Tuition Hike: NANS Writes Buhari, Begs For Intervention
The National Association of Nigerian Students has expressed strong opposition to the alleged plans by federal universities in the country to increase by 200 per cent their tuitions and various other charges from this year.
NANS urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “as a matter of urgency, intervene and stop the plan before it degenerates to crisis in the nation’s ivory towers”.
NANS is the umbrella body of all Nigerian students in tertiary schools both at home and in the diaspora and it has about 50 million members globally.
There is a plan to hike fees of federal universities over rising inflation and dwindling revenue from the Federal Government.
A survey across some federal universities in the country also revealed that some universities had announced a hike in fees.
But NANS in a letter addressed to Buhari, dated January 4, 2023, and titled, ‘Request for fatherly intervention on school fees increment by tertiary institutions in Nigeria’, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Friday, was signed by the National President and the Senate President of the association, Usman Umar Barambu and Attah Unalue Felix respectively.
The students also copied for their notice the Minister of Education, the Executive Secretary of NUC, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser and the Inspector General of Police, among others.
Part of the statement read, “The VCs, by such move, are not only inconsiderate but also insensitive to the plights of their students. President Buhari should quickly intervene and stop the move as the majority of students, who attend public universities, particularly in Nigeria, are from financially disadvantaged homes and will not be able to afford such an increment.
“The vice chancellors and lecturers of various universities had already devised a special way of mitigating the effects of the planned increment by granting their own children in those schools significant rebate while leaving others from poor homes to their fate.”
Meanwhile, NANS has called on the Federal Government to increase the funding of the education sector through other means instead of depending on fee hike.
The association said the government had the constitutional responsibility to provide affordable education for its citizens, and as such must adopt other sources to fund the sector
Recall that some federal universities recently commenced the increase of registration and tuition fees for students in a bid to improve the funding of the institutions.
NANS National Public Relations Officer, Temitope Giwa, said the decision to increase fees was a burden to students and their parents.
He described as worrisome government’s inability to provide adequate funding for tertiary institutions, adding that workers’ salaries should be increased for parents considering the current economic realities.
