BREAKING NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY:

Honorable member representing Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constitency - *Emeka Martins Chinedu* - has moved a motion for *"Abolishment of Acceptance Fees into Tertiary Institutions in the Country"*

By Nnamdi UKASANYA

Moving his first motion on the floor of the National Assembly, on Tuesday the 20th, 2019, Hon. Emeka Martins Chinedu Notes the following:

*"That Education is a necessary tool for unlocking human potential and driving national development.*"

*"That the advancement or otherwise of any nation is directly dependent on the number of its citizens with access to Education, especially up to Tertiary Education level."*


*"That according to recent data from the National Universities Commission{NUC}, of a population of over 180 million, only about 2 million are enrolled into our Universities nationwide, representing 1 percent of our population and clearly indicating that the proportion of the population participating in Tertiary Institutions is low when compared to other advanced Countries."*


He also *"notes that additional data from the National Bureau of Statistics {NBS} and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board {JAMB} show that between 2010 and 2015, of the 10 million applicants that sought entry into Nigerian Tertiary Institutions, only 26 percent gained admission, indicating that about 75 percent of University applicants in Nigeria fail to gain admission every year, and also reinforcing the fact that access to Tertiary Education is low in the Country."*


furthermore, he notes *"that one of the factors contributing to poor access to Tertiary Education is the predatory admission policies enforced by our Tertiary Institutions, particularly the requirement for payment of non-refundable acceptance fees as condition precedent to admission."*

His concerns were:

*"that many Federal operated Tertiary institutions charge as much as N30,000 per student, while some States and Private Institutions charge significantly more, to wit: University of Ibadan (UI) charges N35,000; University of Lagos (UNILAG) charges N20,000; Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) charges N30,000; Imo State University (IMSU) charges N70,000; and Lagos State University (LASU) charges N20,000, just to mention a few."*


And *"that applicants are expected to pay these acceptance fees within a short deadline despite going through the tortuous process of paying and sitting for Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), and making the cut off mark; while the *"applicants who are unable to meet the deadline are surcharged for late payment and risk losing their admission and regrettable also is the fact that even after paying acceptance fees, applicants are not guaranteed admission.*"

He matained*"that if the exploitative admission practices of Tertiary Institutions in the Country are left unchecked, the aspirations of poor and indigent Nigerians to study in the University will continue to be cut short because of their inability to pay the said fees, which pose untold hardship on already suffering students and their parents and create an obstacle to accessing Education in Nigeria."*


His Prayers is that the National Assembly should *"call on the Federal Ministry of Education and National Universities Commission to immediately abolish the payment of acceptance fees into Tertiary Institutions."*

And also, *"call on the House Committee on Tertiary Education to investigate the admission policies and practices of Tertiary Institutions in the Country in order to remove all obstacles to accessing Education."*

*Hon. Chinedu's MOTION was CARRIED - and his colleagues remained grateful and commended his timely intervention - echoing thet he has spoken the mind of the common man, and have stood in the gap for most

The govt should scatter and rearrange our Educational structure. It's failing rapidly.


I keep saying it - Nigeria's education system is embarrassing, shameful and a sham.
Education is the lifeblood of any developed economy/nation.
Nigeria should invest more in education instead of passing useless bills about Social Media regulations and hate speech.
Awon alawada.
Rwanda, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa...these have good education.
Nigeria hasn't done anything reasonable only for ASUU to be striking like thunder.

I have bn saying it and will continue saying it. Acceptance fee payment a form of daylight robbery

Long over due.. it's just a very sad way of robbing incoming students of their money nothing more. It doesn't make sense at all and the amount keeps going high so crazy. Unilorin for example started collecting acceptance fees in the year 2011, between 2011-2019 the fee as increased to 25,000 naira. Since the money will not be deducted from their school fees why this high. I wish they do something quick about it.