The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has warned the Department of State Services not to deter students from exercising their rights to protest, saying this is a universally recognised human right.
The warning by the National Public Relations Officer of the union, Giwa Temitope, comes on the heels of a statement made by DSS that some politicians were mobilizing student leaders for violent protest against the Federal Government over socioeconomic matters.
The spokesperson for the security agency, Peter Afunanya, stated on Monday that “intelligence reports have indicated that the plotters include certain politicians who are desperately mobilising unsuspecting student leaders, ethnic-based associations, youth, and disgruntled groups for the planned action.
A group called Student Solidarity Group Against Fee Hike revealed last week that it would protest against the fee hike at the University of Lagos on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
Throwing support behind the move, the NANS PRO, in a statement on Tuesday, said the student body would be storming UNILAG for the protest and urged the DSS not to infringe on the rights of students.
Giwa said, “It is quite embarrassing that the DSS has derailed to become the propaganda arm of the Federal Government, thereby raising false alarms and even interfering in affairs that do not in any way relate to their line of profession.
“As an association, we maintain that we are not satisfied with how Nigerian society is being run, most especially as regards arbitrary fee increments across our tertiary institutions, with the University of Lagos being a model.”
NANS further disclosed that the failure of the UNILAG management to honour the agreement reached at the meeting with student leaders on August 2 “forced the student body to fix a date of action at the university for September 6, and the protest will hold till the management reverses the hike.
NANS further stated that “students are therefore enjoined to come out en masse and join the protest for the immediate reversal of fees at the University of Lagos.”
Chronicle NG reports that the UNILAG management increased fees in July 2023 from N19,000 to N190,250 for students studying medicine, while for courses that require laboratories and studios, the students were to pay N140,250.
