The National Universities Commission, NUC, has jacked up the application fee for establishing private universities in Nigeria by over 400 percent.

NUC’s Executive Secretary, Abdullahi Ribadu, in a statement said the price hike is for better coordination and to ensure that newly established private universities are positioned to meet the challenges of the 21 Century.

The NUC increased the fee for purchase of application forms for the Establishment of a Private University from 1Million Naira to 5 Million Naira, as the Commission also raised the processing fee for application for the establishment of a private university from 5 Million Naira to 25 Million Naira.

It further revealed that the 25 million Naira review fee would be communicated to applicants who have purchased the application form at the former rate of 1 million Naira but are yet to pay the processing fee for their application.

“They are also expected to effect payments within a period of 30 working days or risk forfeiture of their pending applications,” the statement read.

The Commission also suspended further processing of all inactive applications including those of private open universities (those that have not made progress on their applications or made submissions to the Commission for upwards of two years).