The Federal Ministry of Education on Wednesday debunked the news making the rounds that the Federal Government has approved hike in tuition fees of Nigerian universities to the tune of N350, 000.
Sonny Echono, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, who made the clarification at a symposium in Abuja, urged Nigerians to remain calm on the issue.
He said: “The Federal Government did not and has no intention of introducing new tuition fees in our public universities not to mention the figure to N350, 000.
“What is true is that the present administration is committed to guarantee quality education. President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Education along with the ministry of finance to jointly organise a workshop that will inform on a very sustainable and workable recommendation of funding education in Nigeria.
“And to this end, we have been engaging various stakeholders including ASUU who can come up with a very useful contribution that will make all these recommendations achievable.”
Echono added that the ministry was working toward re-establishing the education bank to address the role of education funding as the government could not do it alone.
He said the role of the education bank would be to give loans at a low interest rate, saying this would not be limited to students alone, but also parents.
He acknowledged that every child had the fundamental right to quality education, adding that the ministry had developed strategies to ensure pupils and students with special needs were carried along.
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He disclosed that the National Teachers Institute (NTI) had concluded plans to train and develop the capacity of primary and secondary school teachers in the 36 states and FCT.
Mrs Justina Ibe, the Director, Education Support Service of the ministry, said the Federal Government had not relented in its efforts to ensure that the teaching profession was provided with qualified personnel.
This, according to Ibe informed the Ministerial Strategic Plan which were now being implemented gradually with positive results.
The symposium themed: ‘The Right to Education means the Right to a Qualified Teacher,’ was part of activities to commemorate the World Teachers Day to coming up on October 5 to celebrate teachers’ contributions to nation building.
