Parents, under the aegis of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have called on President Bola Tinubu to apply the brake to the spate of increments in tuition fees and others by government-owned schools.
The parents said life was being snuffed out of them as a result of such increases in almost all sectors, such as fuel, electricity and now school fees.
According to them, the increases are becoming too many and pouring on the citizens like heavy rainfall.
Speaking in a chat with Vanguard yesterday, the Deputy National President of NAPTAN, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, urged the President to, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to the tuition fee hike in public schools.
“It is unfortunate. We support the President regarding the removal of the oil subsidy, but it does not mean everything should just be hiked at the same time.
”You still want to remove subsidy on electricity, and also hike tuition fees at the same time. That will be too killing on parents and their children.
“The President should by tomorrow, mandate schools to revert to their old fees. They should not snuff the life out of parents and their children.
”He should temper justice with mercy. The moment the government increases fees payable in its schools, others will follow – the state governments and private school owners. He should just stop it,” he stated.
Giving advice to the President on how to bring down the cost of fuel in Nigeria, Ogunbanjo said though licenses had been given to some importers to bring in fuel, the solution did not lie in that step.
He said: “Prices of petroleum products would still continue to be on the high side as long as they are imported and the process is dollar-denominated.
Related News
Tinubu’s seven wonders in seven weeks
Subsidy removal: Govs may divert Tinubu’s palliatives – Shehu Sani
Fuel subsidy: Automobile transportation now luxury in Lagos – Rhodes-Vivour
”What he needs to do is to encourage modular refineries. That will bring succour to the people and the country entirely. He should address that and set standards for those operating such modular refineries if he is not pleased with what they are doing now.
“While the modular refineries are working and meeting the people’s needs in their own little ways, then the big ones, such as Dangote Refinery, can come on stream.
”The huge impact of the subsidy removal is already affecting businesses and many may close down. If that happens, it is still parents that will be the worst for it if they lose their jobs and still have family commitments to handle.”
Recall that federal government’s unity colleges recently increased fees from N45,000 to N100,000 and federal universities have done same.
