Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani slashes school fees in state-owned tertiary institutions

The Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, has slashed tuition in the state-owned higher schools.

The governor revealed the reduction at an interactive session with reporters in Kaduna on Monday.

Fees for tertiary institutions had been raised during Nasir El-Rufai's recent administration.

Mr. El-Rufai had maintained that his administration was no longer able to subsidize education because of the state's resource limitations.

He did not overturn the government's decision regarding the increase despite the protests of students and parents.

However, Mr. Sani made the decision to lower tuition in reaction to public criticism and the negative effects of higher tuition on enrollment and retention.

He said that the N150,000 in tuition that Kaduna State University students once paid has been lowered by 30%. From now on, the pupils will pay N105,000.

Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic students' tuition was lowered from N100,000 to N50,000.

The tuition for the Gidan Waya College of Education was lowered from N75,000 to N37,500.

The Shehu Idris College of Health Sciences and Technology in Makarfi has reduced the cost of its Higher National Diploma programmes from N100,000 to N70,000.

Similar to this, the same institution's National Diploma course cost was lowered from N75,000 to N52,000.

The price was reduced for Kaduna State College of Nursing from N100,000 to N70,000.

The governor characterised the policy as one of his administration's palliatives to lessen the impact of the loss of petroleum subsidies and its negative economic effects on the populace.

According to him, the Ministry of Education and the directors of higher institutions gathered pertinent data on the current fee structure in state-owned postsecondary institutions and advised a tuition decrease.

“That the extant fee regime in the state-owned tertiary institutions is burdensome and has led to a significant decline in student enrollment.

“That the extant fees have made many students either abandon the pursuit of tertiary education or move to alternative institutions,’’ he said.

Mr Sani then reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the welfare of the people.

“My administration will continue to take all the necessary measures to ensure access to free and quality education for every child in the state from primary to secondary school,” he said.

He said that students had developed ICT proficiency starting at the basic education level as a result of increasing access to higher education, boosting teacher welfare and teaching standards, as well as strengthening school infrastructure.

Source