From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Parents and students have decried the increase in the registration fees and charges for the 2022/2023 academic season by the authorities of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID).
The university’s Governing Council recently announced an upward review of’ fees for the academic season.
A circular titled “Upward Review of Registration Fees and Charges,” signed by the registrar, Ahmad Lawan, said the increase in the fees was necessitated by the high cost of teaching and learning materials caused by inflation.
“Following the rising costs of teaching and learning materials as well as laboratory consumables and reagents brought about by market forces, the university Governing Council had at its 157th meeting held on Thursday, 1st December, 2022, approved the review of registration fee and charges for both postgraduate and undergraduate programmes of the university,” the circular read.
Registration fees for undergraduate students in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences were increased from N25,000 and N28,000 to about N100,000.
Parts 1 and 2 new medical students (MBBS) in the College of Medical Sciences will now pay N252,500, while returning students in higher classes, will pay N233,000.
The new fees also require Medical Laboratory Science/Nursing new students to pay N136,500. Returning students in the same departments will now pay N117,000.
New students in the departments of Anatomy and Physiology are to pay N162,500, while returning students are to pay N143,000.
Bukar Mustaoha, a parent, said the new fee was higher and could force some students to withdraw.
“I have two children in the school and these new fees will bring more financial challenges to me. The management should have considered a 50 per cent increment. We understand the problem but this increase of 200 per cent is too high,” he told The Education Report.
He appealed to the university to consider a downward review to reduce the financial burden on the students, parents and guardians.
Hassana (other names withheld), a Part 3 undergraduate, blamed the Federal Government for pushing the university management to increase tuition fees.
“We anticipated many public universities will start charging fees after the failure of the ASUU strike but we never expected such an increment at UNIMAID. We are not happy because it will also push some students into bad acts to source for money,” she said.
UNIMAD’s director of Radio and Publicity, Prof. Danjuma Gambo, could not be reached for further clarification on the new registration fees.
A source at the university said the institution’s management was compelled to review the students’ fees and charges as the dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities over funding and lecturers’ pay could not be resolved.
Aside from UNIMAID, some universities, especially state-owned universities as well as private universities, have reviewed their fees upward for the 2022/2023 academic session.
Stakeholders, including students, decried the increment and demanded a reversal of the hike. In some instances, the students protested against the hike.