1) BABCOCK UNIVERSITY
This is a private Christian co-educational university owned
and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Nigeria.
The university was established as the Adventist College of
West Africa (ACWA) in 1957. Their school fee ranges from
N620,000 to N3 million. In Babcock University, your meal and
hostel defines your fee. It offers two and three daily meal
services. And for accommodation, there are three to seven
students in a room. When it comes to accommodation, it
depends on your choice. Either it is regular (7 in a room),
premium (4 in a room) or classic (3 or 2 in a room). Here is a
breakdown of Babcock school fees: Medicine: N3 million, Law:
N2 million, Accounting: N1.5 million, Nursing: N1 million, other
faculties: N860,000 – N620,000.
2) AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA (AUN)
AUN is the first Nigerian university with American structure
and curriculum. It is in north eastern Nigeria, Yola, capital of
Adamawa State. At ABTI, students pay as much as
N1,378,500 to receive quality education. Parents, however, pay
in dollars. For tuition: $6,600 (N990,000), meals: $1,900
(285,000), four in a room: $500 (N75,000), private room:
$1,900 – N285,000). In total, it amounts to N1,378,500 per
annum. Accommodation and feeding are taken care by the
school.
3) AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY
Afe Babalola University is a private higher institution in Ado-
Ekiti, Ekiti State. It was established in 2009 by Nigeria’s
foremost lawyer and legal icon, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN). The
fee covers tuition, development levy, ICT, ID card, medical,
sports, PTCF levy, course registration, caution fee and
accommodation which is either four per room or two per
room. Here is a breakdown of their school fees: For
Engineering: N925,000 (4 beds) and N1,075,000 (2 beds).
Health Science: N725,000 (4 beds) and N875,000 (2 beds)
Sciences: N675,000 (4 beds) and N825,000 (2 beds)
Social Management Science: N675,000 (4 beds) and N825,000
(2 beds) The fee ranges from N675,000 to N1,075,000
annually. There is no provision for feeding.
4) IGBINEDION UNIVERSITY
The university came into existence following the presentation
of certificate of approval on May 16, 1999. Thus, it became
the first licensed private university in Nigeria. The tuition
ranges from N540,000 to N820,000 without feeding. For
Medicine, Pharmacy, Law and Engineering, they pay a tuition
of N610,000, accommodation: N100,000 and other facilities:
N110,000.
5) BOWEN UNIVERSITY It is owned and operated by the
Nigerian Baptist Convention, at Iwo in Osun State and opened
November 4, 2002. The tuition fee ranges from N500,000 to
N750,000 per annum. The university is only responsible for
accommodation and tuition. Students are made to buy their
food from the cafeteria.
6) CRAWFORD UNIVERSITY
Crawford University is a private Christian institution in Igbesa,
Nigeria. It was established in 2005. The school provides
accommodation for students but does not provide feeding.
Parents only pay for tuition, accommodation and some
additional charges. The school fee ranges from N400,000 to
N600,000.
7) REDEEMER’S UNIVERSITY
Redeemer’s University is a Christian school located in
Redemption City, Ogun State, Nigeria. It was opened in 2005.
At Redeemers, Natural Science pays N605,000, Management
Sciences; N575,000 and Humanities pays N545,000. All this
fees are paid without feeding but tuition and accommodation.
We can see that the fees range from N500,000 to N650,000
per annum.
Other Institutions with high fee are:
8) Lead City University: ₦550,500
9) Caleb University: ₦505,000
10) Ajayi Crowder University: ₦500,000
11) Benson Idahosa: ₦500,000
12) Joseph Ayo Babalola University: ₦436,000
13) Covenant University: ₦432,000
14) Achievers University, Owo: ₦420, 000
15) Novena University: ₦400,000
16) Adeleke University,Ede: 350,000.00
17) Rhema University: ₦325,000
18) Lagos State University: Between N240,000 and N345,000
19) Obong University Nigeria: ₦190,000
20) Oduduwa University: ₦164,000
21) Osun State University– Between ₦130500 and 160,500
COMMENTARY by Femi Osinusi, Moyosore Solarin and Yinka
Olukoya of the Nigerian Tribune
FOR several years in Nigeria,public universities (both federal
and state-owned) were the major sources of higher education.
Especially, given the much talked-about disparity between
products of the universities and polytechnics in the country
over the years, the number of candidates gravitating towards
universities kept increasing in geometrical terms. Soon, it
became obvious that government-owned institutions could no
longer meet the ever-increasing demands for university
education.
But aside the inability of government-owned universities to
absorb the growing population of candidates, factors such as
cultism, unrestrained immorality and worsening infrastructural
facilities in these universities began to make private
universities a necessity.
To worsen the situation, incessant strikes by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), ostensibly as a protest
against infrastructure decay, became so rife that students
often spend five, six or more years on four-year courses or
seven to eight years on five-year courses. These all made
many wish they had the option of private university education
in the country.
But when that wish was eventually granted and private
universities began to be licensed beginning from 1999, most
Nigerians woke up to the reality that what they had thought
would be a source of escape for them from the dying
public tertiary education was, and still is, accessible only to
the affluent and most privileged in the society.
Strangely too, the rate at which the private universities have
since been springing up suggests that profit motive may not
be far from the card. It has been observed that more than 50
private universities have sprung up in the country in a space
of 15 years – and many more are still in the pipeline.
According to information gathered from the National
Universities Commission (NUC), there are 51 private
universities in Nigeria, more than half of them owned by faith-
based organisations; some by individuals and one by a
corporate organisation.
