The umbrella body of all Nigerian students in tertiary schools, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has expressed strong opposition against the alleged plans by the management of federal universities in the country to increase, by 200 per cent, their tuitions and other charges from this year, calling on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), intervene and stop the plan before it degenerates into a crisis in the nation’s history.
According to an exclusive report by PUNCH, there are plans to hike fees of federal universities over rising inflation and following a survey across some federal universities in the country, it has been revealed that some universities had announced a hike in fees.
NANS expresses her displeasure over this and seeked to address the issue by writing a letter dated January 4, 2023, signed by both the National President and the Senate President of the association, Usman Umar Barambu and Attah Unalue Felix, respectively, to the President, to call on and bring to his notice the new development, for a fatherly intervention.
The association also copied for their notices the Minister of Education,the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser, and the Inspector General of Police, among others.
Commending the President for his efforts so far on education, security and other sectors of the economy despite the global economic downturn that also hit Nigeria, the Students, pleaded for a swift intervention to stop the move as the majority of students who attend public universities, particularly in Nigeria, are from financially disadvantaged homes and would not be able to afford such an increment, referring to VCs supporting this move as inconsiderate and insensitive to the plights of their students.
Not wanting to leave any stone unturned on the possible development, NANS disclosed that the association had reached out to relevant stakeholders in line with the constitution as a pressure group on the matter and now at this time calling on President Buhari to intervene and stop the increment as public tertiary schools are the last hope for the common man.
Stating that an increment in school fees, which comes under the branded name known as ‘statutory fee and other charges’ as planned by the universities, would only make many of the Nigerian students drop out of school and make it difficult for many to further their education to tertiary schools, the union believes that President Buhari would not allow such situation to happen knowing full well its adverse consequences
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