First, it was UNIPORT vs. Sokoto State University. Now, Northwest University, Kano, has entered the conversation. And the pattern is getting harder to ignore.
The Numbers on the Table
1. UNIPORT (Federal): ₦53.7m for 497 students; that’s approximately ₦108,000 per student.
2. Sokoto State University (State): ₦74.7m for 1,455 students; that’s approximately ₦51,000 per student.
3. Northwest University, Kano (State): ₦281.9m for 4,675 students, that’s approximately ₦60,000 per student.
So far, in two different state universities in the North, the per-student cost is roughly half of what UNIPORT collects.
The Rhetoric That Refuses to Be Silenced
Weren’t federal schools supposed to be the affordable “safety net” for Nigerian families?
Why is a federal university in Port Harcourt costlier than not one, but two state universities in the North?
Is this really a nationwide trend, or is the North simply an exception to the rule?
Could It Be a Northern Thing?
Here’s where the paradox deepens. Both Sokoto and Kano are in northern Nigeria, states long classified as educationally disadvantaged. Their governments may be deliberately keeping tuition low to encourage enrollment.
Which begs the next question:
Would we see the same affordability if NELFUND figures came from a southern state university — say, in Lagos, Delta, or Ondo?
Until southern state data enters the equation, skeptics may argue this is simply a northern exception — a case of special subsidy, not a nationwide shift.
Bigger Than Numbers
Still, the NELFUND disbursements expose a paradox worth debating, namely, if two state universities in the North charge less per student than a federal university in the South, then the old saying “federal is cheaper” is on shaky ground.
And if this trend holds true across more states, Nigeria may be facing a sobering new reality; Federal universities are no longer the bastions of affordability they were once assumed to be.