The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has called on the Federal Government to shut down schools in Nigeria that charge tuition fees in foreign currencies, describing the practice as one of the major leakages undermining the nation’s economic stability.
Alake made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration, held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of the Nigeria Mining Week, themed “Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance.”
The minister, who expressed dismay at the increasing number of schools demanding payment in dollars and pounds, said such institutions were contributing to the rising demand for foreign exchange, thereby worsening the depreciation of the naira.
“I am still going to make a proposal to the Federal Executive Council that all those schools in Nigeria that are charging in foreign currencies should be closed,” Alake said.
“These are some of the leakages and loopholes in our economy that people do not really take seriously. If your child attends a school in Abuja or Lagos and you are paying $10,000 or £10,000 as fees, you are directly putting pressure on the naira because you must look for naira to buy dollars.”
The minister argued that the practice was not only unpatriotic but also economically destructive, noting that no Nigerian could establish a school in the United Kingdom or the United States and charge in naira.
“It’s only in this country that I see so many contradictory things that demolish the economy,” he lamented. “We must begin to change our value system and orientation toward things that are productive, constructive, and regenerative for the progress of our nation.”
Alake, who also spoke about the government’s efforts to strengthen the economy through the solid minerals sector, said the Federal Government had introduced several measures to block leakages in the gold value chain.
He explained that one of such measures is the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), implemented through the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), which allows the government to buy gold directly from artisanal miners in naira.
“The idea is to prevent the outflow of foreign exchange on gold purchases and to use our own mineral wealth to strengthen the naira,” he added.
Alake noted that the initiative, which is a component of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative (PAGMI), would help boost Nigeria’s foreign reserves and further position the nation’s gold as a global means of exchange.
The minister called for collective responsibility from Nigerians to curb economic indiscipline, stressing that unchecked practices such as paying school fees in foreign currencies weaken national economic resilience and threaten sustainable growth.
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