A 500% tuition fee increase that sparked protests at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital has been suspended, after Management acknowledged that students were not adequately consulted before the new charges were announced.
The Chief Medical Director, Prof. Joseph Ugboaja, confirmed the development on Thursday during an appearance on Channels TV's The Morning Brief, explaining that the decision followed a series of meetings with student leaders, school management and the governing board in the aftermath of the demonstrations.
At the centre of the dispute was a proposed increase in nursing tuition from N90,000 to N580,000, a rise of more than 500% that students said was imposed without their meaningful involvement in the final decision. Prof. Ugboaja acknowledged the procedural shortfall. "What the students complained about was that they were not carried along in the final decision making for the fees. They know that there was a review, their opinion was sorted, but at the level of taking decision, they said they were not carried along," he said.
He added that a committee would now return to the students for a joint session to agree on the way forward. "So, we have stopped it, and then the committee is now going back to them to have a session with the students and all of them will come together and agree on the way forward," he said.
Despite the suspension, Prof. Ugboaja stood by the principle behind the review, maintaining that N580,000 remained the lowest nursing tuition in the South East region. He said the fee restructuring had become necessary following the transition from the basic nursing programme to a National Diploma and Higher National Diploma structure.
For the students who took to the protest to make their voices heard, the suspension represents a tangible outcome. Whether the figure that eventually emerges from the joint consultations bears any resemblance to the original proposal will depend on how seriously management treats the process it has now committed to.
