SPECIAL REPORT: Beyond tuition, extra school charges deepen financial strain on Nigerian parents

By Qosim Suleiman, Aisha Yusufu, Ogalah Dunamis, Emmanuel Agbo, Manasseh Mbachii, Fortune Eromonsele, Kemi Adelagun

On the last Saturday of July, parents, teachers and pupils of Megaliy International School gathered at the Apo Resettlement Town Hall in Abuja for the school’s end-of-session and graduation ceremony.

For Mrs Kuburat, a parent at the school, the celebration came with an additional bill of almost N100,000. Three of her children were graduating at different levels. She said the school charged N20,000 for the child leaving nursery school, N25,000 for the one completing Junior Secondary School and N50,000 for the child finishing Senior Secondary School. Even in years when none of her children graduated, she said she paid N10,000 for each child towards the school’s end-of-session ceremony.

The payments reflect a broader concern among parents interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES across several Nigerian states: tuition is increasingly only one part of the cost of private education.

From Abuja to c and Benue, parents described additional bills for graduation ceremonies, textbooks, costumes, feeding, extra lessons, photographs, parties and other activities.

When the extra bills are taken together, and when they involve two or more children, parents said the additional charges are putting further pressure on household budgets.

In some schools, the payments are compulsory. In others, they are described as optional, but children whose parents do not pay may be excluded from ceremonies, activities or refreshments.

The complaints come as federal and state authorities increasingly move to curb school practices they say impose unnecessary costs on families.

In January, the federal government restricted graduation ceremonies to pupils completing Primary Six, JSS3 and SSS3 as part of education reforms intended to reduce financial pressure on parents.

Yet interviews conducted by PREMIUM TIMES suggest that additional school charges remain widespread, while regulation and enforcement vary considerably across states.

The management of Megaliy International School did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for an interview. At first, a member of the school’s management who identified herself as Mrs Udeoka said the principal lost his father and was not available for an interview. When contacted again on Tuesday, she said the school management has decided not to grant the interview request.

However, some school administrators defended the charges, saying they are to cater for the students and their parents at graduation ceremonies. They added that mandatory purchase of textbooks in schools was to maintain uniformity.

Graduation bills beyond tuition

In Lagos, Damilola Ojuolape, a caterer and mother living in Ojo, said her nine-year-old daughter’s primary school graduation became a major source of financial stress.

The school charged N45,000 for the graduation, she said, while pupils were also expected to participate in dance performances and parents were encouraged to purchase commemorative class portraits.

Beyond the school’s charge, Ms Ojuolape said she spent N154,000 preparing her daughter for the event, including buying a green dress to match the colour selected for the occasion, jewellery, a purse, sunglasses and a wristwatch.

Another Lagos parent, Tolulope Eludini, said her children attend Fluorescent Private School, where charges for graduation ceremonies and textbooks are included in the bill issued to parents at the beginning of the academic session.

Mrs Eludini said graduating pupils are also expected to pay for graduation attire, including suits and dresses, in addition to contributing towards the end-of-session celebration.

“I think the graduation fee is about N50,000,” she said, noting that the amount was separate from the cost of clothing and the graduation party.

In Katsina, the amounts can be considerably lower, but parents say the charges still matter when measured against their school fees and other household expenses.

Lawal Bishir said Maryam Majiri Memorial International School charged him N3,000 for his kindergarten daughter’s speech and prize-giving day while he was struggling to raise her N27,000 school fee.

Pupils in graduating classes paid N5,000, he said.

The school’s head of quality assurance, Ugwu Chinedu, confirmed that the payment determined who received the school’s refreshment package.

However, Mr Chinedu said the school has since stopped graduation ceremonies for nursery, primary and junior secondary pupils and now limits them to SS3 students.

Murtala Gidado, whose children attend Ayaks International School, a community-run secondary school in Katsina, said he previously paid N5,000 for an SS3 student. The amount represented one-quarter of the child’s N20,000 termly school fee.

But the proprietor, Abubakar Yunus, said the school charges a flat N6,000 per pupil per term plus N500 for examinations.

In Kaduna State, Ifeoma Habila, whose 11-year-old child attends Wusasa Children’s School in Zaria, said she paid N3,500 when her son completed primary school this year.

“My son told me that out of the N3,500 that the school is demanding, N2,000 would be used for speech and prize, graduation gown N1,000 and N500 for group picture,” Mrs Habila said.

