Godfrey George writes that many indigent parents whose children are students of tertiary institutions where fees have been hiked risk dropping out, as they cannot afford to pay the increased fees
The day Michael Abiodun was born was the day his father died. His mother, Esther, had gone into labour on April 29 but could not give birth for over 48 hours. The traditional birth attendant, whom she had visited, said she was not dilating but was surprised why her water broke. This was in 1999 in Ilesha, a town in Osun State.
After much struggle, Esther became too weary to push and the birth attendant told her husband, Abiodun, to take her to a proper clinic, as she may need surgery to get Michael out. Abiodun rushed out to get a taxi but never came back. He had an accident and died before he could get to any hospital.
Esther, still in labour, said she saw her life flash before her eyes. Her husband had not returned and she was losing all the strength she had left. The birth attendant, according to her, encouraged her to push one last time with all the strength she had. She did and Michael was born. The umbilical cord, Esther noted, tied a part of his neck with his left hand.
After a few hours, Esther began to bleed and was rushed to another local clinic in the area where she was given some medication. However, the bleeding continued till she was taken to a private clinic in Osogbo, where the doctors said she was going to be admitted.
Worried, Esther said she tried to reach her husband and other children but was not possible. Her eldest sons were in a boarding school in the state and her daughter was only about five years old and was with a relative in another town nearby. Her parents were dead. Her husband’s mother was too old to visit and her husband himself was nowhere to be found.
It took a pastor who had come for routine prayers at the clinic to offer to pay for Esther’s medical bills when she mentioned that she had not seen her husband since she gave birth on May 1.
Suffering begins
As the search for Abiodun intensified, the police were involved in the matter. It did not take long before Esther was asked to visit a government-owned morgue with her newborn to identify a body.
“A body?” she remembered asking the voice on the other end of the line. She dressed up that morning in June and went to the morgue only to see her husband’s lifeless body. She said she cried till her eyes became swollen and she refused to leave the morgue.
She had no one to call. Her husband’s only sibling had died the previous year after a complicated hernia surgery and his mother was too old to be told to come get her son’s body.
She begged the officials to give her some time to ‘gather herself’ for the burial.
Esther informed her sister who advised her to tell her eldest kids who were only teenagers and ask that they be allowed to come home for ‘an important meeting’.
That was the last time they saw the four walls of the boarding school because, according to Esther, there was no way she could afford the fees, as she was primarily a housewife whose sole duty was to make the home and tend to the kids.
Her husband, who before his death, worked with a popular construction company in the area, was the family’s breadwinner.
The church assisted them to pick up the corpse for burial and Esther’s suffering started.
She was given a start-up capital by some concerned relatives and friends to start a petty trade, but before she could begin making a profit, her husband’s mother fell ill and eventually died. She also had to contribute her quota to the woman’s burial.
Her business began to dwindle; low sales, no profit.
“I borrowed from everyone I knew to make sure my four children do not suffer. People think it is easy to be a single mother until they are allowed to go through a pinch of what single mothers go through every day and they would know that we virtually ‘perform magic’ every day to survive in this harsh economy,” she said.
She lamented that Michael and his elder sister, Oluwanifemi, were still students at the Obafemi Awolowo University. Although she claimed not to know what Michael studied, she said Oluwanifemi was studying in the Faculty of Agriculture and was in her final year.
Asked why a child who was five years old in 1999 was still in university in 2023, she said, “Oluwanifemi is almost 30 years old now. She started school late. There was no money to put her in school. When my husband died, everyone stopped school. Michael did not even enter school till when he was almost five years old. The ones that were a bit lucky were the older ones who managed to finish.
“One went to a polytechnic and the other finished at the University of Lagos. Both of them are not doing good jobs. I honestly don’t know how they survive. Sometimes, I am the one who goes a borrowing for them and they pay me small small,” she added.
She said Michael was the one who was seeing himself through OAU, adding that with the hike in the tuition fee of the university, he may not be able to pay.
“Na all this ‘job work’ (menial jobs) Michael dey do. If dem get construction for village, e go come help them do am, gather small money. Sometimes, I dey wonder how e dey manage for that e school because na from one work to another.
