The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has called for the closure of schools in Nigeria that charge tuition fees in foreign currencies.
Speaking during the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration, held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria’s Mining Week in Abuja on Wednesday, October 15, Alake criticized the practice, describing it as one of the economic loopholes undermining the country’s development. The event was themed “Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance.”
“I will be proposing to the Federal Executive Council that any school in Nigeria charging fees in foreign currency should be shut down,” he said.
Alake stressed that the practice fuels capital flight and contributes to the rising demand for foreign exchange, which in turn drives up the value of the dollar against the naira.
“If your child is attending a school in Abuja or Lagos and the tuition is $10,000 or £10,000, you’re essentially creating demand for foreign currency within our borders. That pushes up the exchange rate unnecessarily,” he said.
“You can’t establish a school in the UK and charge fees in naira. It’s only in Nigeria that such contradictions are allowed to persist — and they are hurting our economy,” Alake added.
He called for a shift in national values toward more productive and sustainable practices that would strengthen the economy and support national growth.
Alake also outlined the Federal Government’s efforts to plug economic leakages in the mining sector. He highlighted the introduction of digital mechanisms aimed at sealing loopholes in Nigeria’s gold value chain, thereby reducing opportunities for corruption and informal transactions.
As part of this effort, he emphasized the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), executed through the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF). The programme enables the government to buy gold directly from local artisanal miners in naira, reducing the need to spend foreign exchange on international gold purchases.
The NGPP, a component of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative (PAGMI), is also designed to strengthen Nigeria’s foreign reserves and reinforce the value of the naira, Alake said.
