Parents, schools feel pinch as fuel prices surge

 

The persistent rise in fuel and diesel prices across the country is taking a heavy toll on schools and parents, with many struggling to cope with increasing transportation costs and operational expenses.

The situation is driving up the cost of education and placing additional financial pressure on households already grappling with economic challenges.

A private school owner in Lagos State told BusinessDay he spends over N2.2 million fueling his school’s buses and generators in a week.

He explained that the fuel price increase came at a time when schools were already in the middle of their second term, hence, they could not adjust fees.

“The second term was already on when fuel prices jumped up earlier in the year, and because parents had paid for the term, we could not do anything about it.

“We spent more than 50 percent extra in fuelling the buses, and generators to ensure the students have a conducive learning environment; and this is tearing our purse,” he said.

To ease the financial haemorrhage, he said, the school has increased the bus fare from N45,000 to N60,000; and has added N10,000 tuition fees across board for the new term.

In Q2 of 2025, petrol sold between N860 and N890 across Nigeria. Currently, petrol pump prices range between N1,100 and N1,400 per litre across most states, which is about a 57 percent increase compared to 2025, according to crowdsourced pump data.

In May 2025, the average diesel price was N1,758.26 per litre across Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), while early in May 2026, the average price of diesel surged to N1,962.50 per litre.

A school administrator in one of the top-notch private schools in Lekki, Lagos, revealed that within the first two weeks of resumption, the school bought 4000 litres of diesel; that is about N4 million in a week, besides other overhead costs.

“It has been a serious issue because the school is running at a loss. The fuel we spent over more than two months last year is being spent in just two weeks this year.

“The most annoying part of it is that the school can’t increase the fees because the parents will complain; besides, the price change came towards the end of the session, which is always the most difficult time to make any adjustment to fees,” he said.

He emphasised that private school owners have been facing many challenges due to the hike in the prices of petroleum and diesel.

“Before the fuel price skyrocketed. Each bus normally collects the money for 110 litres, which runs for a week, but now that the price has gone up, the school is paying through its nose,” he noted.

In Abuja, a faith-based school revealed that it spends not less than N1.5 million per week in the face of the fuel war.

Mercy Nnokam, a school owner based in Rivers State, said that with the rising cost of living, the school business is really challenging.

“At the moment, we are all trying our best to ensure that the school is still running even in the face of all these; because parents are also facing the impact of these changes, meeting up with fee payment is slow, and we don’t know if all of them will be able to pay before the end of the term,” she said.

Elizabeth Ohaka, the proprietress of Redwood Academy, Lagos, said, “Since we resumed, the budget for everything has gone up. For us to maintain quality, we still have to continue the activities we are used to doing, such as running the generators during power outages, maintaining data usage, and using quality cleaning agents, among others.

“A member of my staff resigned due to the high cost of transportation, and I plan to give relief packages to the staff coming from far before they go the same route.”

Ohaka explained that it is not easy for school owners: “My bus has been parked until further notice mainly because of the unstable pump price of fuel, and drivers’ issues.”

Experts believe that this sharp hike was driven by rising global oil costs and adjustments by marketers. Besides, they argue that the Middle East war is fuelling the global oil war.

Meanwhile, parents are groaning as the cost of keeping their children in private schools escalates.

Adekunle Oguns, a parent, lamented the economic hardship, which he said has heaped more burdens on parents. To meet the reality on the ground, he said, “I have parked my car and go out on public transport to save the cost of buying the monster petrol, and often I trek short distances when not using ‘okada’.”

Besides, he said he had to stop lessons with the teacher and handle the Mathematics, Further Maths, Citizenship Education, and English Language, among others, himself.

Chima Nwosu said, “We’re not able to complete payment of school fees for our children, because the fees went up astronomically, while our earning power has reduced.”

Some parents, whose children go to school on public buses, said they now pay extra for transport fares.

Theresa Udeogu, a mother of three, whose two children board public buses to school, said the hike in fuel prices is squeezing her financially.

“My two children pay N600 each to school every morning; before now, we were paying N300 each. Every school day, we spend about N1,100 on each of them.

“We spend about N5,500 a week per child, which amounts to N11,000 for both of them in a week, and that’s besides feeding and other expenditures,” she said.

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