Matilda Omonaiye/
A Nigerian private university has defended its controversial N2 million transcript charges for medical students, arguing that the policy was introduced to stop students from using the institution as a temporary pathway into federal universities.
The explanation emerged after Alex Onyia, Chief Executive Officer of Educare, disclosed details of his conversation with the founder of Maduka University, Dr Maduka Onyishi, amid growing public outrage over the fees.
According to Onyia, the university founder said the charges were introduced after the institution noticed a pattern in which students with low Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scores gained admission into private universities for medicine, nursing and pharmacy, only to later transfer into federal universities through transcript requests.
“I asked him why they were charging students N2 million for transcript and he explained in detail the reason,” Onyia wrote in a post on X.
He said Maduka University and Godfrey Okoye University are currently the only accredited private universities in Enugu State permitted to offer medicine, while federal and state universities offering the same course remain extremely competitive.
“Federal and state universities are very difficult to get in due to very high JAMB score requirement and also admission racketeering,” Onyia stated.
According to him, many students deliberately enrol in private universities as an alternative route into public institutions where tuition fees are significantly lower.
“So students who scored very low in JAMB come to join their school for a year and in 200 level request for transcript to port to a federal university because at that time JAMB score is no more required,” he said.
Onyia explained that the trend became widespread enough for some private universities to impose heavy transcript charges as a deterrent.
“When they noticed the pattern, they had to introduce a high fee on transcripts to reduce that,” he added.
He further stated that the policy is not applied across all academic programmes but is restricted to medicine, nursing and pharmacy because of the huge financial and regulatory burden associated with those courses.
“This doesn’t apply in all courses in the university. It’s only for medicine, nursing and pharmacy,” he said.
Onyia also disclosed that despite being limited to about 50 admission slots for medicine, some private universities are still required to maintain staffing levels, facilities and equipment comparable to those of federal universities that admit as many as 250 medical students.
“Their university is currently allowed to admit maximum of 50 students for medicine while federal universities have slot for 250 students,” he wrote.
According to him, further findings showed that the practice extends beyond one institution, with several private universities charging similarly high transcript fees for medical-related courses.
“Engaging in further research, I realised that every private university accredited to offer medicine charges same and some charge way more,” Onyia stated.
“This is a way these universities curtail that practice.”
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