We Can’t Decide Fees To Private Universities —FG

The Federal Government on Thursday asserted that it was not within its domain to dictate the amount of tuition fees to be charged by private universities in the country.

Government has also ruled out the possibility of funding private universities in Nigeria as being demanded by proprietors of some of the institutions.

Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who made this know on Thursday, in Abuja, said the responsibility of the government was to ensure that tuition fees were not charged above the reach of Nigerians.

He said: “In Federal Government tertiary institutions and colleges, students don’t pay tuition fees. They are tuition-free but government cannot dictate to private universities the fees they charge. However, government is there to ensure that private universities don’t charge outrageous and indiscriminate tuition fees,” he said.

The minister also said that it would not be wise for the Federal Government to fund private universities through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), explaining that the fund generated by TETFund was a contribution from private sector to the government for intervention in its institutions.

He said the appeal of the government was for the private sector to continue to invest more in education in Nigeria as it is obtainable elsewhere around the world.