Some stakeholders in the education sector have called on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to revisit and look into its recent upward review of application fees for the establishment of private universities.

The stakeholders said the review by the NUC must be looked into for the posterity of mass literacy in the country.

They told the Newsmen in separate interviews in Abuja that the upward review would reduce the number of applications which would in turn hinder mass literacy growth in the country.

According to them, it will also force private universities to begin taxing the students who are already having it difficult to pay their fees.

NAN recalled that the NUC had increased the fee for purchasing application forms for the establishment of private universities from N1 million to N5 million.

NUC had in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Abdullahi Ribadu, added that the processing fee for the application had been raised from N5 million to N25 million.

Ribadu noted that the fee hike aims to improve universities coordination, adding that it would better position the newly established private universities to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja Metropolitan Archdiocese, while expressing his views said that the review must be looked into for the posterity of mass literacy in the country.

Onaiyekan said, “May be 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, I won’t even call them private, non-public universities that are not set up to make money.”

He further maintained that whether NUC put the fees at N5 million or N1 billion, the basic argument was where do they (NUC) expect the universities to get the money from?




https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/private-varsity-application-fees-stakeholders-want-nuc-to-revisit-upward-review/