Education stakeholders have called on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to reconsider its recent upward review of application fees for establishing private universities in Nigeria.
They argue that the increase could hinder mass literacy growth and place additional financial burdens on students.
The stakeholders, speaking in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), warned that the hike in application fees from N1 million to N5 million and processing fees from N5 million to N25 million could discourage new private universities from emerging.
Prof. Emeritus Benjamin Ozumba, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, described the fee hike as a “thunderbolt” to stakeholders, emphasizing that it was introduced without adequate discussion.
“The NUC is bringing this policy to weed/reduce the number of applications which will hinder mass literacy growth in the country,” he said.
Ozumba argued that the focus should be on improving public universities rather than making private institutions more difficult to establish.
“In Ethiopia, for example, students’ accommodation is free, and if you don’t use the accommodation, you get paid. What we should be considering is looking for ways to improve our public universities by providing adequate funds to improve infrastructure to global standards,” he noted.
Backstory
The Federal Government in February 2025 increased the application fee for establishing private universities to N25 million, according to a memo issued by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu.
- The processing fee was previously N5 million, marking a 400% increase, while the fee for purchasing application forms has risen from N1 million to N5 million.
- The NUC justified the hike, stating it aims to position new private universities to meet 21st-century challenges.
- Additionally, the NUC suspended inactive applications, including those of private open universities that had made no progress for over two years. It also imposed a one-year moratorium on certain applications, effective February 10, 2025.
Applicants who had purchased forms at the old rate but had not paid the processing fee were given a 30 working days window to pay or forfeit their applications.
Call for policy reform
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja Metropolitan Archdiocese, urged the Federal Government to establish a separate regulatory body for private universities, arguing that the NUC’s current structure is designed for public institutions.
“NUC was established to manage and coordinate what happens in public-funded universities. There is a need to either totally review how NUC deals with private universities or set up another institution in which proprietors and managers of private universities will have a stake,” he asserted.
Mixed reactions from academia
Prof. Noah Yusuf, Vice-Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, acknowledged the concerns but noted that the proliferation of universities without adequate resources remains a challenge.
“As the name connotes, a private university is almost like a private concern, and anyone who wants to set up one must have been prepared. NUC’s decision may be based on past experiences where some universities started but could not continue.”
- However, Onaiyekan criticized the fee hike, arguing that while some universities operate for profit, many non-state institutions are not driven by financial gain.
“Maybe there are some people who have set up universities to make money and they charge heavy fees for that purpose. But I do know that there are many non-state universities… that are not set up to make money.”
- He further questioned the rationale behind the fee hike, asking where universities are expected to source the required funds.
“Whether NUC put the fees at N5 million or N1 billion, the basic argument is where do they expect the universities to get the money from?,” he said.
He warned that the financial strain would likely be transferred to students, exacerbating their difficulties in affording tuition.
