On Wednesday, The House of Representatives called for the abolishment of ‘acceptance fees’ paid by students admitted to various institutions in Nigeria.


Leading the debate, Emeka Chinedu said this practice limited the poor's access toto tertiary education and that “predatory admission policies being enforced by tertiary institutions, particularly the requirement for payment of non-refundable acceptance fees as a condition precedent for admission”.

Chinedu added that “it should bother the lawmakers that his state’s Imo State University charges N70,000 as acceptance fee.”

“Other institutions like the University of Ibadan charge 35,000; University of Lagos, 20,000; Ahmadu Bello University, 30,000; Lagos State University, N20,000; University of Uyo, 25,000,”

He was unanimously backed by his colleagues in his move to abolish this practice.

The House of Representatives also mandated the House Committee on Tertiary Education and Services “to investigate the admission policies and practices of tertiary institutions in the country as they relate to the charge of acceptance fees in order to remove all obstacles to accessing tertiary education in the country.”

Vice Chancellor of the University if Ibadan, has pledged to comply with the directive thoough not in agreement with its abolition.

He said the amount accruing to the University of Ibadan, for instance, in a year is not enough to fund the university in a month. “Therefore, the school has to look for alternative means to source for funds”.

“Someone has to take up the bill,” he said. “We have to make up our mind on what we really want. You can’t even run a creche without funds. In a year, we spend at least N200 million on our clinic contactors. Add this to electricity bill and diesel, then you’re talking of over N800 million.

“What the university is getting for overhead is less than N100 million. So where do you think the remaining N700 million will come from? Unless you want to close down the whole university,” he added.

Should this acceptance fee be abolished?