“If the government wants to help us, especially on this Independence Day, they should beg the university to reduce the school fees so that we, the poor people, go fit pay,” she said in Pidgin English.
When our correspondent reached Michael to share his experience schooling in OAU without any parental support, he declined to speak.
“I don’t have anything to say. I gave you my mother’s number because she was the one who would be able to tell you the story of how we survive in this country every day without anyone helping us.
“If OAU likes, they should increase the fees to N500,000; it is their business. I have decided to leave school. I would focus on other things. Bros, I don tire abeg,” he said and hung up the line.
Several efforts to get him to speak proved abortive. His elder sister’s phone line was also unreachable when our correspondent tried it several times on Thursday. Esther had mentioned that she was having some issues with her phone.
OAU fee hike
One Tuesday morning in September, the Management of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, held an ‘emergency’ meeting. The decision reached which was the increment of fees was communicated to the public in a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, the next day.
According to the release, fresh students in the faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities would now pay N151,200 while returning students of the same faculties would pay N89,200. According to multiple sources, the fees for returning students in the Faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities in the last academic session were pegged around N20,100.
OAU further stated that fresh students in the Faculties of Technology and Science will now pay N163,200 while the returning students of the same faculties are to pay N101,200.
Meanwhile, fresh students of the faculties in the College of Health Sciences, and Pharmacy are to pay N190,200 and N128,200 for returning students. Fees for last semester for these faculties were around N28,100.
“The authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, have adjusted the fees that students of the institution would be paying,” part of the statement read.
Reacting to the hike, the Secretary-General, Great Ife Students Union, Opeyemi Akinboni, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said the body had opposed the fee increment at different meetings held with the management.
Akinboni, however, said the leaders of various faculties and departments would meet and decide the next line of action.
He further said, “In my faculty, as of last session, we paid N28,100; students in Faculties of Science and Agric also paid the same amount. The increment is shocking. The Students’ Union body had several meetings with the management on the issue and we have always made it known to them that OAU is an indigent school.
“Majority of the students on the OAU campus are striving to make both ends meet. With this increment now, most returning students will not return. We have some faculties where students pay N20, 000 and they have now increased it to N89,000.
“Currently, we are reaching out to faculty, and departmental presidents. We want to reach out to them and then discuss the next line of action.”
Three kids in UNIBEN
Mr Elvis Oghene’s heart skipped a beat when his three daughters currently studying at the University of Benin called him in May to tell him the school had increased the fees to almost N200,000 from around N73,000.
“I won’t lie to you, my brother, I almost fainted. I have five girls. Three are in UNIBEN. One just entered. She is not even done with her first year, I think. They are all in the sciences. One is even studying Pharmacy.
“UNIBEN wants to kill me. I am a fruit vendor. I work for a company where I am underpaid. My wife is a petty trader. We are the sole providers for our children. How does the government want us to survive with this kind of increase? Do they want us to steal? Fuel is on the high side. Food is expensive. Now, even our children cannot go to school?” he queried.
The management of UNIBEN introduced new fees for full-time undergraduate courses for the 2022/2023 academic session.
Science students who used to pay N73, 000, are now required to pay N190, 000. Non-science students who used to pay N69, 000, are now mandated to part with N170, 000.
A breakdown of the increment for new science students included exam and lab fees of N30,000; library N15,000; sports N5,000; ICT N5,000; counselling N1,000; utility N20,000; medical charge/life insurance N5,000 and accreditation N24,000.
Other levies included sanitation N7,000; bank/portal charges N5,500; development levy N20,000; students union dues N2,500; orientation brochure N5,000; certificate screening N5,000; academic gown N5,000 and Identity Card N5,000.
Non-science students are to pay N10,000 for the laboratory while other fees are the same.
However, after a meeting between the Students Union Government and the school management, the fee was reduced to N105,000 for non-science students and N115,000 for science students.
Subsequently, the non-science students will pay N85,000 while the science students will pay N95,000.
UNIZIK, others
Several varsities have hiked their fees recently, citing the high cost of living, amongst others.
The Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare; University of Maiduguri; Federal University, Dutse; Federal University, Lafia; University of Uyo; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, among others, hiked theirs in 2022.
The universities in separate memos attributed the development to the rising cost of learning materials and the need to adequately fund activities in their respective institutions.
So far in 2023, the Bayero University, Kano; University of Lagos, Akoka; University of Jos; and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife have also announced fee increments.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka similarly increased fees payable by undergraduates by 100 per cent across all levels.
A breakdown of the fee structure indicated that first-year students of the faculties of Social Sciences, Agriculture Sciences, Education and Arts would pay N110,000; N85,000 for 200 and 300 levels students while final year students will pay N83,000.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Registrar, Dr Christopher Igbokwe, and published on the UNN’s website.
For the Faculties of Business Administration and Environmental Science, 100-level students will now pay N114,000, while 200 and 300-level students will pay N85,000; final-year students will pay N83,000.
The statement read in part, “Faculties of Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences will now pay N112,000, N85,000, N83,000.
“The Faculty of Engineering will now pay N116,000, N85,000 and N83,000 for year one, others and final year students, respectively.
“Faculties of Law and Veterinary Medicine will now pay N119,000; N95,000 and N92,000.
“Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Health Sciences and Basic Medical Sciences will now pay N120,000; N95,000 and 92,000.”
The hostel fee was also increased to N35,000 annually.
FG’s directive
President Bola Tinubu had in a short statement in July directed that the Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions should hold on with the increase in fees payable, insisting that tuition remains free in the institutions.
“President Tinubu has directed the authorities in all federal institutions of higher learning to avoid arbitrary increase in sundry fees payable, and where possible defer further increases, so that parents and students don’t face too many difficulties,” the government noted on Twitter (now X) micro-blogging platform.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, recently said the ministry had stopped approving fee-increment after Tinubu’s directive.
“The only university that increased charges after the signing of the Student Loans Act is the University of Lagos. They came to the ministry with a proposal to increase their charges because all governing councils were dissolved and we gave them approval,” Adejo said in August when he appeared before the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives on the implementation of the student loan law.
He said, “There was a resolution from the House stopping the increase of fees and the President also gave a directive stopping any increase in fees and that is where it is, even though several others have brought their proposals.”
UNILAG fee hike
A 300-level student of Pharmacy at the University of Lagos, Tiamiyu Quadri, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Wednesday, said his parents cannot afford the new fees introduced by the university.
The second of four kids, with a younger sister who is preparing to join him in the university if she passes her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, he said his father did not have the financial muscle to cough out over N100,000 for his fees.
According to Quadri, his mother, who is a tailor, was the one who saw to the payment of most of their family need, adding that his father was an underemployed accountant.
The 23-year-old student said, “Before now, paying my school fees was more or less a family contribution. Even if my parents do not disclose this, I see that they struggle to see me through school.
“My elder brother who also just graduated is not doing anything reasonable. They are the ones still providing for his every need. How does the UNILAG management want people like us to pay that astronomical increase in fees? Do they want us to drop out?”
Quadri, who claimed to have paid between N80,000 and N90,000 when he was enrolled at UNILAG in January 2020, said his last fee before the hike was around N21,000, which, according to him, were obligatory fees.
“I still had to pay faculty, departmental and other dues. I would buy texts, practical manuals and the like. It was difficult for me then. Imagine what it would be for me now with the heavy increase!” he quipped.
In July, many parents were shocked when the management of UNILAG increased fees for undergraduates to around N190, 000, N140,000 and N100,750 for medical, science and non-science students respectively.
The development was disclosed in a statement on July 20, 2023, by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, UNILAG branch, following a meeting with the top management staff.
Recall that the students of the institution previously paid N19,000 but the management has fixed new fees at N190,250 for students studying medicine while for courses that require laboratory and studio, students are to pay N140,250.
According to SSANU, the VC, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, met with representatives of the three non-academic staff unions on Thursday, July 20, 2023, to discuss issues concerning members’ welfare.
“During the meeting, the proposed fees for undergraduate students of UNILAG were disclosed.
