Eromosele Ebhomele
Mr. Gbolahan Olusegun Yishawu, the member representing Eti-Osa Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, has advocated the privatisation of the Lagos State University, LASU, and other public institutions in the state and country.
Yishawu believes this would solve the various challenges bedevilling higher institutions in the country.
Recently, there have been protests, some violent, across some higher institutions in the country.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists at the House, Yishawu wondered why private institutions have continued to survive while government-owned institutions such as LASU are only managing to exist despite their huge budgetary allocations.
According to the lawmaker, N10 billion is spent on LASU annually for example and when broken down among a population of 10, 000 students, this translates to N1 million per student.
“With this, it means if the institution is privatised, the government would not even need to pay as much as N1 million per student since students of most of the private universities in the country do not pay as much as that each.
“If you also look at what the government is spending to pay teachers and provide infrastructures in public schools, you would get an average of N150,000 per student, which is not up to what most students pay each in private schools in the state,” he said.
The lawmaker who is the Chairman, House Committee on Waterfront Infrastructure, said this challenge has also been recorded in other government-owned institutions like general hospitals.
On the role of the legislature in the country, Yishawu emphasised that the legislature remains a powerful arm of government, but that the principle of checks and balances limits its powers.
On the controversies that have so far rocked the 2016 budget of the Federal Government, he noted that the legislature has a right to remove or add items to the budget urging the nation to move forward.
Making reference to the Anti-smoking Law, which he initiated in the seventh Assembly, Yishawu said that the law was being enforced as he revealed that smoking has been banned in most public places.