No tertiary institution operating in Nigeria is allowed to charge tuition fees in dollars, the National Universities Commission (NUC) reiterated on Thursday 15 February, 2024.
Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Chris Maiyaki, who made the emphasis at a news conference in Abuja, told reporters that it is illegal to do so.
He was reacting to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) inviting proprietors of private universities and other institutions of higher learning charging fees in dollars.
Maiyaki said the commission had made an inquiry into the allegation and thus investigated but discovered that the said private university was not charging fees in dollars. He clarified that the institution only charged foreign students in dollars and not Nigerian students.
The NUC boss said: “On the dollarisation of tuition fees in this said university, we have investigated it and the university is not charging fees in dollars.
“They only charge dollars to foreign students. So, I want the media to join hands with us to tell the public that no Nigeria university is allowed to charge fees in dollars.”
The executive secretary also said that the commission would continue to approve more varsities as long as they are of standards and have the capacity for sustainability.
He disclosed that the commission would issue licence to two universities by next week to add up to the already 270 existing in the country. According to him, it would give room for access to tertiary education and stem the tide of Nigerians going outside the country to study.
“Due to the huge gap in demand and supply of university education, the NUC will continue to give approval for the establishment of more varsities,” he said.
Maiyaki added that the commission would continue to process applications for Distance Learning Centres (DLC) to give room for education access. He said the agency has reconstituted Committee on Degree Mills to mitigate against the upsurge in the proliferation of unapproved degree-awarding institutions.
“To mitigate against the upsurge in the proliferation of unapproved degree-awarding institutions, the reconstituted Committee on Degree Mills had been working against their proliferations, with hope to fight and win the growing incidence that had continued to give an unsavoury image to the system, among others,”
On the financial realities of tertiary institutions, the NUC chief executive charged the institutions to think outside the box and established advancement offices for the internalisation of programmes.
By Frank Ikpefan, Abuja
