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By Lawrence Agbo
The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State, has suspended the implementation of the newly introduced ₦580,000 tuition fee for nursing students following protests by students of the institution.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Prof. Joseph Ugboaja, announced the decision on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme.
Daily Sun first reported the development on Friday following a report obtained by its reporter, which revealed that the fee hike had sparked outrage among students, leading nursing students to protest the sharp increase in tuition from ₦90,000 to ₦580,000.
Ugboaja said the decision to suspend the policy followed a series of meetings with student representatives, the school management and the governing board after the protest.
According to him, the major concern raised by students was that they were not adequately involved in the final decision-making process regarding the fee review.
“What the students complained about was that they were not carried along at the final decision-making for the fees. They know that there was a review and their opinion was sought, but at the level of taking decision, they said they were not carried along,” he said.
“So, I had a meeting with them, I had a session with the school management, I also had a session with the board and we have decided that the management will suspend the implementation of the new policy.
“We have stopped it and then the committee is now going back to them to have a session with the students and all of them will come together and agree on the way forward,” he added.
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The CMD noted that the protest was not organised by the student leadership but was largely driven by widespread concerns among students over the decision.
Despite suspending the implementation, Ugboaja defended the proposed fee, maintaining that the ₦580,000 tuition remains the lowest among nursing training institutions in the South-East.
He explained that the review became necessary following the transition from the basic nursing programme to the National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) structure introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
“What we were running before is the RN/RM programme, that is the basic nursing programme, but recently we moved to the ND programme articulated by the Nigerian Nursing and Midwifery Council. So we are now running the ND/HND programme,” he said.
He further clarified that the students who had been paying ₦90,000 were those in the basic nursing and midwifery programmes, while those admitted into the ND and HND programmes had already paid the revised fees without raising concerns.
“People that were paying the ₦90,000 are the basic nursing and midwifery students. But the ND and HND students have paid the fees and they don’t have issues. The people that have issues are those who have been paying the ₦90,000,” he explained.
Ugboaja added that the fees for the basic nursing programme had remained unchanged since the establishment of the school, making the review necessary in view of current economic realities.
He also lamented that teaching hospitals do not benefit from intervention funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), a situation he said contributed to the need to review the fees.
According to him, the adjustment is also part of the hospital’s broader plan to position NAUTH among the top three teaching hospitals in Nigeria by the year 2030.
