We’ve dragged federal universities here on the worst things about them. Now, it’s time to hear from people who attended or are in private Nigerian universities.
Asides exorbitant fees, what is the price they pay to study in these religious and non-religious private unis? Read on to find out.
Anne, 21
My university has horrible hostels and living conditions. It’s even worse for medical students coupled with the fact that we pay more for accommodation than all the other students. There’s also poor maintenance of the school buildings. Can you believe grasses are taller than the students? I understand that it’s the first private school in Nigeria but at least maintain the buildings! They have horrible health care services; the clinic is basically an empty building, the drugs are expensive for nothing. Sometimes if you’re sick and you need drugs or injection, you’d have to buy it yourself.
Joshua, 16
The fees are outrageous. I paid 4 million Naira in my first year for basic biology. Nothing is changing in the school and now, they’ve increased the fees by 1.4 million Naira! Everything here is overpriced. I feel like they buy things outside and multiply the price by two. Water too is very dirty, and as a result, we have to buy water to bathe. Something that shouldn’t even be happening. Fungi was growing on the walls in my room, and we pleaded with them to fix it, but they didn’t. There is a compulsory acceptance fee of 200k you have to pay before you enter the school, which I think is unnecessary. Another thing I hate is that students are not allowed to leave the school for any reason except when you’re about to die. Mind you, their health care services are terrible as well. There are rumours that a boy died last semester due to the late arrival of ambulances. Things are that bad. The owner of the school doesn’t renovate existing buildings. All he does is build new ones he can boast about. Worse still, the Medicine and Surgery College auditorium is very horrible. You can’t sit on half of the seats there, and some places on the roof are leaking. I also hate the fact that we have classes from 8 a.m till 9 p.m. It’s exhausting.In this school, if you fail just one course, you’ll be asked to opt for another course in the same department. It happened to me because for some reason, they couldn’t find one of my results. I had to go through the ordeal of trying to get another JAMB admission letter.A conference was held to discuss the state of things and parents demanded for changes, but nothing changed.
Shola, 22
They think they’re doing students and parents a favour because they’re not affected by strikes and unforeseen circumstances like COVID. Basically, they’re pompous and think they can do anything they want e.g increasing school fees, making weird rules, and you can’t complain because where else can you go? The rules! I swear to God, private universities come up with the weirdest rules and regulations. Again, the school management has this haughty mentality because they’re free of government influence and can run shit however they want to an extent. If there are any complaints from the student body, they’ll slap you with something like “If you cannot adhere to our rules and let the school pass through you, then get out. There are applicants begging to be in your shoes. We can fill your spot anytime.” The restrictions on dressing and hairstyle is tolerable for me, but it still sucks.
Dami, 19
I’m in a private school, and the worst thing about it is the fact that it’s overly restrictive and they treat us like kids. The dress code is ridiculous. We even have a seven p.m. curfew. Our hostel porters have way too much power in my own opinion. Then school food is bad and expensive at the same time. Although the university isn’t owned by a church, we’re required to go to church twice a week.
Daniel, 26
So the private university I attended makes service compulsory, and we had 4 services in a week, minus hall worship. Your fees cover feeding, but the food is subpar, let’s not even talk about the long queues to get it. Or how faith-based universities have silly rules like no jeans. What has it done?? Why no jeans? Also, women couldn’t wear trousers except for sports. Like why??? They have the most absurd rules. I left in 2015, I don’t know if things have changed now.
Ibk, 24
Private universities don’t encourage individuality. They put so much fear in you, you forget the person you are. The school creates a bubble and locks you in. It makes it difficult for you to navigate real life and question authority. A lot of the schools also make you live in fear. You don’t know how to be expressive of what you are really going through. They treat adults like babies. I went to CU and it was a horrible experience for me. The classes are small which is a good thing and lecturers can notice every student, but it’s hard for lecturers to care about the students who are not doing well. They expend more energy on students who are doing well and are visibly disdainful to students who struggle with school.
Jamila, 20
The one thing that stands out for me about the private university I attend is how nonchalant the school is about their students’ well-being. For starters, the food isn’t quality and it is overpriced. There are times when all the ATMs in the school would stop working at once, and it could stay like that for weeks. Church service is their priority and you can’t leave the hall until the service is over. One time, they didn’t let my friend out even though she was having an asthma attack. I had to beg. To top it all, they are so indecisive about the resumption dates and could spontaneously decide to change the already set date few days before it arrives. This can make students from all over the country to cancel their already booked flights. Then the way they try to suppress and silence students whenever we want to speak up about something we don’t like or think needs to change is sad.
