The management of University of Lagos State deployed security operatives to harass students protesting against hike in tuition fees.
The students on Friday morning commenced their peaceful protest to reject the new outrageous increment of their school fees.
A student leader, Femi Adeyeye, announced this in a post shared on his X page.
He wrote: “Students gearing up to protest at the UNILAG SENATE HOUSE. It was the medical students just 2 days ago. Protest! Protest! Protest!
“Don’t ever keep quiet! @UnilagNigeria @ARISEtv @NewsCentralTV #FeesMustFall.”
One hour later, Adeyeye added: “The @UnilagNigeria VC has sent security operatives to harass those protesting fee hike. The DSA forced them to write statements and as I type, the whereabouts of these students protesting are currently unknown.
This nonsense must stop immediately!”
This was corroborated in a separate tweet made by the Take-It-Back Movement. The organisation accused the school’s vice chancellor of threatening to obtain data and personal information of the protestingú students for possible punishment later.
“@UnilagNigeria DSA, Prof. Obalola is demanding protesting students to provide personal information, citing failure to notify the school of their protest against fee hikes. No student should be victimized for peacefully protesting. We demand immediate end to this unjust treatment,” the organisation said.
This comes a few days after the National Association of Nigerian Students told President Bola Tinubu to sack all vice chancellors of publicly owned universities that had increased their tuition fees unjustifiably.
This call was made in a press statement issued by Dist. Sen. Akinteye Afeez Babatunde, President of the Senate, NANS Headquarter on Wednesday morning.
The students’ accused the vice chancellors of deliberately sabotaging the efforts of the Students Loan Scheme implemented by President Tinubu.
The statement identified the vice chancellors of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), and the University of Ibadan (UI) as the guiltiest of ‘these senseless actions’.