Ghana universities have continued to woo Nigerian students with various incentives including payment in Naira, Cedi, and even at discount and spaced-out payment arrangements.
In August, three universities established admission hubs at the Ghana High Commission headquarters in Abuja and the Consular Office in Lagos essentially to ‘poach’ Nigerian students.
Ghanaian universities that have so far this year taken advantage of the large population of Nigeria to seek students include the University of Ghana, Accra; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi; and lately All Nations University, Koforidua, Eastern Region.
Addressing journalists in Abuja during the search for Nigerian students into the institution, the Deputy Registrar (University Recruitment), All Nations University, Eric Okai, said that the ivory tower has had more Nigerians passing through it than Ghanaians, noting that Nigerians have smart nationals and many who have graduated from the school were top of the class.
Okai, while noting that the school majors in engineering, said: “Nigerian students have played a major role in our position as a dominant university in engineering. The university has come to help Africa in our approach to education. We equip our students with quality education centered on ethics and respect for society. Most of our alumni in petrochemical engineering are from Nigeria and also in oil and gas engineering.”
While revealing that the institution, which was established by Prof. Samuel Donkor 21 years ago, has graduated over 3,000 Nigerians, Okai said there are friendly tuition fee paying plan for Nigerians to keep the stream on.
He said: ‘Previously we were paying in dollars; we noticed that we are in West Africa and you know how the dollar is not friendly to us. The rate system, if you come to Ghana, the rate is high, if you come to Nigeria, the rate is high. So we considered that we should make the fees Naira friendly, so in that case we have pegged our fees in Cedi. It is not like the dollar equivalent but Cedi which is closer to what the local students pay.
‘You pay in Cedi, so you can just convert Naira to Cedi to pay your fees. You can pay in Naira here and reflect it in Cedi. It is friendly to Nigerian parents since they won’t need to convert Naira into dollars to pay the school fees of their children.
‘The Vice-Chancellor has further given a 50% discount for every Nigerian student that comes to our campus. And this does not just cover a semester but the entire duration of the course. From the first year to graduation. It is a Naira-friendly tuition fee. Nigerians have been more in the school than Ghanaians. We have graduated over 3000 Nigerian students. Nigerian students have shown to be smart and they have always come out with flying colours.’
The All Nations University was founded by Rev. Prof. Samuel H. Donkor and Dr. Rose Donkor and is located in Ghana, Eastern Region-Koforidua. The University began its operation in 2002 and has over the years nurtured and trained great minds in the country Ghana and beyond. Several international students especially from Nigeria have also successfully graduated from their studies at the institution. All Nations University, the only University in Sub-Saharan Africa to Design, Build, and Successfully Launch a Satellite into space, putting Africa in a global competition for Space Sciences. All Nations University is accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission – Ministry of Education Ghana. It is spearheading space science and satellite technology, Advanced Engineering, Business, and Leadership. The University has recently received accreditation for the study of Bachelor of Science (BSc.) in Emergency Medicine Technology to train qualified paramedics to support the healthcare sector in Africa.
* Media Report