ADC guber aspirant, Sharafadeen Alli lambasts Ajimobi, Aregbesola, APC over N250,000 LAUTECH school fees

A gubernatorial aspirant under the platform of the African Democratic
Congress (ADC) and former Secretary to the Oyo State Government,
Barrister Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli has criticized Governors Abiola
Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) for allowing the management
of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso to
increase school fees to N200,000 and N250,000 for indigenes and
non-indigenes, respectively.

Alli while describing the increment as strange, called on traditional
rulers, leaders of thought and other well meaning Nigerians to prevail
on the duo, Ajimobi and Aregbesola to reverse the tuition.

The institution, DAILY POST gathered had through a memo addressed to
students on Monday announced the new fees.

LAUTECH in the the memo, entitled "Notice to All Students on Payment
of New Tuition Fees with Effect from 2018/2019 Academic Session" and
signed by the registrar of the institution, Mr J. A. Agboola declared
that students from the two owner states of Oyo and Osun were to pay
N200,000 while non-indigenes will pay N250,000.

But, Alli in a statement issued on his behalf by Comrade Taiwo
Ibrahim, his media Aide, Thursday morning in Ibadan, the state
capital, described the new school fees as not only wicked but an
attempt by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) "to keep more
children out of school and pauperize the citizens".

Alli said, "The All Progressives Congress (APC) led governments in Oyo
and Osun states seem to be fully determined to keep more children out
of school and pauperize the citizens the more judging from the recent
astronomical increase in the tuition fees introduced by the Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.

"I strongly condemn the insensitivity of the two owner governments to
the pains and agonies the students and their parents had gone through
in the last three years and yet decided to add more.

"Before the broohaha three years ago, the tuition fees was just about
sixty thousand naira but after the long strike, the Abiola Ajimobi and
Rauf Aregbesola led administrations increased the fees to one hundred
and fifty thousand naira.

"Quite unprecedented in the history of our region, within one year,
the tuition has risen to two hundred and fifty thousand naira.

"Of recent, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU alerted
Nigerians that the federal government of the same APC is planning to
increase fees in the federal universities to three hundred and fifty
thousand naira, this seems to be a preparatory to that assertion since
they are boarding the same bus of ideology.

"Already, over thirteen million kids are not in school, if this trend
should continue, the Nigerian society will continue to be worse off
and rate of poverty will rise to an unimaginable level."

Alli concluded by appealing "to well meaning individuals, traditional
rulers and the academia to come to the rescue and prevail over the
authorities to reverse the order in the corporate interest of the
present and future generations of Yoruba land."