Fees in Federal Varsities

[Richard Akindele]

For a while now, the dominant question in the nation's tertiary educational circles has been whether federal universities should charge their students for tuition or not. Right now, whatever tuition fees most of them charge is relatively tokenist. The federal government says it spends about N300,000 per student in these institutions. In its thinking this is enough to justify the low or no fees which they charge.

However, given the parlous condition of the federal universities, this money amounts to little. Clearly, the universities can do with a lot more funds to be able to rise to the standard expected of them. But should this deficit be funded by the students or the government?

The National Universities Commission (NUC) thinks the federal universities, like their privately-owned counterparts, should be free to charge competitive fees. In a new policy proposal just announced by the commission, it says that despite the reluctance of the government to impose higher fees in its educational institutions, the option to charge competitive fees seems inevitable if the universities are to meet the expectations of their students, employers and the larger society. The commission has thus proposed the introduction of fees for undergraduate courses with effect from 2008. For the universities to improve the quality of their faculties, they need to be able to offer higher salaries and better conditions of service. And to do this they need a lot more money than is available to them at present.

NUC's logic can hardly be faulted. Many are agreed that the biggest problem facing university education in Nigeria is poor funding. As a result, most public universities are no more than glorified high schools. It is no wonder that in successive ranking of the world's universities, none from Nigeria made the best 1000. What this shows is that our universities need a lot of attention.

The NUC believes that getting the students to contribute more financially to the upliftment of the universities as is the practice in most parts of the world, won't be a bad idea. We share this view on two major grounds. The first is that we believe that our universities really need some sprucing up. This, in turn, requires huge amounts of money.

As it is, the federal government has not proved that it is willing or able to provide all of that money. So, what do the universities do to augment whatever they are receiving as subsidies now? A little more money from their students is not out of place provided that they are prudent in managing it.

The other reason we believe the universities should be allowed to charge more realistic tuition fees is that there are members of the society who can easily afford to pay such fees if only that would enable the universities offer better academic fares. This fact is attested to by the number of Nigerians who send their children or wards to study abroad, including places like Ghana where fees are much higher but standards better. Once such Nigerians can be assured that their children can get quality university education here, they would pay the accompanying fees.

It is good, however, that in its proposal, the NUC has recommended the re-institution of scholarship boards and bursaries to cushion the effect of higher fees on indigent but bright students. Such a scheme must, however, be administered in such a manner as to benefit mostly student who may have difficulty paying their fees.

As part of the efforts to shore up their finances, the universities also need to streamline their academic programmes so as to attract more foreign students who usually pay higher fees.

None of these, however, should foreclose government's continued provision of subsidies to public universities. There is hardly any country where that is not the case. Similarly, more corporate organisations should endow scholarships as part of their social responsibilities. With prudent management, all of this is bound to improve standards in our universities.

This Day

[Richard Akindele]

The National secretariat of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has recent resolution of the National Universities Commission (NUC)'s Management retreat, which recommended among others, the introduction of tuition fees in universities, beginning from 2008.

A release signed by the President, Mr. Damilare Lawal rested the students' position on Chapter 2, Article 18 Subsection 3 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that education should be provided free by the federal government. "We are more than convinced that education can be funded adequately and funded massively by the government. This proposal, we believe is another gimmick by the federal government to finalise its plan to privatise the already commercialised education sector. This attempt was made in 1978 by General Olusegun Obasanjo, now President and it provoked a nationwide agitation (ALI MUST GO) of the students under the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS). It is painful to observe that the only dividends of democracy meted out to Nigerian students from the inception of this administration are incessant increment in school fees, hostel accommodation, erratic water and electricity supply, library fees, laboratory fees etc.", the students lamented. They have the refore called on fellow students to get involved in non violent agitation for better funding of education through, the Save Education, Save the Future of Nigeria (SESAFUN) campaign.

This Day.