Tuition fees hike: ASUU asks FG to remove Babalakin as negotiator

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), Akure Zone, consisting of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Ekiti State University, Federal University of Technology, Akure and Federal University, Oye Ekiti, has rejected the proposal of Wale Babalakin and called for his removal as the Chairman of Government Renegotiating Team of the 2009 ASUU / Federal Government of Nigeria Agreement.

Mr Babalakin reportedly proposed that public universities tuition fee be increased to N350,000 for undergraduate students of Arts and Humanities and 500,000 for those in Sciences.

The union during a briefing at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife on Monday accused Mr Babalakin-led re-negotiation committee of shifting the funding of universities to parents and also called on the Federal Government to remove him, stating that he had become a hindrance to the resolution of the issues affecting universities in Nigeria.

The Coordinator of Akure Zone of ASUU, Olu Olufayo, argued that the education of students is a right and responsibility of the government.

“Dr Wale Babalakin is arrogantly exhibiting an I-know-it-all attitude and he is also conducting himself as a judge, instead of a negotiator. His intention is to make education a burden for the common citizen, which is going to make parents and sponsors spend more on educating their wards,” he said.

The Union also said it no longer has confidence in the chairman.

Also, Federal Government was knocked by ASUU for claiming that it gave N20 billion to the union.

He said: “We are however perplexed and disappointed that governments, both federal and states are not responding to our appeals for the reason to bring about genuine transformation in the education sector and the nation. So, we once again appeal to all genuine progressive individuals and groups to prevail on the Federal Government to arrest a brewing restive situation in the Nigerian university system.

“We also want to inform the Nigerian public that if this should continue, the government should be held responsible for the outcome as we will not be able to ensure smooth working conditions in our universities.”

We recall that the Bauchi Zone of the union has also rejected the proposal by Mr Babalakin to increase tuition fee.