In Nyanya, Abuja, a mother of three, Hauwa Moji, shared her painful ordeal. She revealed that her children would not be resuming this term due to the sharp increase in both rent and school fees, an overwhelming financial burden her husband can no longer shoulder at once.
She said, “The problem started when my husband lost his teaching job and had to look for another. God was faithful, he got one before the session resumed. Unfortunately, he had to move out of the staff quarters provided by his former employer, which meant looking for accommodation elsewhere.
“My husband eventually found a place in Nyanya. The owner put it out for N400,000, but because he wasn’t around, the agent, after collecting extra charges, insisted that we must pay N700,000 for the first year to cover agency, caution and legal fees, then N400,000 in the subsequent years.
“He had no choice but to forfeit the money we were supposed to use to enroll the kids in school and instead pay rent to move in. As it stands, we don’t have any alternative but to sacrifice the future of our children for this term, pending when things will be better and they can return to school.”
Gloria Oche, a mother of three, told LEADERSHIP that her sister was contemplating a major shift.
According to Oche, her sister’s children attend Oluwami Nursery and Primary School, an Abuja-based institution where the fee which was previously around N600,000 per term, had been raised along with other levies.
“The truth is, every year at the beginning of a new session, schools usually add something new, ICT levy, sports levy, security levy. The increase is biting.”
At Prime School, Karu, where the estimated tuition per term hovers around N300,000, a teacher in the school who does not want his name mentioned, said there had been an adjustment in other fees like uniforms, development levy and extracurricular charges.
“When you add these up, it becomes overwhelming. Rent has also gone up in this area and if you check around, people living here are mostly average earners. So enrolling your kid here, even though the school is affordable, becomes difficult when another big issue of rent is there,” he said.
A parent, Joseph Hange whose daughter attends Bright Child Academy, Lugbe, said the new session comes with mixed feelings.
“It is not just the tuition, feeding, books, uniforms, excursions, all of it add up. For some of us in business, the economy is not friendly. We are having conversations at home about whether we can sustain this in the long run,” he said.
While parents feel the pinch, teachers are also facing the squeeze. In many schools, increments in tuition have not translated to salary increases.
A teacher in Abuja, Moses Sachi, lamented, “We hear parents complain, but as staff, we too are struggling. Rent, food, and transport are draining. Some of us are picking up side hustles, home lessons, small businesses, just to survive. Some schools have increased salaries slightly, but it doesn’t match inflation,” he said.
LEADERSHIP reports that the crisis is not limited to tuition. Rent has soared across Abuja, Lagos and other urban centers. In Karu, Lugbe, and Gwarinpa and other parts of the FCT, landlords have hiked rents by as much as 30%, according to investigations.
Families already paying hundreds of thousands of naira in school fees must now find additional funds for housing.
A parent in Nyanya, Isaac Terseer, described the situation as unbearable:
“It is like chasing shadows. School fees go up, rent goes up, food prices go up, but salaries remain the same. Something has to give.”
He explained that this dilemma was pushing families into tough choices. Some are relocating their children to less expensive schools. Others are considering homeschooling or moving to public schools, despite concerns about infrastructure and teaching quality.
“We are considering public school. At least education is free there, even if quality is an issue. We just cannot keep up with these bills.”
For now, the reopening season is testing the resilience of Nigerian parents. Whether elite or modest, households are recalibrating priorities to keep their children in school. But one thing is clear: unless incomes begin to match the rising cost of living, the struggle over school fees and rent will only deepen.
For those in the elite private school category, the figures are staggering. It was gathered that parents pay between N3 million and N5 million per term.
In the upper-mid range schools, tuition runs from N800,000 to N2.5 million per term.
Meanwhile, even the so-called affordable options in Abuja are under pressure, charging between N120,000 and N200,000 per term.
