The immediate past Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has clarified that her recent comments on the cost of university education were not a call for Nigerian students or their parents to pay ₦1 million annually as tuition.
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Olatunji-Bello had been quoted as saying that public universities in Nigeria might need about ₦1 million per student annually to attain financial sustainability and provide education comparable with international standards.
However, in a clarification issued by her media aide, Mr Emmanuel Adeyemi, the former vice-chancellor said her remarks were made in the context of the actual cost of delivering quality undergraduate education and were not intended to suggest that the entire financial burden should be transferred to parents and students.
According to Adeyemi, Olatunji-Bello’s central argument was that providing the standard of university education Nigerians expect could cost about ₦1 million per student annually.
“Crucially, however, she did not suggest that this cost must necessarily be transferred wholesale onto students or their parents,” Adeyemi said.
The former LASU vice-chancellor instead advocated innovation and alternative revenue sources by universities as a means of achieving greater financial sustainability.
“Universities can achieve financial self-sustainability. If they can innovate and ensure improvements in the institution, money will come in,” Olatunji-Bello was quoted as saying.
She also urged parents to continue giving priority to the education of their children, noting that maintaining quality standards requires adequate financial resources.
“I enjoin parents to ensure their children are well-educated by prioritising their fees. Good quality education needs money,” she said.
Adeyemi explained that Olatunji-Bello’s position was therefore broader than the reported suggestion that universities should simply impose ₦1 million tuition fees on students.
According to him, her remarks were a call for universities to innovate, diversify their sources of revenue and reduce excessive dependence on government funding while recognising that parents and other stakeholders also have roles to play in sustaining quality education.
He said the former vice-chancellor acknowledged the substantial cost involved in providing quality higher education but advocated shared responsibility rather than placing the entire burden on students.
Adeyemi consequently urged the public, media organisations and education stakeholders to consider Olatunji-Bello’s comments in their full context rather than relying on isolated portions of her remarks.
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