The House of Representatives has called on the federal government to increase the funding of public tertiary institutions in the country, to help moderate the excessive drive for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the institutions.
The call became imperative following the motion by the Chairman, House Committe on Basic Education, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, at a plenary, recently, questioning the rationale behind the exorbitant acceptance fees being charged by tertiary institutions across the nation.
The motion titled, ‘Need to Investigate the Acceptance Fees Charged by Tertiary institutions In Nigeria condemned the high acceptance fees imposed by Nigerian Universities, Polytechnics and other tertiary institutions on students seeking admission, maintaining that an increase in the funding of the institutions would aid the reduction of these charges which are probably viewed as means of generating revenue for the institutions.
Ihonvbere noted that the arbitrary high acceptance fees charged by some public universities on new students across the country have become a matter of great concern to many families, adding that it has constituted a hindrance to the students process of entry into the universities.
Ihonvbere said, “the House also notes that amid the rising frustrations over the exorbitant fees, indigent families of new students that are forced to pay the acceptance fees are bemoaning the unusual astronomical increases against the backdrop of the fact that federal universities are supposedly tuition-free”.
“The House is also aware that the acceptance fees are discriminatory as they vary from one university to the other, which clearly shows that they have become mere internal revenue generating mechanisms, thus constituting an impediment to the smooth process of entry into the universities”, Ihonvbere stated.
The House committee chairman maintained that should the situation remain unchecked, acceptance fees may surreptitiously become the school fees, thereby affecting the number of students that may gain entry into higher institutions in the country.
In his words”, the House is worried that the dire consequence of exorbitant acceptance fees in our public universities has led to many indigent students losing their admissions as a result of their inability to afford the fees”.