The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has called for the closure of all schools in Nigeria that charge tuition fees in foreign currencies, describing the practice as detrimental to the country’s economic stability.
Alake made this declaration on Wednesday in Abuja during the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration, held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria’s Mining Week.
According to the minister, accepting school fees in foreign denominations such as dollars or pounds contributes significantly to economic leakages that weaken the value of the naira and inflate demand for foreign currency.
“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,” he said.
“These are some of the leakages and loopholes that we say exist in our economy that people do not really take seriously. If you look at the foreign currency that goes into some of this, it is humongous.”
Alake criticised the trend of Nigerians seeking foreign exchange to pay tuition within the country, warning that such practices were worsening the pressure on the naira.
“If your child is attending a school in Abuja or Lagos or somewhere in the country and is paying £10,000 or $10,000 as their fees, that means you will be looking for naira to go and buy dollars, driving the value of the dollar up — whereas this school is in Abuja, in Nigeria.
“You can’t go to the UK, establish a school, and then be charging naira. It’s not done. It’s only in this country that I see so many contradictory things that really demolish the economy,” he stated.
The minister also highlighted ongoing efforts by the federal government to plug leakages in the nation’s gold value chain. He said digital mechanisms were being deployed to eliminate manual processes and reduce opportunities for corruption in the sector.
Alake reiterated the role of the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), which is being implemented through the Solid Minerals Development Fund, in boosting Nigeria’s foreign reserves and strengthening the national currency.
He said the NGPP, a component of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative, allows the federal government to buy gold directly from local artisanal miners in naira, rather than relying on foreign exchange to import gold.
According to him, the programme is also designed to position Nigerian gold as a credible global asset for value exchange.
