Get Guardian on GoogleExtend NELFUND scheme to private varsities, KolaDaisi VC urges FG
Amid mounting protests over soaring tuitions across Nigerian institutions and the growing calls for legislative intervention, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has urged students to organise peaceful protests against arbitrary fee increases and hold their leaders accountable for defending their interests.
It alleged that some Students’ Union Government (SUG) presidents had reached agreements with their institutions’ management to support tuition increases in exchange for personal benefits.
In a statement yesterday, NANS President, Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, alleged that some union leaders had agreed to back the increments after managements promised to increase their allowances or union dues, while others were allegedly offered personal financial inducements to secure their cooperation and prevent opposition to the hikes.
He, therefore, urged students to mobilise and collectively express their opposition whenever school authorities announce fee increase, insisting that peaceful protests remained a legitimate way of demanding a reconsideration of such decisions.
Akinteye also advised students to place their SUG presidents at the forefront of engagements with management and collectively demand a reversal of proposed increases.
The NANS president stressed that students should not be excluded from decisions affecting their welfare, adding that their representatives had a responsibility to ensure their concerns were communicated to school authorities.
The controversy over rising institutional charges has also attracted the attention of the House of Representatives, which recently called on the Federal Government to halt recent fee increases across public tertiary institutions.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Ifeoluwa Ehindero, who warned that an increase of more than 100 per cent in some institutions could undermine the objectives of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
MEANWHILE, the Vice-Chancellor of KolaDaisi University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Olajumoke Morenikeji, yesterday, urged the Federal Government to extend the NELFUND scheme to students in private universities, insisting that they deserve equal access to government-supported educational financing.
Morenikeji said that students attending private universities were also Nigerians and should not be excluded from the scheme simply because of their institutions’ ownership status.
She made the appeal while addressing journalists ahead of the university’s 10th anniversary and sixth convocation ceremony, scheduled to hold between October 26 and November 5, 2026.
According to her, the Federal Government should look beyond university ownership and consider students’ circumstances when designing policies to widen access to higher education.
She said that extending educational loans to eligible students at private universities would give more Nigerians the opportunity to pursue their academic ambitions, regardless of the institutions they attend.
