A perspective on Free Higher Education in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the issue of tuition-free university education in Nigeria. I argue that the provision of educational facilities, the growth in enrolment at all levels, and the costs of sustaining tuition-free higher education in Nigeria place an unreasonable financial burden on the central government and have created a challenge to maintain reasonable standards and quality. The educational structures were established in the favorable international trade conditions of the 1970s and 1980s, patterns that no longer exist. Moreover, since private returns to investment in education at the secondary and tertiary levels are greater than the immediate social returns, I propose that Nigeria should re-orient its higher education systems from a completely subsidized system to one that is directed to greater cost recovery, including tuition and fees for services such as boarding and health care. Parents and guardians should bear the full financial cost of their children's higher education, although the National Education Bank, which succeeded the Students Loans Board, should make available loans and busaries to qualified and meritorious students.