Parents decry over 200% hostel fee increment in Lagos

• Cleric tackle FG over school tuition hike

Parents of Lagos State model colleges’ students have condemned the unilateral increase in hostel fees from N35,000 to N100,000 without engaging them, stating that the decision is a betrayal of an earlier agreement between the Ministry of Education, Lagos State Assembly and the parents.

The coordinating chairman of chairmen of parent forums of all the model colleges in Lagos, Dapo Dawodu, in a telephone chat with The Guardian, yesterday, maintained that the ministry has no justification for the increment, as parents have provided statistics to prove that it is what is currently being paid by each pupil is enough to cater for the hostel needs.

Dawodu disclosed that when the parents’ forum presented its position, the ministry did not provide alternative or counter statistics, which was why the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Education said that the fees should only be raised from N25,000 to N35,000 during their last engagement, which is less than two years.

He maintained that raising the fees by about 200 per cent cannot be justified by the school principals and the ministry, as the parents’ forum has statistics to back up his argument, while the ministry and principals do not.

MEANWHILE, the presiding Archbishop of Dominion Chapel International Churches, Archbishop John Praise Daniel, yesterday, tackled the Federal Government for increasing school tuition across the country.

The cleric argued that the continued increase of educational fees would further burden vulnerable Nigerian students and families, already struggling to make ends meet.

Archbishop Daniel disclosed this in Abuja at a matriculation and honourary doctorate conferment ceremony organised by Vine University America in Nigeria.

Daniel, who also serves as the National Deputy President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and Chairman of the Northern Coalition and Chairman of the Northern Coalition of Bishops and Apostles (NOCOBA), emphasised the importance of education to Nigerians, especially the youths.