It was a serene evening with breeze blowing, enjoying the calm weather at the comfort of my compound, when my phone beeps, signalling I have a message. I gently extended my hand to pick and view. Guess what! It was a professional colleague that shared an internal memorandum of a particular Federal University in the North-East, Nigeria dated 7th July 2026.
It was titled “Approval of Reviewed Postgraduate Fees”. It announced revised fees for the 2026/2027 academic session. Part of the content revealed that a domestic new PhD student in some faculties is expected to pay as much as ₦744,500 per session; and others, ₦644,500. Returning PhD students to pay ₦368,750 and ₦318,750 respectively, these figures may exclude departmental, research and examination charges.
Disturbed by the development, I immediately reached out to a brother who is familiar with the institution and he confirmed the authenticity of the document. I subsequently spoke with a number of colleagues who pursue postgraduate degrees in different federal universities in Nigeria. Their responses raised similar concerns about affordability of advanced education. What looked like an isolated decision is becoming a broader crisis gradually becoming beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
Nigeria’s federal universities are public institutions established to advance education, research and national development. Over the years, they have benefited from public appropriations, government-supported infrastructure and statutory interventions such as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). They also generate revenue from other sources, including student fees and institutional services. While institutions require adequate resources to maintain facilities, support research and deliver quality education, the pursuit of financial sustainability should not undermine equitable access to advanced learning.
Nigeria’s national minimum wage is ₦70,000 monthly. At this rate, a PhD fee of ₦744,500 is equivalent to approximately 10.6 months of gross minimum-wage earnings. Even the lower fee of ₦644,500 represents more than nine months of such earnings. Returning students paying ₦368,750 would need the equivalent of over five months of gross minimum-wage income.
These calculations exclude the ordinary responsibilities of life; feeding a family, paying rent, meeting transport costs, supporting children and attending to other household needs. They may also exclude additional academic expenses, depending on the charges covered by the university’s fee schedule. For a worker earning the statutory minimum wage, financing a doctorate at these rates could mean sacrificing essential needs or abandoning the ambition altogether.
The wider economic context makes the issue even more serious. Humanitarian assessments, including projections by FEWS NET for 2026 highlighted the scale of food insecurity and the number of Nigerians requiring food assistance. For households already struggling to meet basic needs, postgraduate education costing hundreds of thousands of naira per session may be an unrealistic aspiration.
The question therefore is not whether universities should get enough to sustain quality education. They must. The more fundamental question is whether the burden placed on students is proportionate to their economic circumstances and the public benefits that advanced education generates.
There is a deeper contradiction in Nigeria’s educational priorities. Policymakers regularly emphasize the need for skilled professionals, stronger research institutions, technological innovation and improved human capital. They lament brain drains of doctors, engineers, lecturers and other professionals in search of better opportunities abroad. Yet, when citizens seek advanced qualifications that could strengthen the country’s academic and professional capacity, the financial demands can become a formidable barrier.
Is it reasonable to encourage young Nigerians to pursue higher qualifications while overlooking the financial realities that determine whether they can do so? A country that needs more researchers, university lecturers and specialists should be concerned when the cost of doctoral education becomes inaccessible to qualified citizens from modest backgrounds.
Doctoral students are not merely consumers of educational services. They undertake research, contribute to the production of knowledge and in some cases, support teaching and other academic activities. Their research can help address challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, education, business and governance. Investing in doctoral education is therefore not simply an individual benefit; it can also be an investment in national development.
Charging students for the privilege of acquiring advanced knowledge is not inherently wrong. However, when the financial burden becomes excessive in relation to household incomes, society risks losing talented individuals whose only disadvantage is their inability to pay. It is economically short-sighted to allow financial circumstances, rather than academic ability and commitment, to determine who can progress to the highest levels of learning.
The Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission and university governing councils should also clarify their respective responsibilities in ensuring that institutional financing remains consistent with the broader objectives of public education. The precise authority for setting postgraduate fees may differ according to applicable laws and institutional arrangements, but the wider public interest in affordability should not be ignored.
If doctoral education becomes accessible mainly to those with substantial financial resources, Nigeria risks narrowing its pool of future academics and researchers. This could weaken research capacity, limit opportunities for social mobility and deepen existing inequalities in access to knowledge.
The way forward requires practical measures. Federal and other universities should publish transparent fee schedules and justify significant increases. The government should strengthen funding for postgraduate research, while universities should expand needs-based scholarships, fee waivers and research grants for qualified students who cannot afford the full cost of their programmes. Where fees are necessary, their structure should reflect legitimate differences in programme costs without creating unnecessary barriers to participation.
Public universities should remain financially sustainable, but sustainability should not be pursued at the expense of their public purpose. The goal should be a fairer balance between the cost of providing quality education and the responsibility to ensure that qualified Nigerians have a realistic opportunity to benefit from it.
The issue goes beyond a particular fee schedule or university. It concerns the kind of society Nigeria wants to build; one in which educational advancement depends primarily on ability and opportunity or one in which financial privilege increasingly determines who can reach the highest levels of learning. The question is not whether Nigeria can afford to educate its PhD students. It is whether Nigeria can afford not to.
Yusuf Alhaji Lawan writes from Hausawa Asibiti Ward, Potiskum, Yobe State.
