Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, immediate past Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), has said public universities across Nigeria may need to charge at least ₦1 million in tuition per student to achieve financial self-sustainability.
Olatunji-Bello made the remarks in a recent interview while reflecting on her five-year tenure, which ended on Saturday. She said LASU currently spends over ₦1 billion monthly on its payroll, while its ₦13 billion internally generated revenue (IGR) is insufficient to cover salaries.
“Universities can achieve financial self-sustainability. If they can innovate and ensure improvements in the institution, money will come in,” she said.
“But then, if the money comes in, how do you spend it? Right now, LASU does not have financial self-sustainability. We may have increased our dedicated revenue, but we cannot survive. Our payroll right now is over N1bn per month. All the N13bn IGR does not cover our salaries.”
She added, “So, universities that want to attain self-sustainability will have to increase school fees into millions.”
According to her, while some secondary schools charge over ₦1 million per term, some public universities still charge around ₦100,000 yearly, which she said is unsustainable.
“So, any public university that wants to sustain financial independence will have to charge school fees of not less than N1 million per student,” she said.
Olatunji-Bello also stated that “good quality education needs money” and urged parents to prioritise their children’s education.
Her comments came shortly after Education Minister Tunji Alausa urged public universities to diversify their funding, saying government resources alone cannot sustain tertiary institutions.
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