Gov Bago set to hike tuition fees of state-owned institutions

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Niger State Government has disclosed plans to increase tuition fees at the state-owned tertiary institutions to adequately and effectively fund them.

The Permanent Secretary, Niger State Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, and Technology, Dr Musa Abubakar Sadeeq, made the disclosure in an interview in Minna.

He explained that Governor Mohammed Umar Bago had suggested a tuition fee hike, though, at the moment, no amount has been fixed to be charged.

According to him: “The state governor made the suggestion, but for now, it has not started. Believe me, higher education is not free anywhere.”

The Permanent Secretary argued that the funding of tertiary institutions is not the business of government alone, hence the need for a reasonable fee to enable government to meet its financial obligations in running the education sector.

Dr Sadeeq insisted that any time soon, the new tuition fee would be announced while assuring that the state government would support indigent students with 50 per cent of the new fee in the form of scholarships.

He added: “I am optimistic that if the vision of the governor for the education sector is fully implemented, the sector will move to the pinnacle in the state.”