Former Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has said public universities in Nigeria may need to charge at least N1 million annually per student to achieve financial sustainability.
Olatunji-Bello, whose five-year tenure as LASU Vice Chancellor ended on Saturday, made the disclosure in an interview with The PUNCH.
She identified inadequate funding as one of the major challenges confronting public universities, noting that although LASU had significantly increased its internally generated revenue, the funds were still insufficient to meet the institution’s financial obligations.
According to her, LASU currently spends more than N1 billion monthly on salaries, while its annual internally generated revenue is about N13 billion.
“Universities can achieve financial self-sustainability. If they can innovate and ensure improvements in the institution, money will come in,” she said.
“But then, if the money comes in, how do you spend it? Right now, LASU does not have financial self-sustainability.
“Our payroll right now is over N1 billion per month. All the N13 billion IGR does not cover our salaries.”
Olatunji-Bello said universities that want to become financially independent would have to consider substantially increasing their tuition fees.
“So, universities that want to attain self-sustainability will have to increase school fees into millions,” she said.
She compared the situation with some secondary schools where annual fees can exceed N1 million, while some public universities still charge around N100,000 per year.
“So, any public university that wants to sustain financial independence will have to charge school fees of not less than N1 million per student,” the former vice chancellor said.
She also stressed that maintaining quality education requires adequate funding and urged parents to give greater priority to their children’s education.
“Good quality education needs money,” she said.
During her tenure, Olatunji-Bello said LASU increased its internally generated revenue from about N3 billion to N13 billion through the introduction of new programmes, digital initiatives and other revenue-generating measures.
She, however, identified the 2024 Students’ Union protest over a N10,000 payment for computer-based testing as the lowest point of her administration.
On the other hand, she described LASU’s emergence as the most subscribed university among UTME candidates in 2025 as one of the major highlights of her tenure.
“When JAMB declared that we were the most subscribed university by UTME candidates in Nigeria; that was great for me,” she said.
“And this year, 2026, we maintained that number one position. And not only did we maintain it, but we were even awarded N25 million for maintaining compliance with JAMB regulations.”