It’ll be harder to pay tuition in 2017 – Okebukola

   The Board of Trustees Chairman of Caleb University, Prof. Peter Okebukola, has predicted that many parents will not be able to pay their children’s school fees in universities by 2017.

This, he said, was as a result of the recession currently rocking the country.

Okebukola, who spoke during the sixth convocation of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State, on Saturday, also warned that enrolment into private universities would drop, adding that the recession was already affecting the quality of education.

He said, “Let me take a moment to reflect with you on the current economic recession and its implication for university education. With the predictions from international monetary organisations, fewer parents will be able to pay fees of their children in universities by 2017.”


He urged the Federal Government not to reduce graduates to be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps Scheme by finding more creative ways of funding the scheme.

He added, “The Nigerian University Commission should urgently convene a meeting of relevant experts to avail government at the federal, state and local government levels solutions. Our universities should provide practicable solutions on running a country on lean budget.

“The intention of the NYSC to significantly reduce the number of graduates this year on the account of recession, if true, will be an unfortunate development given the importance of the scheme in fostering national unity and reducing graduate unemployment.”

Speaking during the convocation ceremony, the Vice -Chancellor of the university, Prof. Daniel Ayandiji, said 355 students across four colleges graduated, adding that 15 of them bagged first class degrees.

Ayandiji also urged the graduates to distinct themselves with outstanding character.

He said, “Primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions without character are a wasted investment. Gone were the days when crime was indigenous to a particular social class of Nigerians. Today, even a bachelor degree holder with a first class or a Ph.D holder is being arraigned for unimaginable crimes.”

The best graduating student of the university, Olukemi Emmanuel, challenged his colleagues to be good ambassadors of Caleb University.