over the country today, in the next two or three years, more than 40 to 50 per cent of the students who are in school will drop out.
