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By Olakunle Olafioye
A fresh crisis appears to be brewing in the nation’s universities following the announcements of hike in fees payable by students in some tertiary institutions in the country.
As at the last count, no fewer than five universities have raised their tuition fees, with several others anticipated to come up with similar announcements soon to cushion the effects of funding challenges, which were at the centre of the eight-month crippling strike embarked upon by university workers last year. The new hike is coming at a time Nigerians are face with rising costs of living.
So far, the University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State, FULafia, Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, University of Uyo, UniUyo, and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umidike, MOUA, have all announced increments in their school fees and other sundry charges payable by their students.
Findings showed that a few other universities, including University of Ilorin, may follow suit.
The development has, therefore, begun to raise fear and tension in the country with concerned Nigerians and stakeholders threatening to fight the move, which they described as an attempt to further pile more economic woes on suffering Nigerians and attempt to force many students, particularly those from poor homes, to drop out of school.
Last Monday, northern students under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Group Student Wing (CNG-SW), threatened to shut down the entire region in protest over what they termed as indiscriminate hikes in tuition fees.
The National Coordinator of the group, Emuseh Bokunga, at a press briefing in Abuja, listed the northern universities that have so far raised their tuition fees to include University of Maiduguri, Borno State; Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, and the Federal University Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Bokunga claimed that the hike was a calculated attempt to continuously weaken the region educationally and pauperise it economically.
She warned that if not reversed, so many students would drop out and would be forced to take part in criminality.
“Some insensitive and indifferent authorities of northern Nigerian universities have already announced incredible increments in their tuition.
“As is the tradition of the CNG, we took time to understudy the situation and assess the inherent dangers the hike in tuition would pose to Nigerians and especially to the northern region, which has been abandoned to the mercy of rampaging banditry and insurgency.
“We are convinced, therefore, that this hike and other potentially damaging policies are part of a calculated design to continuously weaken the North educationally and pauperise it economically.
“We find it regrettable that as a result of these poorly designed policies, hunger is stalking millions of homes, inflation is making life difficult by the day, people are losing jobs, businesses are closing down, infrastructure is decaying, young Nigerians are losing hope of being employed, hospitals are full of people who suffer various illnesses, and cannot afford the fees,” she said, threatening that the group would embark on regional protest to drive home its demand for reversal in the hike.
Although most universities are yet to make similar pronouncements, there are fears, however, that many of them, particularly those contending with serious financial crisis, may be likewise compelled to hike their tuition fees.
An educationist and CEO, Unique Scholars, Mr Kayode Ajakaye, is of the opinion that hike in tuition fees in the nation’s universities would impact negatively on families whose children are in tertiary institutions considering what Nigerians are going through economically.
Ajakaye who noted that tuition fee is just one of many expenses students incur said that increasing the school fees would further impoverish Nigerians and could deny many students, particularly those from poor homes, access to tertiary education.
Ajakaye is of the view that the reports of increment or possible increment in school fees in some universities at a time like this was ill-conceived, pointing out that the condition most families find themselves economically does not support such hike. To him, access to education at all levels should be seen as rights rather than a privilege.
“I have heard people say education is cheap in Nigeria because some universities charge as low as N50,000 as tuition fees. No, that is not true. The tuition fee is just a fraction of the expenses students incur when they get admission to institutions of higher learning.
“ There are pre-admission expenses which cover processes leading to admission. To prepare and sit for JAMB alone could gulp as much as N250,000 or more depending on the area the students reside. Students will have to attend tutorials where they pay monthly, they have to register for JAMB. JAMB examination alone could gulp up to N20,000. In addition to procuring the form, there could be need to effect corrections on the data supplied in the course of the registration, and JAMB will charge extra fee. There is always possibility of the need for change of course or change of institutions; you will have to pay additional charges and many other more charges.
“At the point of entering, there is acceptance fee, medical fee, accomodation fee is there. If your child is lucky to get hostel accommodation in the school you may be fortunate to pay as low as N50,000 per annum. But in schools where students live in private hostels, students could pay as high as N200,000. By the time you add the costs of textbooks, departmental fees and other sundry charges, a student whose school fee is just N50,000 per session could incur as high as N300,000 in a single session. And who are their parents? They are the same set of people whom the government is reluctant to pay N30,000 minimum wage. So you can see the pain an additional 10,000 increment in school fees will cause people in this category.”
Not a few Nigerians also feel that the decision by university authorities to hike tuition fees would inflict more hardship on most people and deny many students the opportunity of university education. A parent, Mrs Chioma Njoku, said that the move, if allowed to sail through, would further widen the gap between the rich and the poor as university education would be priced beyond the reach of most poor Nigerians.
“Most poor parents who are struggling to see their children through universities are not doing so because they have the money to waste, but because they know that by sending their children to school up to university level will give them the hope of a better tomorrow. But if the government decides to make education inaccessible through prohibitive tuition fees to the downtrodden, parents’ hope will be deflated. The implication of this is that the gap between the rich and the poor will become more pronounced,” she said, while calling on the government to allocate more funds to the education sector to avoid putting parents under undue financial pressure.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), last week, also voiced its opposition to the plans by the government to raise the tuition costs associated with receiving university education, insisting that the move could put higher education out of reach for economically disadvantaged students.
The union also expressed concern about what it described as “the government’s systematic withdrawal from funding public universities through the proposed introduction of education loans, claiming that the introduction of education loans has been a complete failure in countries where it has been implemented.”
There are, however, those who feel that raising tuition fees payable by students in tertiary institutions is the only viable option if Nigeria must rescue tertiary education from total collapse.
Those who hold this view argued that there is no place in the world where university education is cheap.
“It is either students pay or government finances it through heavy taxes,” a public commentator, Mr Fred Ikhile, noted, adding that raising tuition fees reasonably, will increase the funds available to tertiary institutions.
According to him, “if we increase tuition fees, it will increase the money available to run our higher institutions and improve infrastructure and research in our higher institutions. It will further entrench the principle of autonomy as each institution would be able to have greater controls over its finance.
“It is very clear that the government is not ready to commit itself financially beyond what it is currently doing and this is not only peculiar to education, those in health sector and other sectors are also complaining about under-funding. So, if we are serious about improving the quality of education in our universities now, we just have to raise the tuition a bit higher than what students pay now.”
