FG plans the implementation of tuition fees in Federal Universities, following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s signing of the Student Loan Bill.
The federal government, FG plans to implement tuition fees in federal universities, polytechnics, and other higher institutions. Many people have applauded this progress without considering the ramifications for the millions of potential students who rely on tuition-free higher education institutions to learn.
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This, according to educators and other stakeholders, will have far-reaching consequences. Tuition, which can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of naira in private institutions, is free in government schools at both the national and state levels in Nigeria.
Tuition waivers have enabled millions of kids to attend school, but analysts argue the implementation of a student loan program is necessary. According to the law, the loans referred to in this Act may only be issued to students for the payment of tuition costs. This paragraph contradicts the previous regulation stating that tuition in public institutions is free.
Tuition at Nigerian institutions is a constitutional issue, according to Chapter 2 of the modified 1999 Constitution. No publicly owned institution is permitted under the requirements of that law, and it is prohibited for any of them to charge tuition fees to any citizen of the country.
The Student Loan Bill, according to the Act establishing the law, would offer destitute Nigerians with simple access to higher education through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. The Academic Staff Union’s President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), stated that the law is not new and has been in the works for a long time.
He claimed that imposing tuition fees would be unproductive in a country where more than 133 million people live in poverty. He mentioned that another bill introducing college fees is likely to be awaiting signature.
According to Professor Ben Ugwoke of the University of Abuja, no public institution in Nigeria pays tuition fees under the terms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution, as mandated by the FG. Due to underfunding, the governing councils or boards of these public institutions are authorized by the statutes that established the institutions to select suitable charges and levies that students must pay.
Should pay to cover certain expenses. The statute that was signed into law does not repeal the several acts of the National Assembly that established public institutions and allowed them to tax students appropriately.
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Tuition rates would remain the same or even increase, according to Professor Nasiru Medugu Idris of Nasarawa State University Keffi, because the students’ loan will only be used for tuition payments. Parents may believe it is a respite for them, but it is not because kids’ living expenses per semester are extremely high.
Tuition fees at schools may account for 10-20% of students’ spending per semester. As a result, parents and students should wait until they have obtained the loan before celebrating the act’s signing.
