The immediate past Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has called for public universities across Nigeria to charge tuition fees of at least ₦1 million per student to achieve financial sustainability.

Olatunji-Bello made the recommendation while reflecting on her five-year tenure as LASU Vice-Chancellor, which ended on Saturday.

She disclosed that LASU currently spends more than ₦1 billion monthly on salaries, while its internally generated revenue (IGR) of about ₦13 billion remains insufficient to cover its annual wage bill.

According to her, universities must explore innovative ways of generating revenue and improving their institutions if they are to reduce their dependence on government funding.

“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. We may have increased our dedicated revenue, but we cannot survive. Our payroll right now is over N1bn per month. All the N13bn IGR does not cover our salaries.”

The former LASU VC said public universities would need to increase tuition fees significantly to become financially independent.

She noted that some private secondary schools charge more than ₦1 million per term, while some public universities still charge about ₦100,000 annually.

“So, any public university that wants to sustain financial independence will have to charge school fees of not less than N1 million per student,” she said.

Olatunji-Bello also stressed that quality education requires adequate funding and urged parents to place greater priority on financing their children’s education.

Her comments came shortly after the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, called on public universities to diversify their sources of funding, arguing that government resources alone cannot adequately sustain tertiary institutions.