Her second son, an eight-year-old Primary Four pupil at St Francis Academy in Wusasa, also paid N3,000 towards the school’s graduation activities, she said.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that graduating pupils of ECWA Nursery and Primary School, Wusasa, were required to pay N8,000, while Rodah Academy in Kamazo GRA charged N5,000.

When ‘optional’ does not feel optional

Some parents said the difficulty is not simply how much schools charge, but what happens when they decide not to pay.

Mrs Eludini said the pressure at her children’s Lagos school does not always come directly from administrators.

She said the pressure sometimes comes from the children, who do not want to be left out of graduation activities.

“They don’t exactly tell you to come and pay,” she said. “But the children are already excited about the graduation and the party, so they begin to pressure you because they don’t want to be left out.”

Mrs Kuburat described a similar situation in Abuja, saying children whose parents did not make some payments could be excluded from refreshments and activities.

In Katsina, Mr Bishir said non-payment of the N3,000 charge at his daughter’s school did not affect the issuance of certificates, but the school used a headcount to determine which children would receive refreshments.

“If you pay, they will give you a refreshment package. If you don’t pay, you will not have a refreshment package,” he said.

Mr Gidado said the N5,000 graduation payment at his child’s school was described as optional, but a pupil whose parents did not pay could not attend the programme.

For him, that leaves parents weighing the financial cost against the emotional impact on their children.

“He might be affected emotionally while his contemporaries are celebrating and he is not celebrating,” he said.

The proprietor of the school Mr Gidado’s kids attended, Abubakar Yunus, said the graduation fee was for clothing, refreshments, souvenirs, invitations, venue costs and cultural activities.

He said the school eventually cancelled the ceremony when contributions proved insufficient.

Textbooks add another layer of cost

Graduation ceremonies are only one part of the additional expenses parents described. Several parents said schools also required them to buy textbooks directly from the school.

Lois Ugbede, an assistant editor at DUBAWA whose children attend a Catholic private school in Abuja, said parents are not allowed to buy notebooks or textbooks elsewhere.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted the school’s principal, Afoma Chukwu, a reverend sister, several times to seek her response to parents’ claims regarding additional charges, including alleged compulsory payments. However, the calls were not answered, and she had not responded as of the time of filing this report.

In Lagos, Mrs Eludini said parents at Fluorescent Private School are similarly required to buy their children’s textbooks from the school.

“Yes, we are required to buy the children’s textbooks directly from the school, and they don’t give us any options,” she said.

Although she had not compared the school’s prices with those charged by independent bookstores, she questioned the quality of some of the books supplied.

The two telephone numbers found for Fluorescent Private School, Lagos could not be reached for comments, despite repeated attempts.

Mr Bishir said parents of kindergarten pupils at Maryam Majiri Memorial International School in Katsina also have little flexibility.

“For those in kindergarten, it is compulsory. You must buy the pack book,” he said.

He said the school’s explanation was that pupils needed to use identical books with corresponding content and page numbers so that children would not fall behind during lessons.

For pupils in higher classes, he said, parents are encouraged to purchase from the school but some buy elsewhere to save money.

Not all the parents interviewed reported such restrictions. Mr Gidado said neither of the schools he deals with compelled him to purchase textbooks directly from them.

He estimated that he spent about N30,000 on books for one of his secondary-school children, which he sourced independently even though the school encouraged parents to buy internally.

Govt moves to reduce spending

The federal government has moved to reduce recurrent spending on learning materials.

In January, the government announced the adoption of reusable textbooks, saying the policy would allow learning materials to be used across multiple academic sessions and passed between siblings.

“This approach is intended to ensure that learning materials can be reused across multiple academic sessions,” the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, had said.

Feeding, picnics and other bills

For some parents, the list extends beyond graduation ceremonies and books.

Emem Paul, whose children attend Ride-On Excellent Ville Nursery and Primary School on Lagos Island, said additional expenses included textbooks, a N10,000 December picnic and a feeding levy. She said pupils were not allowed to bring food from home.

“I had to insist that my children should be exempted from eating the school’s food or I would withdraw them from the school,” she said.

The school eventually granted her request and exempted her children from the feeding arrangement.

Messages reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES show that the school regularly sends parents detailed directives covering payments, pupils’ appearance and disciplinary requirements.

