Nigerian students paying too much for varsity education, ASUU President observes

President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has sensationally argued that Nigerian university students are paying high tuition fees.

He said it would be counter-productive and ill advised for the government to introduce new cycle of fees in the system amid the harsh economic realities of the times.

Osodeke expressed the view at the National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform 2022, organized by the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives under the theme “Reimagining Tertiary Education in Nigeria: issues, challenges and Solutions”.

“The students are already paying too much fees in the universities. They cannot be made to pay more,” he argued.

Osedeke, however, tasked the government on more investment in the education sector and the welfare of lecturers.

Also speaking at a panel discussion, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, emphasized the need to decentralize the funding of education in Nigeria, adding that there should be more ways to fund the universities other than government channel.

Similarly, President of the University of Lagos Alumni Association, Dr. John Momoh, urged the universities to look in the direction of their alumini associations and the business communities to help generate funds.

Also speaking, Professor Uduak Ekpo of University of Calabar said it is wrong to expect lecturers to raise funds for the universities, stressing it would be a distraction.

Ekpo said the lecturers are essentially for research and development.