No hike in LASU fees, Ambode pledges

By Dayo Adesulu
The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress APC, in Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has stated that if voted in this Saturday, he will not increase the school fees of Lagos State University LASU. LASU school fees had been reduced by governor Babatunde Fashola administration from N198,750 to N25,000.
Ambode who disclosed this during a radio programme at UNILAG on Sunday said: “‘I want to assure all the students of LASU, we would not increase school fees.”
Asked his plan for higher education in Lagos State, the accountant and alumnus of UNILAG who lamented the deplorable state of higher eAMBODE-AND-OGUNSANducation in Nigeria noted that it is not in a state which all of us are proud of. He said what is worrisome now is the quality of graduates Nigerian institutions of higher learning are churning out.
According to him, the kind of attention government has been giving to higher education necessitates the low quality of graduates churned out every year. ‘’I am happy we have taken over the centre now, he added.
Speaking in a radio programme anchored by the Chairman, Executive Trainers Limited, Dr Ayodele Ogunsan, Ambode said: ‘’We have a major programme for higher education in our manifesto; we will pursue that together with the national government when we win the election on Saturday. On LASU fees, he reiterated: ‘’If there is anything we must do, we would sit down together and see what can be done, and even review the fees they are paying now.
I am a product of a lot of Ivy League schools, I have been to different schools, and I understand and know the kind of standard and quality of education I have been able to benefit from those schools. ‘’If we say Lagos is a centre of excellence, we must then strive, deliberately, to ensure that whatever it is we are providing in terms of infrastructure, curriculum and content, the students actually benefit, because they are actually the future leaders of this country.
“The truth is that if we don’t start a succession plan from our higher institutions, then we are joking, because it is not about the people who are almost getting to 50 or 60 years and are going away. It is actually about the younger one whose capacity we really need to start to build and then allow them to take over from us.
‘’I am going to take advantage of my social capital, being in the party as the centre, combined together to allow us use it for the improvement of higher education in Lagos state.’’ Amode said. With the passion Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan has for higher education in Nigeria, over the years, he had trained vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and top government executives to be more proactive.