Claim: An X user claims that Nigeria’s primary and secondary school fees remain free

Verdict: Misleading

Full Context:

An X user, @Masterbolaji, posted a message regarding an aspect of the Nigerian election system. The user stated that Nigeria’s primary and secondary education operates as a free school system. This statement was made in a social media post on October 21, 2025. The comment was shared after the introduction of a recent free education policy in Malawi.

In his post quoted “Nigeria abolished school fees in public primary schools back in 1976, and since then, education at that level (primary and secondary) has remained free. Malawi is just implementing it now — that’s why we’re called the Giant of Africa. Put some respect on Nigeria’s name!

Screenshot of the claim

On Sept. 15, primary and secondary schools in Nigeria resumed after the long vacation. Some parents took to social media to lament the increasing cost of school fees, textbooks, and other essentials needed by their children for the new academic session.

However, access to education has been a subject of interest to many, as the body that controls education in Nigeria, the Universal Basic Education Commission, has always been silent about this topic, and a report from UNICEF has shown that Nigeria has approximately 18 million out-of-school children.

Hence, the post has at the time of this report compilation, garnered 286 comments, 73k views, 183 reweets and 600 likes as attracted several reactions for and against among other X users like Cally “My nephew in federal School presently pays 100k+ on School fees., Don’t be unfortunate”.

Another @petegreen “Osim 1976. We protested in my state, Abia, when school fees were increased from N65.00 to N300.00 in 1993

Throughout primary and secondary schools, I paid fees”

@Oracle of peace “Please, free till now in which country? I have a daughter in Federal Government Girls College, and entering SS1, I spent close to ₦400k. We are still sending the feeding allowance because they are not fed well after paying for PTA ₦10k approved by the Ministry of Education. You lie too much.”

With the relevance of the topic to the governance of Nigeria, NDRfactcheck investigate the veracity of this claim.

Verification

A keyword search revealed a report in 2022, government-owned primary schools in Nigeria indicate that tuition is entirely free; however, parents pay for enrolling a child into school, costs between N10,000 and N20,000, while junior secondary schools cost more. Also, enrolling a child as a fresh student into the primary section costs a total of N20,450.

The report shows further that the sum covers registration, which costs N500; Parents Teachers Association (PTA) fees, N1950; Uniforms, N2500; Pupil’s file, N500; Online registration, N500; Sportswear, N2000 and some textbooks, among others.

In another recent report, 2024, shows how the federal government had, in July 2023, increased fees for Unity Schools from N45,000 to N100,000 per term, an increase by over 120%. Similarly, the Lagos State government, yesterday, announced N100,000 as the new fees for state-owned boarding schools. It was previously N35,000.

Conclusion:

The assertion that Nigeria’s primary and secondary education is completely free is inaccurate; public school education is subsidised, but parents still pay for some services beyond tuition.

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