University reacts to alleged frequent fee hikes, refusal to release medical student

A woman recently alleged in a viral video clip that the university refused to issue a transcript to her daughter, a medical student at the institution, who is seeking to leave amid frequent fee hikes.

Maduka University in Enugu State has refuted allegations that it refused to issue a transcript to a medical student seeking to leave the institution amid frequent fee hikes.

A woman, Chika Akhigbe, recently said the university was frequently increasing its school fees.

Ms Akhigbe, in a video clip which surfaced on Facebook on Thursday, said her daughter is a medicine and surgery student of the university.

She narrated that in 2024 when her daughter secured an admission in the university, the institution’s school fees stood at N3 million per semester, but it was later increased to N3.5 million in 2025.

“Now this year (2026), they’re increasing the school fees again to N4.5 million,” she claimed.

The woman said, given that she could not afford the alleged fee hike, she requested for a transcript to enable her to enrol the daughter in a public institution.

She claimed that the university management initially asked them to pay N2 million for the transcript on the condition that the document would be forwarded to the daughter’s new school.

Ms Akhigbe claimed that the university, after receiving the N2 million payment for the transcript, then refused to issue the transcript on the basis that the institution was not prepared to lose the medical student because she is among the best.

The woman also accused the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Charles Ogbulogo, of threatening to battle the family with the institution’s legal team.

She appealed to Nigerians, including human rights activists, to intervene in the matter.

‘It’s false’

But reacting in a statement on Friday, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Mr Ogbulogo, a professor, said Ms Akhigbe’s claims against the university were false.

The vice-chancellor said contrary to the claims, the student’s family had neither paid for the transcript nor released the name and address of the school where the requested transcript should be forwarded to.

“Her claim of having paid for the processing fee for the official transcript is false. As at 21 May 2026, the university is yet to receive any payment from her for the purpose of any transcript processing,” he said.

“The claim that her daughter is the best performing student in her class is false.”

He explained that the university’s official transcripts are sent only to designated institutions and not released directly to individuals.

Mr Ogbulogo claimed that the student’s father earlier said he would not be able to pay the fee for the transcript and then threatened to escalate the matter publicly and legally before visiting other offices in the university with similar threats.

He stressed that Ms Akhigbe’s claim that they have paid all their daughter’s school fees was false.

“They have an outstanding of N500,000 out of N3.5 million for the 2025/2026 academic session,” he stated.

The vice-chancellor also debunked Ms Akhigbe’s claim that the university has been increasing school fees annually and even hiked the fees to N4.5 million for the 2026 session.

“The school fee including accommodation for returning medical students is N4,010,000 for the 2026/2027 academic session which has not taken off.

“We have maintained one of the lowest fee regimes among our contemporaries,” he said.

Mr Ogbulogo stressed that, contrary to claims, he was never involved in the discussion for the issuance of the official transcript with the student’s parents.

“The interaction was solely with the registrar, whose office supervises official transcript processing through the University Records Office,” he said.

The vice-chancellor refuted claims of frequent attacks by kidnappers around the university’s premises, insisting that Ms Akhigbe was on a mission to tarnish the reputation of the institution.

“We urge members of the public to disregard misleading narratives and rely on verified information from official university channels,” he added.