UNILAG denies raising student fees, attributes changes to NELFund directive

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) says there has been nofresh hike in the fees payable by its undergraduate students. On Tuesday, UNILAG’s student community raised the alarmabout changes in the fees on their portal that suggested an upward review. In a statement on Wednesday, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, thehead of UNILAG’s communication unit, clarified that the change in fee was dueto the integration of approved dues that students had previously paid for atthe faculty and departmental levels. This, she said, is in line with the Nigeria Education LoanFund (NELFund) directive to institutions to consolidate all charges payable bystudents on the student portal. “This ensures that once students make payment through theirofficial portal, no other payment will be collected at the faculty anddepartmental levels,” she said. TheCable reviewed the payment advise from selectedundergraduates, a document containing the fees payable by returning students. While there was no “significant” hike in the fees, somecharges were adjusted upwards and new ones were introduced. In the 2024/2025 academic session, returning students paidN2000 for department and faculty dues, but this has been increased on theportal’s consolidated quote up to N15,000. A breakdown of the increase shows that the UNILAG TISHIPmoved from N5,000 to N7,500. The new charges introduced include entrepreneurship (N5000),portal maintenance (N15,000), and student insurance policy (N1,250). Others are student support services (N1,250), professionalservices (N7,500), and general studies (GST) (N5,000). The university, when confronted with these adjustments,maintained that there was no increase or introduction of new fees. It noted that the additional fees were being paid bystudents outside the portal before now. “What we have done is in the best interest of the studentsso that when they apply for NELFund, they get funding that covers every billthat they pay in school through a central system,” Alaga-Ibraheem said. “This will eliminate other forms of payment outside thecentral system. “It is also important to note that the amounts reflected onthe portals differ across programmes based on specific academicrequirements. This does not amount to afee hike but an integration of previously separate, legitimate dues.”

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