According to a reliable source, it has been revealed that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the hiking of school fees of university students as proposed by Dr Wale Babalakin, the chief government negotiator in the ASUU/Federal Government renegotiation exercise.
Prof. Lawan Abubakar, the Bauchi Zonal Coordinator of the Union made the disclosure at a press conference in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Abubakar said, “One of the major issues our union wishes to bring to public domain is the wild idea of sharing the cost of education between the government and parents proposed by Dr. Wale Babalakin. This idea of sharing the cost of education since government alone cannot fund education, and that parents need to pay for it too.
“He proposed a minimum of N350, 000 as tuition fee for undergraduate students of Arts and Humanities, and N500, 000, for those in Sciences.
“Our union rejected the proposal based on the fact that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly states that funding education is the sole responsibility of Governments at various levels and not parents,” he maintained.
He added, “In his response, he proposed the idea of an Education Bank, where students will obtain a loan of N1 million each, every session to pay the tuition fee and sustain themselves.
“However, our union also rejected the idea of Education Bank, because for one, not all the students will have access to loan, and for those who will access the loan, it is the same parents who served as sureties, and subsequently pay back the loan, considering the very high rate of unemployment in the country.
Recall that the ASUU joined the NLC in an organized union warning strike to press home their demands. The warning strike will elapse on the 4th of October while negotiations are still ongoing between the FG and organised labour.