One notice instructed parents to pay school fees before resumption and said only pupils whose parents had completed the required advance payment would be admitted at the beginning of the term. The same notice said participation in the school’s end-of-session party was compulsory for all learners.

Such expenses, parents said, can make it difficult to determine the true cost of private schooling from tuition fees alone.

The proprietress, Latifat Ibrahim, told PREMIUM TIMES that the school lumps up the sum for textbooks alongside the school fees.

Ms Ibrahim added that payments for food and after-school lessons are compulsory.

“If children choose to bring food to the school, they won’t eat in the class because I don’t want other children looking at them,” she said.

But she stressed that the school’s extra-mural classes are optional. Only pupils whose parents opted for the lessons are allowed to participate.

On the December treat, Ms Ibrahim said parents were asked to pay because the event was organised for the pupils. She, however, noted that the payment was not compulsory and that only children whose parents approved their participation were included.

Governments move against costly graduation ceremonies

Concerns over the financial burden of school ceremonies have prompted interventions by the federal government and some state governments.

In January, the federal government announced that graduation ceremonies should be restricted to pupils completing Primary Six and students completing JSS3 and SSS3.

“Under the new guidelines, only pupils and students completing Primary 6, Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS3), and Senior Secondary School 3 (SSS3) are permitted to hold graduation ceremonies,” the government said.

The measure was announced alongside the reusable textbook policy and other reforms the government said were intended to reduce unnecessary financial pressure on families.

Some states have gone further.

In Ogun State, the government in June prohibited graduation ceremonies for nursery, kindergarten and other non-terminal classes in public and private schools.

Graduation ceremonies may be held for Primary Six, JSS3 and SSS3 pupils, but the government directed that such events should be modest and organised at no financial cost to parents or guardians.

The government also prohibited extravagant elements, including customised attire and other social displays that could create additional expenses for families.

The Anambra State Government exempted SSS3 students from the ban on graduation ceremonies, but said such ceremonies must remain optional and “must be conducted without any form of levy or financial demand on students and parents.”

The directive, issued on 24 July, applies to both public and private kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, including ceremonies described as “passing out” or “cross over.”

The government warned that schools that violate the directive could face sanctions, including closure. It said the measure was introduced to reduce the financial burden such ceremonies place on parents.

Benue State introduced similar restrictions in August 2025.

The state prohibited compulsory graduation ceremonies, particularly for kindergarten, nursery and basic school pupils, and also moved against customised educational materials that cannot be transferred from one pupil to another. The directive also prohibited compulsory extended lessons after regular school hours without parental consent.

Yet PREMIUM TIMES found that textbook charges remain part of the bills issued by some private schools in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

One school administrator in Benue, who didn’t want to be named, expressed concerns about the impact of enforcement measures on pupils and their families, particularly where schools are sealed for non-compliance.

The administrator added that some schools were concerned about the financial implications of the policy, especially where they had already purchased textbooks for their pupils.

“When you seal a school, you also affect the children who are learning there. So, for us, what is the gap? Sealing a school, would there have been a better sanction for that than leaving the school sealed?” the administrator said.

Visits to Towering Tots School, NADI Schools, Kings Quiver and Tender Feet School in Markurdi showed that books were still included among charges presented to parents as the new academic session began. None of the schools responded to PREMIUM TIMES’ enquiries about the continued inclusion of textbook charges.

Complaints, but parents reluctant to write

In Katsina, a senior official of the state Ministry of Education familiar with the regulation of non-state schools said participation in and contributions towards graduation ceremonies must remain voluntary.

The official requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

“You cannot force it on pupils and say everybody must contribute,” he said.

The official said the ministry had received verbal complaints from parents about graduation charges and compulsory textbook purchases.

But, according to him, many parents who complain verbally are reluctant to put their complaints in writing because they fear possible repercussions.

He said state regulations do not authorise schools to compel parents to purchase textbooks exclusively from them.

The official also said an inspection team had been deployed to examine compliance among private and community schools.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently confirm the inspection exercise.

In Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, officials did not provide responses to PREMIUM TIMES’ findings.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Kabir Musa, directed our reporter to the Director of Quality Assurance, Hajarat Alayande.

Mrs Alayande declined to comment, saying she needed permission from the Education Secretary before speaking.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun, did not respond to phone calls and messages seeking his comments.

