President Bola Tinubu, on Monday in Abuja, said Nigeria is committed to actualising upgraded partnership agreements with the United Kingdom in areas that directly impact citizens’ livelihoods, like arts, culture, trade, and security.

This is as the Nigerian leader urged UK to strengthen relations with Africa by showing more interest in some of the conflicts affecting countries such as Sudan, particularly over humanitarian issues.

“We are faced with security challenges in West Africa, and we have been receiving displaced persons into Nigeria, some from Mali and Burkina Faso. We are doing our best to bring peace,” he said.

The President spoke when he received the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Rt. Hon. David Lammy, at the State House, Abuja. Tinubu said his government would support the partnership for growth. “Britain should do more to bring peace and stability to that part of Africa,’’ he added.

MEANWHILE, the administration of Prime Minister Starmer is planning to increase tuition fees in universities in the country effective from September 2025, a report by The Telegraph of London has indicated. The increase is going to be the first in eight years.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is expected to announce the tuition fees rise in line with the Retail Price Index inflation.The fee rise is expected to come into force from September 2025, meaning that it will affect A-level students who are currently applying to universities.

Tuition fees have remained frozen at £9,250 since 2017. It is unclear which month’s inflation figures the Labour Party government will choose to link fees to, but matching them to the current rate of 2.7 per cent would see fees rise to about £9,500 from next year.

Previous reports suggested that the government would raise tuition fees to £10,500 over the next five years. The Telegraph understands that ministers do not want to commit to any uplift beyond the next academic year as they consider complete reform of the current system.

The move follows growing concerns that many institutions are now facing financial crisis, with 40 per cent of English universities expecting to slump into a deficit this year.

The Coalition government tripled tuition fees to £9,000 in 2012. Fees only increased after that to hit £9,250 in 2017, where they remain frozen today despite soaring inflation over the past few years.

The Russell Group of elite universities has argued that the cap on tuition fees means they are now making a loss of about £4,000 per UK student.