…says, allowing schools within Nigeria to demand tuition in dollars or pounds was unjustifiable.
ABUJA, NIGERIA – The iNews Times | The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has called for the immediate closure of schools in Nigeria that charge tuition fees in foreign currencies, describing the practice as an economic sabotage that weakens the naira and drains national reserves.
Speaking during the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration, held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of the Nigeria Mining Week in Abuja on Wednesday, Alake condemned the trend as one of the “leakages and loopholes” undermining the country’s economic stability.
“I am going to make a proposal to the Federal Executive Council that all those schools in Nigeria charging in foreign currencies should be closed,” he declared. “These are the kind of leakages people ignore, but they are part of what demolishes our economy.”
The minister argued that allowing schools within Nigeria to demand tuition in dollars or pounds was unjustifiable and counterproductive, stressing that the practice fuels artificial demand for foreign exchange.
“If your child is attending a school in Abuja or Lagos and paying 10,000 dollars or pounds as fees, you’ll need naira to buy those dollars. This drives the value of the dollar up, even though the school operates here in Nigeria,” he explained.
“You can’t go to the UK and open a school charging naira, it’s not done anywhere else. It’s only in this country that I see such contradictions.”
Dr. Alake’s comments came as part of a broader message on plugging financial loopholes across sectors, especially in the mining industry. He revealed that the Federal Government is introducing digital monitoring mechanisms to block leakages in Nigeria’s gold value chain and reduce human interference in transactions, a move expected to curb corruption and strengthen accountability.
He further explained that the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), executed through the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), aims to conserve foreign reserves by enabling the government to buy gold directly from local artisanal miners in naira. The initiative, he said, would also bolster the naira’s stability while enhancing Nigeria’s position in the global gold market.
In her remarks, Fatima Shinkafi, Executive Director of the SMDF, said Nigeria’s gold exploration sector was witnessing steady growth, even as global trends fluctuate. She urged investors and participants at the event to explore opportunities within the country’s mining ecosystem.
“Gold remains a safe-haven asset globally, and Nigeria is positioning itself as a key player,” Shinkafi noted. “By 2025, we should look back on this moment as a turning point for Nigeria’s gold industry.”
The 10th edition of the Nigeria Mining Week, themed “Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance,” runs from October 13 to 15, and is jointly organised by the Miners Association of Nigeria, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and the VUKA Group.
