We had thought that the coming of a new administration on May 29, 2023, would bring a new lease of life to our education system. Many Nigerians had got tired of the crisis in our universities, which manifested mainly in perennial long strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). But, from the look of things, there appears to be no respite for these institutions.
Recently, students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) protested against 100 per cent hike in fees by the management of the institution. This brought academic and other activities in the school to a halt. In reaction to the protest, the authorities of the institution suspended the fee hike. They assured the students that appropriate arrangements had been put in place through constructive engagements with the students to resolve the matter. The institution had raised the fees for non-science courses to N111,000 for fresh students, N91,500 for returning students and N114,000 for final-year students. Students were also meant to pay N36,500, N21,500 and N21,500 as third-party dues, respectively. For science courses, charges were increased to N155,000, N125,000 and N148,000 for fresh students, returning students and final-year students, respectively. Before the increase, an average fresh student (depending on the department) paid about N64,050 while returning and final-year students paid N49,500 and N52,050, respectively.
The protest in UNICAL followed similar protests by students of some other institutions, which had earlier increased their registration and tuition fees by over 100 per cent. Some of the institutions that earlier increased their fees include the University of Abuja, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), the University of Maiduguri, the University of Taraba, Bayero University, Kano (BUK), the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Federal University, Dutse, in Jigawa State, Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, and the University of Uyo. Reasons for this increase in fees revolved around the high inflation in the country, which has affected the cost of laboratory consumables, teaching and learning materials as well as maintenance of facilities.
The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) earlier condemned the hikes in tuition fees and threatened to embark on protests to ensure that such hikes were reversed. This is the right way to go but we advise that such protests should be peaceful.
The lingering crises in the ivory towers are as a result of policies that are not well-thought-out. Recently, President Bola Tinubu signed the students’ loan bill into law. Ironically, tertiary institutions started increasing school fees, which made a mess of the students’ loan scheme. ASUU had described the scheme as a Greek gift. It warned that it might lead to further astronomical increase in school fees and invariably lead to the withdrawal of many students from school. Now, it appears the union has been vindicated.
Aside from hikes in school fees and frequent strikes by academic and non-academic staff, our universities also contend with brain drain and poor funding. Recently, it was reported that many academic staff had left our universities for greener pastures abroad. This has resulted in the shortage of lecturers in the schools. Some members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have also left our universities.
The reasons are obvious. University staff are part of our society and they have had to contend with the general hardship in the country. This is coupled with their poor working conditions. There is also the problem of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which ASUU had kicked against. Government introduced IPPIS partly to curb the problem of ghost workers and payment of multiple salaries to some civil servants. This came with its problems as universities are required to seek approval from the federal government to be able to employ workers. This has not been easy for the universities because government hardly approves such requests. ASUU had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the government since 2009 but the government has failed to fully fulfill its part of the agreement.
Government should take special interest in our university system and state clearly what it wants in our education. It should think through its programmes and put measures in place to sanitize the system. It should streamline the loan scheme and make it open. Any nation that gets it wrong in education will have it rough. The starting point should be to substantially increase the budgetary allocation to the sector to meet the 4 to 6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
On their part, the university authorities should think of creative ways of generating funds to run their institutions. Even if they increase fees, it should be marginal, considering the hardship in the country today. The universities should not be plunged into needless crises again.