PROTEST: NANS attacks DSS, storms UNILAG tomorrow.
The Department of State Services has been forewarned not to prevent students from exercising their freedom to protest because this is a widely acknowledged human right, according to the National Association of Nigerian Students.
Giwa Temitope, the union's national public relations officer, responded to the DSS's claim that some politicians were organizing student leaders for violent protest against the Federal Government over socioeconomic issues.
The spokesperson for the security agency, Peter Afunanya, had said on Monday that "Intelligence reports have indicated that the plotters include certain politicians who are desperately mobilizing unaware student leaders, ethnic-based associations, youth, and disgruntled groups for the planned action."
A student organization called Student Solidarity Group Against Fee Hike announced last week that it would start a demonstration against fee increases at the University of Lagos on September 6, 2023, according to PUNCH Online. In a statement supporting the action and issued to our correspondent on Tuesday, the NANS PRO stated that the student body would swarm UNILAG for the demonstration and beg the DSS not to violate students' rights.Giwa declared, "It is extremely embarrassing that the DSS has lost its way and turned into the propaganda arm of the Federal Government, raising false alarms and even meddling in matters that have absolutely nothing to do with their line of work.
As a group, we insist that we are not happy with the way Nigerian society is being governed, especially when it comes to arbitrary fee increases at our higher institutions, with the University of Lagos serving as an example.The student body was "forced to fix a date of action at the university for September 6 and the protest shall hold until the management reverses the hike," according to NANS, because the UNILAG management had not upheld the agreement struck at the meeting with student leaders on August 2.
The UNILAG administration raised tuition from N19,000 to N190,250 in July 2023 for students majoring in medicine, while charging N140,250 for courses requiring lab and studio work. The management stated "prevailing economic realities" as its justification for the increase.
Giwa continued, "Students are thus encouraged to come out in large numbers and join the protest for the immediate reversal of fee at the University of Lagos."
What's Your Reaction?