Private schools defend charges

Private school administrators who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES defended the additional charges, saying they cover the cost of school activities and other operating expenses.

The Vice-Principal, Academics, of St Martin de Porres Schools, Ozochi Anthonia, said graduating pupils paid between N3,000 and N3,500 to cover gowns, certificates and basic refreshments.

A private school proprietor in Kaduna, who requested anonymity, said schools depend almost entirely on internally generated revenue.

“Some private schools operate from rented buildings and have to pay rent. They also pay government taxes which are becoming overwhelming, buy school supplies and pay staff salaries,” the proprietor said.

“The running cost of a private school in Nigeria is very high. These schools receive no government funding; they fund themselves.”

The proprietor said the sale of books, uniforms and writing materials by schools could also make purchases more convenient for parents.

Customised books, the proprietor argued, could help schools maintain standards and protect parents from purchasing pirated copies.

The proprietor called on governments to provide greater support to private schools, including staff training and reductions in taxes and regulatory charges.

Mary Odiba, proprietress of Wusasa Children’s School in Kaduna State, said the charges were necessary to cover the cost of organising school activities.

She said her school charges N2,500 per child for graduation, speech and prize-giving activities and uses the money for pupils’ welfare during the events.

“If we want to organise a speech and prize-giving day and graduation, we have to rent chairs and canopies, provide refreshments for the children and buy prizes for outstanding pupils,” she said.

Mrs Odiba also said parents were encouraged to purchase books from the school for convenience and to reduce the risk of buying pirated copies.

Maureen Nwaeke-Egbim, proprietress of JPEC Chimel Academy in GRA, Zaria, Kaduna State, said graduation parties at her school are initiated by pupils and parents.

She said the school forms a committee comprising teachers and parents to plan such events.

“What the school does is to support, while the parents fund the whole thing,” she said.

On textbooks, Mrs Nwaeke-Egbim said books are available for sale at the school, but parents are free to buy elsewhere, provided they obtain the required editions.

“The aim is to avoid pirated copies and ensure pupils have the required books, so that in a class of 30 students, at least 20 to 25 have the right textbooks,” she said.

Private schools association responds

The Katsina State chairperson of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Mansir Sani, said compulsory graduation fees are not standard practice among most member schools.

“I won’t tell you it is 100 per cent, but the majority of our schools do not charge anything called a graduation fee,” he said.

Mr Sani said most schools charge standard examination fees rather than separate and excessive graduation fees.

“There is no compulsion in making students buy textbooks,” he said, explaining what he described as the association’s official position.

He also argued that private schools have tried to avoid increasing school fees at the same pace as taxes, regulatory charges and other operating costs.

Kano tightens regulation of private school fees

Beyond graduation and textbook charges, some states are also tightening oversight of private school fees generally.

The Kano State House of Assembly in August passed the Kano State Private and Voluntary Institutions Board (Amendment) Bill, 2026, introducing additional requirements governing school fee increases.

Among other provisions, the legislation requires consultation with parents through Parent-Teacher Associations before private schools increase their fees.

Mustapha Yahaya, director of Special Duties at the Kano State Private and Voluntary Institutions Board, told PREMIUM TIMES that the new provisions were intended to prevent schools from increasing fees without notice and consultation.

“The work of this board is to regulate private and voluntary institutions,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify before publication the official’s claim that the governor had assented to the amendment on 4 August.

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Parents feel the pressure

For many of the parents interviewed for this report, the debate over what schools need to operate ultimately meets a simpler reality: there is only so much money available to pay the bills.

Ms Ugbede said she had never defaulted on her children’s school payments, but for the first time this year, financial constraints forced her to pay their fees later than she normally would.

Mrs Eludini said her family has also had to postpone some payments.

“We’ve had to delay payment. Sometimes that’s the only option,” she said.

She recalled an occasion when parents at her children’s school collectively challenged an attempted increase in tuition.

“The parents came together and challenged it,” she said. “I think they even petitioned the Lagos State Government, and eventually the school brought the fees back down.”

But graduation fees, textbooks, feeding, clothing, parties and other charges are more fragmented and can be harder for parents to challenge collectively.

For families with more than one child, the costs accumulate quickly.

And while school owners argue that many of the charges pay for legitimate services and rising operating expenses, the experiences of parents interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES show that the financial burden of private education increasingly extends beyond the figure written beside “school fees” on a child’s bill.