The Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, has explained why tuition fees in private Christian universities are higher than those of public institutions in Nigeria.
Okogie stated this, while reacting to claims that fees charged by these faith based varsities were not affordable to average Nigerians.
Speaking during the second matriculation ceremony of Catholic-based Augustine University in Ilara, Lagos State, he explained that the current economic situation in the country created more challenges for private varsities. According to him, the desire of faith-based universities to provide quality education requires a lot of funds.
“Education is not too costly in faith-based institutions. Tell me what is cheap in the country now? Education is not cheap anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Steve Afolami in his address urged the Federal Government to extend scholarship from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to private and faith-based varsities.
This, he said, would be helpful, even if the private institutions would have to compete for it.