Tear gas shot at UNILAG students during fee hike protest

A peaceful protest by students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) against the recent fee hike turned chaotic on Wednesday, September 06, 2023, as police officers deployed tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Two student activists, Femi Adeyeye and Philip Olatinwo, were arrested and put in a Police van but their current location or destination remains unknown to other students familiar with them.

The protest, which took place on the UNILAG campus at 8 am, saw undergraduates expressing their concerns over the fee increment, which was announced by the university in July and was set to take effect from September 1.

The revised fee structure included sessional mandatory charges for new undergraduate students at ₦‎126,325 for courses without a lab/studio and ₦‎176,325 for courses that require laboratory or studio access.

Returning students were also affected, facing fees of ₦‎100,750 for courses without labs and studios, and ₦‎140,250 for courses with lab or studio requirements. Additionally, medical students were subject to an approved charge of ₦‎190,250.

For some returning medical students, this translated to an astounding 900% increase in their fees.

Notably, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had previously suspended a planned protest on this issue. However, on Wednesday, approximately 40 UNILAG students gathered at the university entrance to voice their discontent.

Efforts to contact UNILAG management and the Lagos police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, remained unsuccessful at the time of this report.

What you should know about recent fee hike in Nigerian universities

Nigerian universities are grappling with a sustainability crisis as the cost of living continues to rise. In July, Nigeria experienced an inflation rate of 24.08%, the highest in over a decade. Food inflation soared to 25.25% in the preceding month, driven by increases in the prices of essential commodities such as oil, fat, bread, cereals, fish, potatoes, tubers, fruits, meat, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.

Furthermore, following President Bola Tinubu's inauguration after the 2023 elections, the discontinuation of the petrol subsidy led to a nearly 225% increase in fuel pump prices, skyrocketing from ₦210 to nearly ₦700 per litre. This surge in transportation and power generation expenses contributed to a substantial rise in commodity prices, significantly impacting the financial burden on Nigerian universities.

Consequently, several federal universities, including UNILAG, have either implemented or are contemplating fee hikes, a move that has sparked debates among stakeholders regarding the principle of tuition-free education in federally-owned tertiary institutions.

Among the institutions that have already raised fees are the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) in Borno and the University of Benin (UNIBEN) in Edo, along with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) in Bauchi and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUS).