President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says over 50 percent of students in federal universities may drop out over the next three years if Nigeria fails to address the ongoing arbitrary hike in fees.
Citing a sustainability crisis, federal universities have been hiking their fees in recent weeks, some by up to 600 percent.
This has prompted protests across university campuses nationwide.
Osodeke said during an interview with ChannelsTV, that the hike will lead to more dropouts from schools.
Universities are arbitrarily increasing fees. Is that correct in an environment where the minimum wage is ₦30,000 per month; where you still have to pay rent and pay heavily for transportation?” he asked.
“And you’re enforcing this thing. If nothing is done about the heavy fees being introduced all over the country today, more than 40 to 50 percent of students who are in school will drop out in the next two to three years.
“Create the environment we had in the 60s and 70s. When I was a student, the government was paying me for being a student. Let’s have an environment where the children of the poor can have access to education.
“Imagine school fees of ₦300,000. How can the children of someone who earns ₦50,000 a month afford such a fee?
“This government should increase the budget for education to at least 15 percent away from last year’s 3.8 to generate enough to fund the system so we won’t have students dropping
