Nigeria’s ‘subsidised’ university education leaves students mentally poor

Stakeholders have raised concerns about the ability of the Federal Government to provide quality university education at a subsidised rate, given dwindling foreign exchange accruing from crude oil revenues.

At the moment, the FG subsidises tuition leading to most Federal universities; charging tuition fees of between N9,000 and N25 000.

The minister of education Adamu Adamu recently revealed the government is making efforts to increase tuition fees in all federal universities to about N45,000.

Some experts say raising the fees may not be enough because quality education costs money. For instance, research and scientific experiments require state of the art facilities that most universities lack.

Ike Mowete, professor of electrical/electronics engineering at the University of Lagos told BusinessDay that it is difficult to subsidise quality education.

“We need to commend the FG for deeming it worthwhile to increase tuition fees. Listen, I just got a text message from my daughter studying in Canada,” Mowete said.

“I literally pay for her tuition through my nose, that is just a manner of speaking. Nowhere in the world is tertiary education ‘free’. See, parents and students alike need to understand this, the days of free this and free that, are gone. Sure, my generation benefited from the oil boom era but that era is gone.”

There are international standards that could serve as benchmark such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where undergraduate tuition and living expenses for nine months in 2015–2016 is N16 million ($46,400).

In addition, undergraduate room and board is approximately N4.7 million ($13,730) depending on the student’s housing and dining arrangements. Books and personal expenses cost about N900 000 ($2,816).

Likewise, students of public universities in Ghana pay an average of N600 000 ($1, 500) per annum and there are bound to be variations according to regions and nations.

Also, the range in South Africa is between R30 000 and R35 000.

It costs approximately N270 000 on the average, per annum to train a science student in some federal universities in Nigeria. It costs over N800 000 on average, per annum, to train a medical student, BusinessDay investigation has shown.

Yet students at the University of Lagos, a federal university, pay N14 000 for Arts faculty and N15 500 for science, including medical students, as tuition fees.

This impacts the quality of education.

For instance, there is an increasing infrastructural decay on federal university campuses.

“This is telling on the quality of the products of our federal institutions. In some federal universities, you find a lecturer teaching a class of 400-500 three or four courses in a semester. What quality of research goes into the work, and you expect quality education?

At the MIT, two lecturers may handle a course with an army of sometimes, 10 teaching assistants. The quality you get from such a system would definitely be outstanding. It comes down to availability of funds,” explained Victor Odumuyiwa, lecturer, department of computer sciences, at the University of Lagos.

Stakeholders say the funding structure of federal universities needs a total overhaul, even as mixed reactions have trailed the minister’s announcement on the harmonisation of tuition fees for federal universities, which was pegged at a maximum of N45 000 per student, annually.

Oladipo Babatunde, a postgraduate student at the University of Lagos, contends that federal universities should be given greater autonomy and allowed to compete among themselves.

“I am well aware of the fact that this calls for a great deal of thinking outside the box, or even without a box to come up with an effective model. This would induce pain in the short-run, but this is surely the way to go,” Oladipo said.

However, a 300 level student who pleaded anonymity opined that the anticipated N45 000 tuition fee increment for federal universities would cause unnecessary hardship for parents.

“My father is a civil servant; surely, I hope to leave school before this comes to stay. However, I have three younger siblings who expect to gain admission into UNILAG next academic year. I just wonder how my father would deal with that. Already, he has a hard time accommodating N15 500. This is a terrible move on the part of the government and students would kick hard against it,” he suggested.

Mowete explained further that the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund) may need to be redefined because there is a lot of idle cash lying fallow there that could be used to finance scholarships and grants for low income students, should the FG opt for some form of deregulation of tuition fees. 

Other stakeholders in the education space advocate for a deregulation of the federal universities to make them competitive.

Okojie Rebecca, deputy registrar, University of Ilorin said this is a step in the right direction. She indicated that many would kick hard against it and students’ restiveness is expected to increase in response to this.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU