Increased school fees: Police deploy men to UNILAG

The police command in Lagos State has deployed its men to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to maintain law and order as students express dissatisfaction with an increase in their school fees. The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the deployment on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said that the policemen were deployed to prevent breakdown of law and order. “The policemen were only posted to the campus to maintain peace and order. “They are not meant to restrict movement in and out of the school. People are going in and coming out freely,” he said. Hundeyin said that the students and the school authorities were discussing the increase in fees and working together to ensure that both parties would be satisfied at the end. NAN reports that on Aug. 8, the National Association of Nigerian Students Joint Campus Council (NANS JCC), Lagos State Chapter, suspended its planned protest against increase in UNILAG school fees due to intervention by the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Idowu Owohunwa. According to Hundeyin, the commissioner met with the students’ leaders over the planned protest and assured them that he would meet with the university’s vice-chancellor to discuss their grievances. “One of the students (name withheld) in the delegation, who is an indigent student, was given a scholarship by the CP throughout his university education. “Based on this and others, the students’ leaders agreed to suspend the protest,” he said. (NAN)