A prominent Ebonyi State indigene, Chief Nelson Akuma has joined parents and guardians whose wards are undergoing various academic programmes at the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi State to lament what he calls outrageous hike in the institution’s tuition fees.
Speaking while reacting to the astronomical hike, the business mogul who is the chief executive officer of NESTAK Technologies Ltd, said that the school authority should be mindful of the fact that Ebonyi is not among the rich states in the country, while urging the school management to reconsider the plight of parents during this economic hardship in the country.
He also used the opportunity to commiserate with the victims of Enohia Itim community in Afikpo local government council in Ebonyi State over the devastating flood that reportedly killed eight people and destroyed more than 800 farm lands.
Recall that a document obtained from the Bursary Department and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor of the institution indicated that the school fee for the Medicine and Surgery department was increased by 42.86%; that is from N1, 030, 000 in the 2023/2024 academic session to N1.5m in the new 2025/2026 session. Similarly, Pharmacy and Nursing Sciences department were both jacked up from N730, 000 in the 2023/2024 academic session to N1, 050, 000 in the new 2025/2026 academic session, approximating 43.84%.
Akuma lamented that hiking school fees under the current hard biting economy is a way of chasing students out of school. He said what the country need is a government with human face, adding that there is no way the masses would continue to be impoverished on a daily basis.
“I want to start by expressing my deep disappointment over the sudden increase in school fees in David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences Uburu, despite the economic hardship being experienced in the country. This is a federal institution for crying out loud. I have checked the other federal universities around. None is paying anything close to the new fees. So why always Ebonyi State? What did we do differently.
“We are neither among the oil producing States nor among the commercial hub states. Ebonyi is just a struggling State. I strongly feel we should be encouraged to grow like the other States, both educationally and economically, instead of demoralising the willing to study students in Ebonyi State. I am appealing to the Minister of Education and the Federal Government to reverse this hike. Most parents are finding it difficult to feed their children, let alone, paying outrageous school fees,”Akuma added.
In addition to the flood that ravaged plantain plantations in Enoha Itim community in Afikpo Local Government Area, Akuma urged the victims to take heart, while reminding Ebonyi State government on the need to be proactive, against warnings by the Federal Ministry of Environment who identified Afikpo as one of the areas in Nigeria likely to experience flooding.
According to him, if proactive measures were taken after the warning from the FG, the disaster would have been averted, noting that it is cheaper to prevent than to cure. He also advised the indigenes of Enoha Itim community to always try to maintain effective drainage systems, to help prevent future disasters.
“I sincerely want to express my deepest regret over the avoidable death and destruction that happened in Enoha Itim community in Afikpo Local Government Area. Avoidable in the sense that the federal ministry of environment identified Afikpo as one of the areas in Nigeria that is likely to experience flooding and yet nothing was done about it. I want to commiserate with the bereaved and also use this opportunity to call on the local, state and federal government to come to the aids of the victims.” Akuma said.
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