Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has assured that efforts are currently being made to prevent an impending crisis that might arise from alleged increases in the registration fee by tertiary insitutions.
Lawan made this known in a meeting with a delegation of the Coalition of Northern Groups Students Wing (CNG-SW) led by its National Coordinator, Jamiu Aliyu Charanchi at the National Assembly.
Charanchi has alleged that certain institutions, especially in the north, had doubled their registration fees. He further accused the Federal and state governments of having plans to commercialised education.
Responding to these concerns, Lawan emphasized the importance of education to society and promised that the Senate would enlist the help of relevant authorities to prevent anything that could interfere with the learning process.
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He said, “Education is the bedrock for any nation, society or community to develop and any society that does not prioritise education is going to suffer stunted development and the repercussions of not educating citizens are better imagined because it will not only lose the human resources that you need for development but some of these people will turn into other alternatives that are not desirable.
“I believe at this moment, it(hike in fees) is very unnecessary but I also believe that government must prioritise education and what that means is not only to establish the Institutions but to support our students all the way.
“As a Senate and indeed as members of the National Assembly representing you, we are going to take this matter very seriously. We are going to look into it very seriously and closely and expeditiously and we want to find a solution to it.
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“We want you to be in school to learn and we want you to be productive when you are through with your training and therefore it is the responsibility of government in the first place. “We cannot run away from providing education to our citizens, particularly those who cannot afford it because their families are not that well to do.
“This is an opportunity for me to appeal to our state governments across the country to continue to support the education of our citizens seriously by providing them necessary scholarship and giving them in time when they will be very helpful. “Here at the Federal level, the Senate will work hard to ensure that we do something that will change the narrative.
“It is not going to be just an increase or hike in registration fees and maybe only 20 or 25 percent of the students will be able to pay and the rest will be at home. That is running away from the responsibility of providing education. “I want to assure you that we are going to swing into action immediately and we will do whatever is necessary to make sure that you don’t suffer any financial increase that will stop you from continuing with your education,” Lawan concluded.
