The media aide to the immediate-past Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has clarified remarks by his principal on ₦1 million university fees, saying they were widely misinterpreted as a demand for students to pay the amount annually.

Emmanuel Adeyemi said Olatunji-Bello was discussing the estimated cost of providing quality undergraduate education and the need for universities to develop innovative and diversified sources of funding to achieve financial sustainability.

The clarification followed widespread reactions to excerpts from an interview Olatunji-Bello granted shortly after completing her five-year tenure as LASU vice-chancellor. In the interview, she said public universities seeking financial independence would need to charge fees of not less than ₦1 million per student.

Adeyemi, however, said the statement should be understood within the wider context of Olatunji-Bello’s comments on the cost of running universities and the challenges of sustaining quality education.

He said the former vice-chancellor did not propose that the entire estimated cost of educating a student should be transferred to students or their parents.

According to the aide, the ₦1 million figure represented Olatunji-Bello’s estimate of what it costs, on average, to provide the quality of undergraduate education Nigerians expect, rather than a blanket proposal that every student must personally pay that amount as tuition.

“Her central argument was that delivering the quality of undergraduate education Nigerians rightly desire costs, on average, approximately ₦1m per student annually. Crucially, however, she did not suggest that this cost must necessarily be transferred wholesale onto students or their parents,” Adeyemi said.

He urged members of the public, the media and education stakeholders to consider the former vice-chancellor’s complete remarks instead of relying on isolated excerpts that could create a different impression of her position.

Adeyemi said Olatunji-Bello’s central argument was that universities needed to become more innovative and develop multiple revenue streams rather than depend primarily on government funding or tuition fees.

The former LASU vice-chancellor had pointed to the financial pressures confronting public universities during her interview. She disclosed that LASU’s internally generated revenue had risen from about ₦3 billion to ₦13 billion during her tenure, but said the figure remained insufficient to meet the institution’s monthly payroll, which she put at more than ₦1 billion.

Olatunji-Bello also attributed the increase in LASU’s internally generated revenue to new academic programmes, digital initiatives and other revenue-generating activities introduced during her administration.

Adeyemi said the former vice-chancellor’s position was therefore centred on diversified university funding, including innovation and other sustainable revenue sources, while recognising that quality education requires significant financial investment.

The clarification comes after the National Association of Nigerian Students criticised the reported ₦1 million tuition position and called for its withdrawal, arguing that such a fee would place additional financial pressure on students and their families.