House of Reps asks minister, NUC to abolish payment of acceptance fees
- Lawmakers of the House of Representatives have called for the abolishment of payment of acceptance fees to tertiary institutions in Nigeria
- The lawmakers said education is a necessary tool for unlocking human potentials and driving national development and the advancement of any nation
- According to the lawmakers, many federal tertiary institutions charge as much as N30,000 per student, while some states and private institutions charge significantly more
Members of the House of Representatives has directed the ministry of education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to abolish the payment of acceptance fees into tertiary institutions in the country.
The directive followed the adoption of a motion brought by the lawmaker representing Ahiazu/Ezinihitte federal constituency of Imo state, Chinedu Martins, at the plenary yesterday calling the abolishment of acceptance fees in tertiary institutions.
Martins said education is a necessary tool for unlocking human potentials and driving national development and the advancement of any nation.
He also said that education is directly dependent on the number of its citizens who have access to education, especially up to the tertiary education level.
Martins said a recent data from the NUC showed that out of a population of over 180 million only about two million are enrolled into the universities nationwide, representing one per cent of the population.
This, he said, clearly indicated that the proportion of the population attending tertiary institutions is low when compared to other advanced countries;
He stressed further that additional data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) showed that between 2010 and 2015, of the 10 million applicants that sought admissions into tertiary institutions, only 26 per cent gained admissions, indicating that about 75 per cent of the applicants fail to gain admissions every year and also reinforcing the fact that access to tertiary education is low in Nigeria.
Martins expressed concern that one of the factors contributing to poor access to tertiary education was the predatory admission policies being enforced by tertiary institutions, particularly the requirement for payment of non-refundable acceptance fees as a condition precedent for admissions;
The lawmaker lamented that many federal operated tertiary institutions charge as much as N30,000 per student, while some states and private institutions charge significantly more.
For instance, Martins said that the University of Ibadan (UI) charges N35,000; University of Lagos (UNILAG) – N20,000; Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) – N30,000; (iv) Imo state University (lMSU) – N70,000; and Lagos state University (LASU) – N20,000.
He also expressed worry that applicants are expected to pay the acceptance fees within a short deadline despite having gone through the tortuous process of paying and sitting for the Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) and making the cut off mark; stressing that if they are unable to meet the deadline, the applicants are surcharged for late payment with the risk of losing the offer of admissions.
According to him, "If the exploitative admission practices of tertiary institutions in the country are left unchecked, the aspirations of indigent Nigerians to study in Universities will continue to be cut short because of their inability to pay acceptance fees."
In his submission, Dimeji Abejide, said he believed that all the House members representing their constituencies had access to education, stressing that if they were not educated, they won't be at the chamber contributing to the national development.
He was of the opinion that If the acceptance fee is abolished, it would help a lot of students in getting admission.
Abejide wondered why the Universities been funded by the government are still charging such fee, saying, "I don't know what they are using this money, the money is just meant for their pocket so that this issue of a criminal way of extorting students is abolished."
Also, Honourable Prestige Ossy said that he doesn't understand why any university is talking about acceptance fee when the students had gone through a rigorous admission process.
He stresses that the acceptance fee is not part of the students' tuition, adding that universities are not there to make a profit, but lamented that they have turned to money-making ventures.
The House, therefore, called on the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission to immediately abolish the payment of acceptance fees into Tertiary Institutions.
"Mandate the Committee on Tertiary Education and Services to investigate the admission policies and practices of Tertiary Institutions in the country as they relate to the charge of acceptance fees in order to remove all obstacles to accessing tertiary education in the country," he said.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has backed the use of hijab by students in schools.
The sultan said female Muslim students across the country have the constitutional right to use hijab in schools.
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