Why Nigerian universities charge ‘indirect’ tuition fees – ASUU President
NEWS DIGEST – Following the Federal Government’s reiteration that all Federal Universities are tuition-fee, the National President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, said that the government is being hypocritical because “Universities need money for all their activities, how would they do it without funding?”
Speaking with News Digest on Friday, the president decried low funding for education under President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, a lot still needs to be done rather than the Federal Government coming out to state that no Federal University should charge tuition fee.
He said: “The statement of the Federal Government is very hypocritical.
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“We are not impressed at all by the Federal Government’s stand because the Government allocation under Buhari is the lowest.
“It should be known that Universities still charge indirect tuition fees. When you charge N20,000 N40,000 for accommodation, what do you call that? I think the Government should face the reality,” he added.
However, the ASUU president said that the union supports non- payment of tuition fees, adding that “Our position is that no tuition fee should be paid in Nigerian Universities, that has been the standard but the issues should be addressed first.”
New Digest reported that on Wednesday, at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting, the Minister of State for Education, Anthony Nwuka, had said that no Federal University is expected to charge tuition fee, a development that invoked reactions from different quarters of the academia.
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