“Students without lab and studio use will pay N100,750, those with lab use will pay N140,250 and the College of Medicine will pay N190,250,” the statement read.
Following the increment, a series of protests ensued, asking that the fees be returned to the status quo ante.
One of the protesters, and co-convener of the Students Solidarity Against Fee Hike, Femi Adeyeye, in a statement said the students of UNILAG would not accept any increase in the fees, as, according to him, it is the role of government to fund education and not the poor masses.
After a series of protests where some students took to the streets to express their determination to continue protesting until the school authorities reverted to their previous fees, stating that the fee increase lacked empathy, and after several meetings with student bodies, UNILAG management slashed some part of the fees.
Ogunsola, on September 14, 2023, stressed that the university aimed to deliver quality education to its students regardless of class, tribe, or creed.
In a statement by the school, she added, “After careful evaluation of the issues raised by the students and management, the following consensus was reached at the meeting: Utility Charges for all categories of students were reduced to N15,000:00 from N20,000:00.
“The obligatory fees for new undergraduate students were reviewed from N126,325:00 to N116,325:00 for Courses without Lab/Studio and N176,325:00 to N166,325:00 for Courses with Lab/Studio.
“The obligatory fees for returning undergraduate students were reviewed from N100,750:00 to N80,750:00 for Courses without Lab/Studio; N140,250:00 to N120,250:00 for Courses with Lab/Studio; and from N190,250:00 to N170, 250:00 for Medical / Pharmacy students and students in Health Professions.
“The Convocation Fee to be paid by all final year students was reduced to N27,000:00 from N 30,000:00. Hostels fees were reviewed as follows: For undergraduate hostels in Akoka and Yaba campuses, the fees were reduced to N43,000:00 from N90,000:00.
“For hostels in Idi-Araba campus, the fees were reduced to N65,000:00 from N120,000:00. The fees for Sodeinde Hall were reduced to N135,000:00 from N250,000:00.”
Many students who spoke to our correspondents said the fees were still on the high side.
A student of Marketing, who said he doubles as a carpenter after school, Samuel Olusola, said he would not be able to afford the reduced fees, adding that he may be forced to drop out.
“When it was N21,000, my father could not pay. I remember how I would open a GoFundMe account, beg for contributions from friends, seek help from religious groups, or get a salary advance from my boss just to pay up fees.
“One time, I was not even allowed to write the exams because I had not cleared my fees. I carried forward that course and wrote it last semester. How does UNILAG want us to cope? We need a reversal. As Nigeria is celebrating 63 years, let the government fund education so that we, too, can attend,” he added.
Also reacting, Adeyeye said, “While the reduction move is welcomed, I just want to remind them that N20,000 here, N5,000 there, N3,000 somewhere-kind of reduction is not what we are fighting for. They should be ready to refund more because these fees must be reverted to status quo ante.”
Speaking further, he said, “We want to state clearly that whatever reduction was made was not out of any benevolence of the management. It was due to enormous pressure from students and concerned citizens of Nigeria.
“We want to state categorically, as against what has been spread to the public, that there was no consensus reached between the Ogunsola-led management and the students.
“Whatever happened was a discussion between the management and the student leaders and the management has only given its suggestion which is now under scrutiny by over 60,000 students of the University of Lagos.
My roommate feeds me – Afolashade
A Year Two student in the Department of Adult Education at UNILAG, Temitope Afolashade, said she has to beg to eat every day.
In an interview with our correspondent, she said, “I’ve always wanted to be a student of UNILAG right from my secondary school days. For me, it is UNILAG or nothing, and I know what it is to be in a university of first choice.
“The passion to be a student of UNILAG made me take UTME four times before getting admission. At some point, I was advised by my peers to apply for another federal university but I stuck to my belief that I would get into UNILAG.
“Now that the school has hiked fees, I am in jeopardy. I thought I could afford the fees of UNILAG; that’s the major reason why I came here.
“My school fees last semester were around N25,000 but were hiked to almost N200,000. Since we’ve been on holiday, I’ve tried working to raise fees but what I’m paid amounts to nothing that was why I joined in the protest.
