LASU CRISIS

Activities on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway were yesterday halted for hours after students of the Lagos State University, LASU and the shuttle operators clashed with members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, at the Iyana-Iba motor park over increase in loading levies.

It was learned that the ever busy road was blocked while the clash lasted.

We gathered that the clash started at about 11 am after the members of the Union informed the shuttle operators that the loading levies had been increased from N200 to N1, 000 and that the increment took immediate effect.

Sources said the shuttle operators plying LASU-Isheri and Lagos-Badagry expressway used to pay their weekly levies to the Students Union Government, SUG, on Tuesdays and another N200 to the NURTW and RTEAN for every trip.

According to reports, the transport unions kept the SUG in the dark over the planned increment. The SUG normally would have directed the shuttle operators to comply with the development.

Worried by the increment, it was learned that the operators informed the students who  visited the motor park to plead with the unions to shelve the planned increment.

But on arrival at the park, one of the students  identified simply as Shola said the union members attacked the students with machete and broken bottles.

He said that this infuriated the students who directed  the shuttle operators not to pay the new levy. In retaliation, the Unions damaged over eight shuttle buses that joined the SUG to kick against the planned increment.

It was learned that the students blocked the road in a bid to recover their buses from the union and  press home their demands.

Ambode,VC, SUG president wade in

Another student, who pleaded anonimity narrated that normalcy returned after the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun and officers from the Ojo Police Station and the SUG President, Adeyemi Onikoro waded into the crisis.

Sources close to the office of the governor, said that a top official from the governor’s office called the leadership of the transport unions, directing that the issue be resolved immediately.

Few minutes after normalcy returned, a meeting was held at the office of the Divisional Police Officer of the Ojo division where all the parties were asked to maintain status quo until Thursday when they would be having another meeting to resolve the issue.

The reason for scheduling the meeting for Thursday, a SUG official said it was because the Student union would be conducting their election.

Death of female student: LASU clarifies issues

Meantime, the University authorities have said the organisers of the party at which a 200 level female student died earlier in the month did not inform the university of the event.

The university said this in its official bulletin obtained  in Lagos.

It identified the late student as Miss Omolara Gbadeyan of the Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Faculty of Management Science.

According to the bulletin, Gbadeyan attended a party hosted by the History and International Studies Students Association on February 11 at an Event Centre at Igando, Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development Area.

It said that the organisers of the party did not inform the university authority or seek its approval for the event.

According to the university, this is contrary to the rules and regulations of the institution.

“The university authority received the shocking news after the sad event had occurred and immediately swung into action,” the bulletin said.

It said the management directed the health service department and the Security unit, Students Affairs Division,  to carry out detailed investigation on the incident.

According to the bulletin, the incident was reported to the police while the body of the deceased was deposited at the morgue of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

It said that autopsy was being carried out to determine the cause of the death and a detailed statement would be released by the university authority as soon as  the investigation was concluded.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Lanre Fagbohun, commiserated with the family  of the deceased on behalf of the entire university and wished the departed soul eternal rest.

Fagbohun advised students to remain calm and law abiding as  they go about their academic and other activities dutifully.

The SUG president, Adeyemi Onikoro and the Public Relation Officer of the Students Union, Fatai Adebanjo however debunked the claim that the students were protesting, saying; “We have a new LASU now. We do not engage in such activities anymore.”