No federal university in the nation is permitted to impose tuition fees, according to the Federal Government.
This was said by Mr. David Adejo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, on Tuesday in Abuja at a public hearing by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on student loans.
Adejo referred to the nation’s federal colleges’ recent rise in fees as regrettable.
“They levy fees to cover expenses like lodging, ICT, and power, among others. Such charges may be approved for them by the Governing Councils of the Universities.
“The University of Lagos is the only institution that raised fees following the signing of the Student Loan Act.
“All Governing Councils were abolished, so they came to the Ministry with a proposal to raise their fees, and we approved it.
Even if several other people have submitted their suggestion, he said, “immediately that was done, there was a resolution from the House stopping the increase in fees and the President also gave a directive stopping any increase in fees.”
According to Adejo, the institutions’ fees were used to cover the costs of certain of their services, including the electricity bills.
He disputed assertions that some of the increase in university fees was caused by the passage of the Students’ Loan Act.
Adejo claimed that the universities have struggled to cover some costs in spite of the fees.
He claimed that plans had been made for the student loan programme to start in the 2023–2024 school year.
According to Adejo, President Bola Tinubu issued a directive stating that all necessary work must be finished on the scheme’s take-off mechanisms in order for it to launch in September.
The student loan, according to the committee’s chairman Teseer Ugbor, is one of the federal government’s palliative measures to lessen Nigerians’ suffering and to ensure that all motivated Nigerians have access to higher education.
However, he expressed worry about the loan disbursement procedure, recovering the monies from beneficiaries, and the likelihood that some students would not be able to obtain the loan.
In an effort to change the law so that all Nigerian students interested in the loan might take advantage of it, he called for conversation.
