A university lecturer, Professor Kinikanwo Anele, has condemned the call by students of Lagos State University for the immediate sacking of the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Anele, who is the immediate past chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the former Head of Department of Sociology at the University of Port Harcourt, explained that it was wrong for LASU students to seek the minister’s removal over an increase in their school fees.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the university lecturer argued that since LASU was a state-owned university, the minister should not be blamed for the increase in their school fees.
Pointing out that the current fees at LASU range from N250,000 and N350,000, Anele stated that the hike in the students’ school fees could deprive the poor of university education.
He said, “The increase in school fees at LASU has the potency of driving the poor away from school, depriving some people of the much needed university education, preventing some intending entrants from enrolling at the university with myriad social consequences.
“But the inescapable question is; what role did the supervising minister of education play in the hike in school fees at LASU to justify the call for his immediate removal?
“LASU is a state university and the fate of the institution is neither directly decided by the President of the country nor the supervising minister of education.
“The demand made by the students can only be reasonably seen from the prism of youthful exuberance; youths who lack respect for public institutions and leadership of the country. I am convinced that the students were misguided in their demand.”
He, however advised the students to desist from maligning the minister, who had within a short time in office, sorted out some of the problems he inherited from his predecessors.