At a time when millions of Nigerians are struggling to survive unprecedented economic hardship, the decision by many public universities to raise acceptance and tuition fees feels not only insensitive but fundamentally unfair. For students and their families already battling inflation, unstable income, and the soaring cost of living, these increments represent a heavy blow that threatens to push higher education further out of reach. Public universities were created to serve as ladders of opportunity, especially for the poor. But with the current wave of fee hikes, those ladders are slowly being pulled away.
Nigeria today is marked by economic strain that cuts across every sector. Food prices continue to rise, transport costs have doubled in many cities, and the job market remains bleak for millions of young people. Against this backdrop, fee increments feel like an added punishment. Studies have long shown that Nigerian universities are already saddled with longstanding problems: poor funding, deteriorating facilities, overworked staff, and weak institutional management. Awe (2020) describes public universities as institutions battling severe stress due to chronic underfunding. Yet, instead of addressing these foundational issues, many administrators have turned to students’ wallets as a quick and convenient solution.
Ugo-Onyeka, Nonyelum, and Ogunode (2024) further argue that the current economic crisis has destabilized university governance and student welfare. Raising fees in such an environment is not just bad timing, it is dangerous policy. It risks excluding precisely those students public universities were designed to help children from low-income and average-income households who depend on subsidized education for social mobility. The warning from Ogunode, Olofinkua, and Sunmonu (2024) is particularly urgent. They note that tertiary education finance in Nigeria is at a crossroads, and choices made today will determine whether the system becomes sustainable or collapses entirely. Choosing fee hikes over structural reform is a short-sighted option that ignores the country’s wider socioeconomic realities.
A National Policy Shift Is Needed: Make Education Free Up to Bachelor’s Level
This moment demands bold thinking not timid adjustments. It is time for the Federal Government to adopt a transformative policy: education should be free up to the bachelor’s degree level. Nigeria is a nation blessed with more than 420 mineral resources, vast agricultural potential, and enormous revenue streams that remain underutilized or mismanaged. Yet, instead of harnessing these resources to build an educated and productive population, the country continues to divert public funds toward wasteful and extravagant expenditures. The National Assembly, year after year, allocates billions to luxurious allowances, nonessential projects, and personal comforts while universities crumble under the weight of insufficient funding. If just a fraction of this wasteful spending were redirected, the government could sustain free tertiary education, improve infrastructure, modernize curricula, and adequately compensate lecturers.
A nation that continually claims to have no money for education yet spends lavishly on its legislators cannot honestly say education is a priority.
What Universities Should Be Doing Instead
If Nigerian universities truly aim to improve quality and remain globally competitive, raising fees should be the last resort not the first response. What they need is not more money from students, but deeper institutional transformation.
- Modernise Academic Programmes
Many universities still offer outdated courses that no longer align with global trends or national needs. For example, some institutions still teach “Mass Communication” as a single umbrella programme, even though the field has evolved into multiple specialized areas, Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, Multimedia Production, and Digital Marketing.
- Reform Science and Technology Curriculum
Computer science departments in today’s world should be hubs of innovation, teaching AI, robotics, cybersecurity, coding, and software engineering. Instead, many still rely on obsolete curricula that barely prepare students for global competition. With the wealth of engineering expertise in our universities, Nigeria should by now be designing and manufacturing basic technologies such as turbines to convert gas flares into electricity. This persistent gap reflects not a lack of talent, but a failure to align education with national development goals.
- Strengthen Agricultural Colleges
Amid soaring food prices, Nigeria urgently needs innovation in agriculture. Stronger agricultural programmes could drive breakthroughs in crop production, mechanization, soil improvement, and food processing. As Nyarko, Kissiedu, and Mawuta (2024) warn, institutions collapse when they fail to adapt. Nigerian universities must not fall into this trap. But beyond structural weaknesses, Nigeria’s agricultural sector is crippled by insecurity. Indigenous farmers across the Middle Belt and other regions face constant threats from herdsmen attacks, land disputes, and rural banditry. These violent clashes not only destroy lives but also disrupt food production, forcing many farmers to abandon their land. Without addressing this insecurity, no amount of classroom innovation will translate into real food security.
