Coalition urges Kaduna State Govt to shelve tuition fee increment

A coalition has urged the Kaduna State Government to shelve tuition fee increase in all tertiary institutions.

Mr Jijjani Aliyu, Co-Chair, Kaduna State Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM, an accountability platform co-facilitated by civil society and government told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday.

Aliyu described the increment as “untimely and a threat” to the state’s free education policy.

He urged the government to consult with relevant stakeholders in the principle of Open Government Partnership which the state had signed onto.

”Parents are still grappling with economic hardship and struggling to recover from the negative effects of COVID-19.

”What the people need is government’s support to be able to survive and not additional financial burden for their children’s school fees.

“What this increase will do is to send children back to their homes because most parents will not be able to afford it.

“It is just too high and beyond the reach of the common man.”

He said that the development showed that the government was far away from the people it was supposed to govern.

“We are, therefore, calling for a wider consultation with relevant stakeholders so we can all agree on the best way forward.

“We are very much aware that tertiary education is not free but people need the subsidy in view of the current economic realities,” he said.

The Commissioner of Education, Dr Shehu Makarfi had on Monday confirmed the increase in fees, which he explained was to reposition them to deliver quality skills and training to tackle 21century challenges.

Makarfi said that the government had pegged a minimum fee, but had, however, directed management of the institutions to determine what students in humanities, sciences, residents, and non-residents could pay.

He said that KASU had been directed to increase the tuition fees from between N24,000 and N26,000 to a minimum consolidated fee of N150,000.

He added that the minimum fees for National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes had been pegged at a minimum of N75,000 and N100,000 respectively.

The commissioner also said that the National Certificate in Education (NCE), programmes in COE Gidan Waya was equally increased to N75,000.

He explained that departmental fees and all other charges have been built into the new fees.