The Joint Action Front (JAF) has strongly criticized the recent surge in tuition fees across federal universities in Nigeria.
This fee hike, affecting both new and returning students enrolled in regular programs, has triggered widespread campus protests.
JAF chairperson denounces fee hikes
In response, Dipo Fashina, the Chairperson of JAF, has condemned the increases as “cruel and insensitive” and called for their immediate reversal, alongside increased funding for public education at all levels.
JAF has issued a call to action, urging labor unions, students, and the disadvantaged to unite in opposing these “outrageous fee hikes” through a series of mass activities, including nationwide strikes and large-scale protests.
The organization argues that these fee increases, some of which reach as high as 800 percent, exacerbate the financial burden on working-class and impoverished individuals already grappling with the impact of escalating petrol prices, currency devaluation, and other anti-poor neoliberal policies implemented during Bola Tinubu’s administration, which have contributed to soaring inflation and economic hardships.
JAF contends that given the current severe economic crises, these fee hikes threaten to deny access to tertiary education for many students from working-class and disadvantaged backgrounds unless they are promptly reversed.
Consequently, JAF is calling on prominent groups such as the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, education worker unions (including ASUU, NASU, SSANU, NAAT, NUT, etc.), and pro-masses organizations to actively support the struggle against these exorbitant fee hikes.
The organization believes that only a united effort, encompassing workers, students, and the impoverished masses, can compel the Tinubu regime to halt the fee increases and ensure the adequate funding of public education.
