High Tuition Fees: 'Universities Cannot Run On N20, 000 Peanuts'

Nigerians have been urged to accept the increasing cost of quality university education because the poorly funded universities cannot operate properly on 'peanuts' paid as tuition fees.

This was the position of Dr. Efe Ikponmwosa, an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG) and advocate of proper funding and costing for university education in Nigeria.

Speaking in a Daily Independent interview, Ikponmwosa said tertiary education cannot be provided free by the government.

"With University education, it will amount to shooting our self in the foot if we want it free when we know the government is not in a position to render education at that level gratis,"

Ikponmwosa explained that, in the face of the realities on ground, parents must be willing to pay if they desire quality education for their wards, especially as universities have no alternate source of funding.

"Parents, students and other stakeholders must be ready to pay for qualitative university education.

"Education is underfunded and everybody must contribute because universities cannot run on N20, 000 peanuts as tuition cost per head.

"There has to be appropriate mechanism in place and Nigerians must come to terms with these realities," he said.

He made a comparison between the cost of primary and secondary education, which is more expensive on the average, and tertiary education.

"Take a look at the costs of education at the primary and secondary school levels.

"If you pay you N100,000 for a child to get educated in a good secondary school and you now come to the university requesting to pay N20, 000, what type of education are you going to get in the university?"

"You cannot pay about N400, 000 to train a child in a good secondary school and come to the university expecting to pay N20, 000," he opined.

He added that the little funding gotten from the government is not enough to cover the institutions' costs

"What government releases to the universities are used in paying staff salaries? University of Lagos for instance from 2007 to 2012 spent 95 per cent of government disbursement on salary payment.

"Imagine what would be left to train the students when that large piece of disbursement is expended on salaries."

The don therefore called for increased government funding to improve the quality of education.

"Problems with the university education and education generally started first and foremost from budget.

"Ghana and other countries appropriate as much as 26 per cent and above while Nigeria gives about 10 per cent of the country’s budget to fund the sector at all levels."

The year 2014 has witnessed a lot of students' protests directly caused by increased in tuition fees.