Four major factors that shaped Nigeria’s education sector in 2023

The year 2023 will forever be remembered for the introduction of certain foundational reforms in Nigeria’s education system.

These reforms, which include the Student Loan Bill, fee hike in many public Nigerian universities, and the government’s attempt to grant autonomy to universities would also serve as a reference point in the future for the sector.

In 2023, Nigeria’s education sector faced many challenges, particularly in terms of funding and the intermittent disruption of academic activities due to workers advocating for improved funding and better pay.

In this analysis, PREMIUM TIMES looked at some of the major activities that shaped the education sector this year.

1. Fee hike

The year 2023 began with Nigerian students groaning as some federal universities began increasing fees payable by the students, many of them by more than 100 per cent. Even after a presidential directive that the institutions halt arbitrary increases in fees, some institutions continued.

The university administrators explained that the cost of running the schools had been affected by inflation. Faced with dwindling revenue and insufficient funding from the government, the institutions resorted to fee increments that moved like a wave from one university to another until almost all of the federal universities hiked their fees.

But this was not without stiff resistance from the student unions in the universities. Students protested and criticised the university administrators for making such a move when average Nigerians were struggling to provide for their families.

While some institutions succumbed to pressure and protests by the student unions, the fee hike mostly stayed in place.

2. Students Loan Bill

Perhaps, the most popular education reform by President Bola Tinubu when he assumed office was the swift assent he provided to the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, popularly known as the Students Loan Bill.

The law seeks to provide loans for indigent Nigerian students to pay tuition fees in any Nigerian tertiary institution. However, the bill faced criticisms from stakeholders who accused the government of using the scheme as a guise to introduce tuition fees and raise costs in public tertiary institutions.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has always opposed the law since it was first introduced to the National Assembly in 2016, persisted in its opposition, insisting that the government was trying to make higher education out of reach for poor Nigerians.

Meanwhile, a PREMIUM TIMES review of the conditions for accessing the loans revealed some stringent measures that may make it difficult for many Nigerian students.

For instance, applicants must provide at least two guarantors, each of whom must either be a civil servant of at least level 12, a lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience, a judicial officer, or a justice of peace. Also, only applicants whose family income is less than N500,000 per annum are eligible to apply for the loan.

President Tinubu, in July, announced the removal of all restrictions to access the student loan even though its implementation had not yet begun. The government’s ambitious plan of launching the scheme in September fell flat, and Mr Tinubu has now said implementation must begin in January. The president also allocated N50 billion for the student loan in the proposed 2024 budget submitted to the National Assembly.

3. Industrial Harmony in Universities?

Meanwhile, in an unexpected turn of events for many Nigerians, the country’s tertiary institutions, particularly the universities, witnessed a calm and peaceful industrial atmosphere this year.

When ASUU was forced to suspend its eight-month-old strike in October last year, without the government acceding to the union’s demands, many feared it was only a matter of time before the union would go on strike again. However, the year 2023 went by without the union downing tools and ended with the federal government’s attempt to meet some of their demands.

ASUU’s major demands from the federal government include; autonomy for the public universities, increased funding, payment of owed academic allowances, and increased pay for academics and other staffers.

During the strike, the Muhammadu Buhari administration invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy against the striking lecturers and stuck to it till the end of his administration on 29 May. However, President Tinubu, in October, directed the payment of four of eight months withheld salaries from last year’s industrial action.

4. Attacks on schools

Another major event in the country’s education system this year is the recurring attacks on educational facilities, especially in the North-west where banditry and kidnap for ransom are prevalent.

Reported cases include the 23 September abduction of 22 students of the Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State. The students were living in private hostels around the school when they were kidnapped

Some students of the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina, and Nasarawa State University, Keffi, also suffered a similar fate.

At the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, students are living in fear as attacks by terrorists are becoming frequent in the communities around the school.

The situation has gotten more dangerous since Boko Haram’s infamous abduction of over 270 school girls in Chibok, Borno State in 2014.