LEADERSHIP
While the federal government is yet to officially announce a policy change, the reality is beginning to dawn on Nigerians that public universities are no longer tuition-free and have not been for some time despite the narrative that they are.
Investigations by LEADERSHIP Weekend revealed that virtually all federal universities charge students a wide range of fees and are, in fact, beginning to raise the different categories of fees by close to 200 percent.
In the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa, for instance, the charges include Medical examination, Identity card, SUG dues, Students handbook, Caution, Examination library, Sanitation, ICT, Sports/games, Result verification/issuance, Municipal services, and Lab/studio/workshop, Teaching practice/field trip/SIWES/project.
The University of Lagos, which has similar charges, has more than 62,000 students, indicating it generates billions of naira each semester.
While the National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS) has claimed tuition fees have consistently led to a high drop out of students from public universities, there are no verifiable records of the number of students who drop out each year due to the inability to pay the fees.
And in spite of the soaring cost of getting a university education, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has insisted that federal universities remain tuition-free and in what amounts to double speak, says the commission might consider regulating fees in universities.
But it is not only the NUC that is in denial about the existence of a tuition-free tertiary education policy by the federal government; so is the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which for their own reasons are holding on to the notion that students don’t pay for their degrees and the university system is solely funded by the government.
In the 2023 budget of the federal government, N1.79 trillion was set aside for the education sector, out of which N470 billion was tied to tertiary institutions. Another N248.3 billion was allocated to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
But through publicly available data, LEADERSHIP Weekend was able to ascertain that the universities themselves raise just as much in revenue, which they rarely account for.
The University of Lagos, for instance, has a total population of 62, 215, according to the 2019/2020 statistics. 35,436 students are undergoing full time undergraduate programs, 57 percent of the total number.
2,532 are in Distance Learning Institute (DLI), 9046 pursuing Post Graduate Degrees, 2,797 students in the Institute of Continuous Education (ICE), and 2,404 in the sub-degree (Pre-degree program)
UNILAG has 12 faculties, 6 institutes and 26 centers. According to the 2019/2020 Enrollment, the Faculty of Education has the highest number of students, 7,046, while the Faculty of Basic Medical Science (BMS) has the least number, 397 students.
According to the figure by the bursary department of University of Lagos, new fulltime undergraduate students in both science and non-science faculties pay the same fees, a total of N64,500 for the first semester they are enrolled in.
The breakdown is as follows for the new students: Acceptance fee, N20,000; Registration, N5000; ID Card N1000; Results Verification, N5000; Examination, N5000; Medical Services (including drug test), N5,000; Library Services, N5000; Information Technology, N2500; Endowment fund, N10000; TISHIP, N5000, and Sports, N1000…
