10 injured, 20 arrested as LASU students, police clash in Lagos

Hundreds of undergraduates from the Lagos State University, Ojo, grounded commercial activities in the state on Tuesday as they protested the increase in their school fees.
Eyewitnesses said that the Bolade area, Oshodi was like a war zone as members of the Nigeria Police Force clashed with the students.
The students had earlier on Monday at a press conference declared a week of mass action to press home their demands.
As early as 9am, the students converged in front of their school gate and proceeded to Ikeja.
From there, the students proceeded to Oshodi market to sensitize market women and traders on their plight in a bid to gain public sympathy for their cause.
According to the President of the Students Union Government, Nurudeen Yusuf, the police accosted them in the course of their peaceful protest and fired tear gas at them.
Yusuf said: “We had a press conference on Monday where we declared this week, a week of mass action.
“This morning (Tuesday), as early as 9am, we gathered in front of our school, we mobilized and headed to Ikeja.
“From there, we decided to go to Oshodi to sensitize the market women and traders to see reasons with us on why our fees should be reverted.
“As we approached Bolade Junction, the Police ambushed us and started firing tear gas canisters at us.
“They even shot at us with live bullets.
“Right in my very presence, three students fell as a result of the suffocation from the tear gas.
“As I speak to you, over 10 of our students are lying in various hospitals and more than 20 of them have been arrested.
“We were not violent at all.
“We did not even break a single pane of glass.
“As citizens of this country, we have a right to peaceful protest.
“We were not armed yet the police came shooting at us like criminals.
“They vandalized our vehicles in a bid to paralyze our movement, disperse us and arrest some of us.”
The students Union president also claimed that the present fee regime in LASU negates the manifesto of the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress.
Yusuf said: “When the ruling party, the APC in Lagos, met in April, the third item on their agenda is that they will offer free education from primary to tertiary levels.
“The law that established LASU, Section 3 (1) paragraph ‘F’ states that LASU should make tertiary education readily available to the people without recourse to their social status in the state.”
On the argument that the old fee regime cannot sustain the institution, the president said: “If the government cannot run LASU, they should close the school.
“If Ogun State can run two Universities and none of them is paying up to N100,000 as school fees, I see no reason why the Lagos State cannot sustain LASU.
“If they can allocate N77 billion to the Governor’s Office and allocate N28 billion to the Ministry of Information and Strategy, I see no reason why they cannot budget just N10.8 billion to LASU.
“Lagos State makes over N20 billion on internally generated revenue per month.
“It is not as rich as Ogun State with two universities.”
On the promise by the state government to reduce the fee soon, Yusuf said that their demand is for the fees to be reduced before the commencement of the 2013/2014 academic session.
He said: “Anytime can be soon.
“Even 2020 can be soon.
“All we are saying is that the fees should be reduced before the commencement of the 2013/2014 academic session.
“LASU is fast losing her efficacy as a university.
“A school that is used to admitting more than 4,000 students now admits just 900 students.
“Yet, when you get to the school, there is no tangible infrastructure on ground to show for the fee increase.
“We will not stop until our demands are met.”