“If I can afford the fees, I wouldn’t join in the protest. I can’t afford that amount. It is too much.
“Majority of students will drop out if the fees aren’t adjusted. What would be the hope of the nation if leaders of tomorrow are dropping out of school? The government should hear our cries and do something about it. Aside from school fees, sustainability in school is there too.”
She added that sometimes in school, she would only eat once all day and it is her roommate who feeds her.
“If she does not give me, I would not eat. I am that poor. Now that fees have been hiked, how will I afford it? That means I would automatically drop out. Please, the UNILAG management should just revert the fees,” she said.
UNIJOS hike
A 400-level student of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Jos, John Onah, who is the first of seven children, said he was responsible for seeing himself through school and would not be able to pay the hike fees introduced by the UNIJOS management.
He said things had been difficult for his father, who is a civil servant and his mother who is an unemployed housewife.
The Cross River indigene said, “We have nobody. We practically live from hand to mouth. There is no way I would be able to graduate if the fees are not reversed. How can UNIJOS say students should pay N160,000? Where do they expect our parents to get it?”
Another final-year student from Langtan North Local Government Area of Plateau State, who studies Guidance and Counseling at UNIJOS, Queen Jangfa, said her parents would not be able to afford the fees.
The 25-year-old said, “My father is a pastor with the Church of Christ. My mother is a housewife. We are four kids. Two are in the university. My fees were raised from N45,000 to about N140,000. There is no way I would not drop out. School has resumed now, but I cannot go because there is no money.
“My family looks up to God for everything right from when we were kids. The government should show empathy to the poor.”
Another final-year Guidance and Counselling Student in UNIJOS, Angela Joseph, who is from the Kwalla community of Qua’an-Pan LGA of the state, said her parents are both dead.
“I am an orphan. I see myself through school and I take care of my other siblings. The government should not do this to me. UNIJOS should not let me drop out in my final year.
“Even when the fee was N45000, I struggled to pay. I have suffered and I deserved a better life,” the 30-year-old lady said.
Dropouts imminent – ASUU
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, reacting to this development, raised the alarm over the looming 40 to 50 per cent of students whom he predicts may drop out of school within the next two years if the Federal Government fails to stop the continuous fee hike in the universities.
According to him, the heavy fees being imposed on students across the nation would result in a massive dropout of students, due to their inability to cope with the payments.
He said, “If nothing is done about these heavy fees being introduced by schools all over the country, in the next two or three years, more than 40 to 50 per cent of these children who are in school today will drop out.”
The varsities’ union president also warned of a looming national problem if his prediction of a massive dropout of students nationwide comes to reality.
According to him, dropping out of school will result in idleness, which could make them easy targets for perpetrators of evil.
“When they drop out, they will become a big feed for recruitment for those who want this country to be ungovernable.
“This is what we are saying; create the environment we have in the 60s and 70s. When I was a student, the government was paying me for being a student. Let’s have an environment where the children of the poor can have access to education.
“School fees of N300,000, how can the children of someone who earns N50,000 a month be able to pay such a fee?”
However, he urged the government to increase budgetary allocation to education to at least 15 per cent of the total budget sum.
He lamented that the 3.8 per cent allocated to education in the last budget was nothing to write home about, saying with an increase in budget allocation to education, parents would be relieved of the burden of paying high fees for their children.
Speaking further, he expressed pessimism that the student loan policy of the government would fail. He added that for the loan policy to work, it has to be reviewed.
“When you are talking about student loans, you have to be comprehensive. There is nothing to show that it would work.
“There is a need for a review. Check what happened in the past and see how we can move forward. But for us, our idea is that instead of calling it a loan, let us call it a grant.
“If you look at the conditions, 90 per cent of the students will not have access to that loan. The condition that you must have parents who earn less than N500,000 per annum [is harsh]. How many people earn less than N500,000 per annum?” he queried.
NAPTAN begs FG
The National President of the Parents-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Haruna Danjuma, in an interview with our correspondent, said parents will not be able to afford the hiked tuition fees imposed on them by some tertiary institutions.
“The government should do the needful by calling the attention of the university authorities to address the matter,” he said.