Agricultural colleges must therefore champion both research and resilience. They should lead in developing new methods of farming that are modern, sustainable, and culturally appropriate yet devoid of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that raise ethical and ecological concerns. Techniques such as precision agriculture, organic soil enrichment, climate smart irrigation, and greenhouse farming can be introduced to boost productivity while protecting biodiversity. Greenhouse farming offers controlled environments that reduce vulnerability to climate change, pests, and insecurity, while ensuring year round crop production. Farmer support is equally important to boost food security. Colleges should serve as hubs for extension services, training farmers in modern practices, providing access to affordable inputs, and creating cooperative models that strengthen bargaining power. By linking research directly to rural communities, agricultural institutions can ensure that innovation does not remain trapped in academic journals but reaches the fields where it is most needed.
In this age of food insecurity, Nigeria’s agricultural colleges must be more than teaching centres they must be engines of national survival. By tackling insecurity, promoting non GMO innovation, supporting indigenous farmers, and advancing greenhouse farming, they can help Nigeria reduce dependence on food imports and build a resilient agricultural economy.
Fee Hikes Do More Harm Than Good and They Are Unnecessary When Better Solutions Exist.
The timing could not be worse. With inflation and unemployment hitting record levels, transferring more financial obligations to students is deeply unfair. Adding higher tuition fees at such a moment only compounds the hardship and risks excluding those who most need education as a pathway out of poverty. Higher dropout rates are inevitable under such conditions. Many students are already stretched thin, balancing academic demands with financial pressures from home. Increasing fees will push thousands out of school, weakening Nigeria’s human capital base at a time when the nation desperately needs innovation, skilled graduates, and a workforce capable of driving development. Every student forced to abandon their studies represents not just a personal tragedy but a national loss. An enabling environment is what we need now for our country that currently consumes more imports that produce for export purposes. The real problems facing Nigerian universities are structural, not financial. What institutions need is curriculum reform, innovation, technological investment, and accountability not deeper pockets from impoverished students. Outdated courses must be modernized to reflect the realities of today’s economy, while new programs in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy, and agritech should be introduced to prepare students for the future. Universities should also strengthen research capacity, improve transparency in resource management, and build partnerships with industry to generate sustainable funding.
Lessons from Other Countries
Finland has consistently maintained free or highly subsidized higher education, even during the global financial crisis and the COVID 19 pandemic. The Finnish government prioritized education as a public good, ensuring that students were not excluded due to economic hardship.
India, during the COVID 19 economic downturn, reinforced its constitutional guarantee of free and compulsory education for children aged 6–14 under Article 21 A. Despite financial strain, the government expanded digital learning initiatives and resisted tuition hikes in public institutions, recognizing that education was essential for long term recovery.
Brazil provides another example. During economic turbulence in the 2010s, the government expanded financial aid programs such as Fundo de Financiamento Estudantil (FIES), which offered subsidized loans to low income students. This policy ensured that access to higher education remained possible for millions, even as the economy contracted.
I will conclude here that education is not a luxury, it is a foundation for national development. Nigerian universities cannot fulfil their mandate if they prioritize revenue over accessibility or if they shut the doors of opportunity on those who need them most. The Federal Government must rethink its approach:
Cut wasteful spending. Tap into Nigeria’s abundant mineral wealth. Fund education robustly. Make university education free up to the bachelor’s level. Fee increments amid hardship are not just unnecessary, they are harmful. What Nigeria needs now is bold reform, a modernized education system, and leadership that understands that no nation can rise above the quality of its education.
Author Bio: Clyde Collins is a Public Relations and Communication specialist based in Nigeria. He blends advocacy, research, and strategic communication to challenge dominant narratives and promote inclusive development, with a background in international relations and a passion for African governance and peacebuilding. He explores the intersections of language, identity, and postcolonial politics.
