Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has sharply increased its registration charges ahead of the 2026/2027 academic session.
Students will now pay between ₦143,000 and ₦298,000, depending on their programme and level. That is a big jump from the ₦62,000 to ₦84,000 range paid last session.
The Governing Council approved the new charges at its 218th Special Meeting on September 29, following a Senate resolution and consultations with stakeholders.
Professional, medical and science-based programmes are the hardest hit.
At 100 level, Medicine and Surgery students will now pay ₦242,000, up from ₦82,000. Dentistry has risen from ₦82,625 to ₦242,000, while Veterinary Medicine moved from ₦82,625 to ₦232,000.
Nursing Science has gone from ₦78,875 to ₦212,000, and Medical Laboratory Science and Medical Radiography will also pay ₦212,000.
Law students will pay ₦182,000, compared with ₦82,625 before. Civil, Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering students will pay ₦172,000, up from ₦82,625, and Computer Science has also climbed from ₦82,625 to ₦172,000.
Accounting, Economics and Public Administration students will now pay ₦152,000, up from ₦75,125.
The increase has drawn strong reactions from students and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). Many fear that public university education is becoming harder for ordinary families to afford.
Some ABU students took to social media to protest. Bisallah Abuhaneefah called the increase excessive.
“Things are getting worse, this is the same ABU we recently paid N31,500 as tuition fee. The series of increments are not just surprising but outrageous. There’s no education for the common man anymore,” she said.
Medicine student Gbadebo Adesiyan questioned the timing of the decision.
“With the level of hardship Nigerians are facing, how can you still increase school fees by about 300% just a few weeks before a presidential election?” he asked.
NANS President, Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, also rejected arbitrary increases in tuition and other charges. He said the cost of funding public education should not be passed on to students.
Afeez said NANS supports the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), but the scheme should not replace proper government funding of universities.
“NELFUND is a loan scheme, and not a grant. Hence, students have to come back to repay whatever amount is obtained from NELFUND,” he said.
The ABU development has revived memories of the wave of fee increases that followed the eight-month ASUU strike in 2022. Many of those increases were never fully reversed.
Concerns about university funding have also grown since the Federal Government directed public universities in May 2026 to fund lecturers’ allowances through internally generated revenue (IGR).
A former Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, had argued that public universities may need to charge at least ₦1 million per student yearly to stay financially sustainable.
For now, there are no signs that other federal universities contacted by Daily Trust plan to follow ABU’s lead.
Bayero University Kano (BUK) said it has not raised tuition or any other fee. Its Director of Information, Lamara Garba, urged the public to ignore reports suggesting otherwise.
The University of Abuja, now Yakubu Gowon University, said it has no plans to increase tuition fees. A parent told Daily Trust that the University of Benin (UNIBEN) charged him the same amount as last year.
The University of Jos (Unijos) said it has received no formal or informal communication from the National Universities Commission (NUC) on any fee increase. Its Head of Information, Emmanuel Madugu, said he would make further enquiries and provide an update.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
