Nigeria: Nigerian University Hikes Fees, Students to Pay Up to N290,000

What the report says

Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, has approved higher undergraduate registration charges for the 2026/2027 academic session, according to Premium Times reporting distributed by AllAfrica. The revised schedule raises fees across programmes and levels, with students now expected to pay between about N143,000 and N298,000, up from roughly N62,000 to N84,000 in the previous session.

The largest increases affect professional and science-based courses. Premium Times reported that 100-level medicine and surgery, dentistry, law, engineering, nursing, medical laboratory science, medical radiography, veterinary medicine, computer science, accounting, economics and public administration all saw notable rises. For example, some programmes more than doubled, with medicine and dentistry among the highest charges listed.

The fee changes have triggered criticism from student groups and social media users. The president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Akinteye Afeez, publicly condemned the increase, while some students argued that repeated hikes are putting higher education out of reach for many families. The report also places ABU’s move in a broader Nigerian context, noting that universities have adjusted fees before in response to rising operating costs after previous labour disputes.

The development matters because it could signal another wider round of tuition increases across Nigerian federal universities. Separately, the article notes that the federal government created the Nigerian Education Loan Fund in 2023, which has been discussed as part of the response to affordability concerns on campuses.