THE Management of the University of Abuja (UofA) has explained why it raised the tuition paid by students of the institution.
In a message on Monday, May 1, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah appealed to students to accept the hike, claiming it was part of efforts to offer them the best training.
The ICIR reports that returning students in the Arts and related faculties in the university pay N82,000, while their medical counterparts pay N225,000.
The fees differ from the acceptance fee of N30,000 and other departmental and Students’ Union Government (SUG) fees.
On Monday, students who spoke with The ICIR said new students would pay between N85,000 to over N100,000 in the Arts faculties, while medical students pay above N225,000.
Further findings by this organisation showed that students in social sciences paid less than N60,000 in the previous session, while those in medical faculties paid about half of what they will now be paying.
The VC said his goal was to make the institution’s student the best, and the dream required making sacrifices.
He explained that the university’s Governing Council approved the tuition hike on the recommendation of a committee headed by the school Bursary. The committee included the Students Affairs Unit, the Students Union Government (SUG) and other stakeholders across the management.
He, therefore, warned any student planning to disrupt the peace in the school because of the hike to consider the consequences of the action. According to him, any student caught engaging in violent activities on campus would face the penalty, including expulsion.
“The repercussion is swift and merciless. If anyone is caught anywhere destroying anything or simply disturbing the peace of our campus, I promise you I will descend heavily on such a person by showing him or her a way out.
“It will pain me to take such action but trust me, I will do so. And those faceless people who might not be our students and are being sponsored from outside, some former students, should just think for a moment what the UofA has turned into in its march to becoming world-class.”
He did not rule out the option for dialogue, which he said was better than violence or protest.
“It is unthinkable for the University of Abuja Management to accept that because some people did not go to American University in Yola or Nile-Turkish University in Abuja where they pay millions of naira per academic year as tuition, that those people should be condemned to a second class education.
“Our goal at the UofA is a world-class education, and even with N82,000 per year or N225,000 per session being asked for academic programmes in Arts or Medicine respectively, the UofA is determined to provide for our dear students a standard education that is respected globally.”
The VC argued that the school had enjoyed infrastructural lift with new projects being executed, including computer laboratories, sports arena, indoor sports hall, and upgrade of the university library.
“We are providing counselling and career services to students. We are employing our own students, and student workers are becoming the norm on the campus of the great UofA. We are strengthening the student mentoring programme on campus. The face of our campus is changing, whatever part of campus you go.
“Many students now get funds for undergraduate research work from the Centre for Undergraduate Research, the Centre for Entrepreneurship is working hard with the university management to create incubation where students, as they graduate and need help, would get the help they need to get their companies on a strong footing, and the list is truly very long.”
Further justifying the hike, Na’Allah said, “The University of Maiduguri and the University of Ilorin and the Federal University Lokoja etc, all have charges more than your UofA, even while they are not Abuja where costs of goods are crazy! Yet they go about academic sessions peacefully and making progress.”
The VC assured that the school portal would be open to students for weeks before the end of the semester to give them time to pay their tuition without a hurry. But whoever does not pay before the portal closes will forfeit their admission for the academic year.
Na’Allah also appealed to parents and philanthropists to support quality education in the university by launching scholarships for indigent students.
The ICIR reports that except for the recent ASUU strikes that affected public universities, including UofA, the institution has enjoyed relative peace since 2014 when it was shut down.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org