Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has called for the closure of schools in Nigeria that demand tuition fees in foreign currencies, describing the practice as an economic anomaly and a major contributor to pressure on the naira.
Alake made the remark on Wednesday in Abuja during the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration, held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria Mining Week, themed “Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance.”
The minister said he would formally propose to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that all institutions engaging in such practices be shut down, stressing that the policy was detrimental to Nigeria’s economic stability.
“I am still going to make a proposal to the Federal Executive Council that all those schools in Nigeria charging in foreign currencies should be closed. These are part of the leakages and loopholes in our economy that people don’t take seriously,” Alake stated.
He lamented that the practice encourages the demand for foreign exchange and weakens the naira. “If your child is attending a school in Abuja, Lagos, or anywhere in Nigeria and is paying $10,000 or £10,000 in fees, it means you are sourcing naira to buy dollars. This drives up the value of the dollar, even though the school operates here in Nigeria,” he said.
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Alake further argued that no other country would permit such a practice. “You can’t go to the UK, establish a school, and charge in naira, it’s simply not done. It’s only in this country that we see such contradictions that weaken the economy,” he added.
The minister noted that the Federal Government is working to eliminate financial and operational leakages across various sectors, including solid minerals. He said new digital mechanisms are being deployed to block loopholes within the gold value chain and curb corruption in the system.
According to him, these reforms are expected to strengthen Nigeria’s gold reserves and position the nation’s mineral resources as credible instruments of economic value.
Alake also highlighted the Federal Government’s National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), implemented through the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), as a key initiative to boost foreign reserves and stabilise the naira.
He explained that under the NGPP, an offshoot of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative, the government purchases gold directly from artisanal miners using naira, thereby reducing the need to spend scarce foreign exchange on international gold transactions.
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