Victor EzejaNigerian parents have expressed frustration over the rising costs of things including tuition, transportation, and other basic things that have put pressure on household budgets as schools resume.
Inflationary pressures on the economy, mainly driven by high energy costs and exchange rates, have exacerbated the country’s cost of living crisis.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAs schools resume this week, many parents have complained about high school fees, transportation costs, and meeting basic household demands daily.
“We are facing tough times now. I am compelled to pay over N100k for my two little kids resuming school this week against N60k I paid last term for them,” Enugu-based surveyor, Stephen Idoko, lamented while speaking with Prime Business Africa via telephone.
The father of three said the situation has forced him to suspend enrolling his two-year-old daughter and last born into kindergarten as he couldn’t afford to do so after paying for the older ones who entered basic one and two classes.
Idoko lamented that school-related expenses, which had increased over time due to the generally high cost of things in the country, have worsened this year putting more burden on parents.
He said that between 2021 when he first enrolled his first child in school, the tuition fee has increased more than five times.
“Parents that have children entering nursery, primary and secondary schools afresh this new session will pay through their noses, especially in private schools because of the high costs of registration and tuition fees,” Idoko stated.
He also expressed concerns about the hike in transport fares due to increase in price of petrol across the country. “A distance that one would ordinarily spend like N400 taking your kids to school and bringing them back, now costs about N1,000. If you decide to use your car, the cost of fuel is high now. We now spend so much on school run coupled with feeding and other basic needs; it is really choking,” he lamented.
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Maureen, a mother of two, decried the high cost of preparing her children for school.
“Things are very hard in the country now. As my children are resuming school, I am worried about what the school fees will be like this term. The school management had informed all parents when they were closing for last term that due to rising cost of things they will increase school fees this new term,” she said.
Michael Udeh, a resident of Ilasamaja in Lagos, said the financial burden on parents now was much more pronounced.
“Things are more expensive now than before, and I only hope that things will get better in no distance otherwise I don’t know what parents will do,” Udeh stated.
He called on the Nigerian government to look into the problem of scarcity and high cost of fuel which has spiral effect on other activities in the economy.
A teacher in one of the private schools in Mushin Lagos, Jane, lamented that their salaries have remained static as cost of things keeps rising. “As our school resume this week, it is another round of struggle as I have to spend on transport and feeding with the little I am paid,” she said, adding “sometimes I have to trek a distance while going and coming back just to reduce spending on transport and use it for feeding.”
READ ALSO: Nigerian Parents Lament High Fees As Schools Resume
There are indications that basic schools are increasing school fees in response to rising costs of things.
Lagos State Government recently increased boarding fees in its model colleges from N35,000 to N100,000 per term, citing rising cost of things.
In reaction to that several parents during the weekend protested the increase. In a video shared online, parents gathered outside some Lagos Model Colleges where they held peaceful demonstrations calling on the state government to consider reversing the boarding fee hike.
They questioned how the state government claims to be offering free education yet subjecting them to pay such amount of money as boarding fee.
They accused the schools of being insensitive to the plight of people given the current economic challenges in the country.
However, the state government has there is no going back on its decision to increase boarding fees.
In a statement on Monday, Mr Ganiu Lawal, Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Lagos State, said the 35,000 boarding fees being paid since 2021 can no longer do anything in 2024, given the unprecedented surge in the cost of things in the last few years.
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Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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