‎Protest looms as PAAU increases school fees over 150% amid NELFUND intervention confusion [Investigation]

….Checks reveal Kogi government struggling to run three varsities due to paucity of funds

The recent Prince Abubakar Audu University, PAAU’s increase in student school fees to as high as over 150% has raised serious concerns among students, guardians and stakeholders, that may snowball into protest by the concerned students if nothing is done to reverse it.

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The PAAU is the first Kogi State owned University established by the late Prince Abubakar Audu when he was governor from 1999 to 2003.

Since the establishment of the University, CAPITAL POST checks revealed that no hike of such magnitude has taken place until the assumption of Prof. Usman Ogbo as Vice Chancellor after his appointment by the Governor Usman Ododo.

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Investigation by this newspaper discovered that the denial by the management of the University that the students tuition fees was not increased, but harmonised with the other state-owned Universities, ie, Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH, Osara and Kogi State University, Kabba, was not true.

The statement released by the Director of Public Affairs of the University, Uredo Omale, titled: CLARIFICATION ON THE
PURPORTED INCREASE IN SCHOOL FEES AT PRINCE ABUBAKAR AUDU UNIVERSITY, ANYIGBA”, was watery and didn’t address the concerns as there was nothing tangible to substantiate the increase.

CAPITAL POST gathered that the increase in the tuition fees might have been connected with the State government’s inability to cope with personnel cost in the three Universities across the three Senatorial flanks.

In PAAU, a total number of 5,000 staff including academic and non-academic as well as visiting professors are on the employ of the institution. The bloated staff in PAAU, though, and older University compared to the other two with academic and non-academic staff at fairly 60 were not the same.

PAAU has over 50,000 students population and on what justification has the management of the school increase school fees amid poverty, high cost of transportation, high cost of standard of living etc. How will a peasant farmer battling with Fulani crisis and other insecurity threats on his farmland with two or three children be able to cope with high cost of school fees introduced with Prof. Usman Ogbo-led management?

What the PAAU management was hiding in the hike was that, a template for the hike in school fees was designed by Kogi State Ministry of Education and convinced Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo. The plan was tabled by Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Hon Wemi Ojo Jones to generate revenue, leveraging on the governor’s directive that 50% of funds generated be rerouted into the State government’s account.

PAAU was obviously implementing that template that will create heavy financial burden on parents and students. With the increment amid near epileptic Kogi State Scholarship Board, whatever is offered through a “right hand is taken through the left hand.”

To confirm the grand plan by the Commissioner of Education in cahoots with Vice Chancellors, a staff of the State Ministry of Education who pleaded not to be revealed told CAPITAL POST in Lokoja, that the hike was a joint agreement of the Commissioner and Vice Chancellors at a particular stakeholders’ meeting few weeks ago.

The source also disclosed to the paper that other State-owned tertiary institutions’ students’ tuition fee would be increased, adding that the announcement will be anytime soon.

“The increase in school fees was jointly agreed at a meeting of Vice Chancellors with the Ministry of Education”, pointing out that the revenue profile of each University was not the same.

“There is a need to complement each other in terms of infrastructural development and the way to fund other recently established ones in the State is to harmonise revenue and redirect funds.”

The development may compel students to embark on protest as the Students Union Government in PAAU insisted on reversal or the school management will face a protest.

They described the hike as insensitive at a time, life is absolutely difficult to cope due to high cost of feeding, transport and others.

Meanwhile, findings further revealed that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND has paid for the 2025/2026 academic session for Prince Abubakar Audu University students, but, unfortunately, not yet reflected in the University’s portal.

Attempts by the paper to track what went wrong at NELFUND’s office in Abuja or at the PAAU, Anyigba was unsuccessful as at the time of this report.

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