Public tertiary institutions must charge affordable fees — Shekarau

The Federal Government has said it will ensure that public institutions charge affordable tuition fees in line with regulatory guidelines in order to ‘protect’ the students.

This was revealed by the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday 6th of January at a meeting with Executive Secretaries of Regulatory Agencies under the Ministry of Education and stakeholders in public tertiary institutions.

Shekarau, who was quoted in the National Universities Commission (NUC) bulletin report for January 12, 2015, said the Federal Government will not interfere in the operation of the institutions' Governing Councils, but it has a moral responsibility to ensure compliance in an oversight role.

"The essence of the meeting is to look at the various amounts of fees charged in public tertiary institutions and to ensure that they are affordable.

"Our role in the Ministry is to oversee the institutions and make sure that they operate according to guideline, to protect the interest of beneficiaries who are out students," Shekarau said.

He added that public institutions' Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) will be monitored to ensure prudence and accountability.

It will be recalled that 2014 witnessed several tuition-fee related disturbances in tertiary institutions across the country.

One of them was the student-management impasse that saw the closure of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).