Insecurity in Nigeria, the 1978 Fee Hike, and the “Ali Must Go” Student Protests: How We Got Here

 The 1978 students’ protest, famously known as the “Ali Must Go” riots, wasn’t solely about a fee hike. It symbolised a broader resistance to policies that quietly sought to restrict access to education. What followed decades later offers a troubling reflection of the ramifications when educational policy is shaped by political and ethnic bias rather than by national progress.

Around that same time, under Obasanjo’s military rule, Dr. Jubril Aminu, who served as the Executive Secretary of the NUC, stood firmly against the concept of free education at all levels. His reasoning? He contended that because the North had historically been less receptive to Western education, the policy would disproportionately benefit the South and further widen the educational disparity between the regions.

In a 53-page memo, Dr. Jibril Aminu vehemently opposed the proposal for free university education put forward by the Military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo. Contrary to the General’s expectations, there was no rebuttal or counterargument from Aminu’s intellectual peers or fellow academics. In the end, Aminu’s position prevailed.

In his own words:

“In the universities themselves, the Federal Government is now contemplating introducing free education. Whatever may be the merits of this considered step, its likely effect on the university population must be mentioned. It is going to result in an even greater imbalance in enrollment, for the simple reason that at the moment, there are a fair number of highly eligible candidates for university education, mainly from the educationally advanced states, who unfortunately cannot enter university simply on financial grounds.”

That was Professor Aminu writing in his now-infamous memo titled "Educational Imbalance: Its Extent, History, Dangers and Correction in Nigeria," during his tenure as Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission.

Let me break that down.

Dr. Aminu’s argument was rooted in ethnically influenced logic: that a nationwide free education policy would widen the already existing educational gap between the North and the South. Why? Because students from the "educationally advanced states," mainly in the South, who were previously kept out of university due to financial limitations, would now have access.

Rather than focusing on how the policy could benefit the North, he was disproportionately concerned about the South gaining an advantage. He further argued, elsewhere in the memo, that poor Northern families would not embrace the policy to the same extent as their Southern counterparts, citing a cultural aversion to Western education and values.

In essence, Dr. Aminu was echoing the sentiment behind Boko Haram, long before the extremist group existed. Boko, in his view, was already haram.

On this shaky and self-serving foundation, he concluded that free education was not a national priority. Unfortunately, the federal military government at the time accepted his arguments wholesale — hook, line, and sinker.

In other words, if free education wasn’t deemed beneficial to the North (which ironically needed it more than the South), it was dismissed as unsuitable for Nigeria as a whole.

Dr. Aminu was wrong. But he won. That’s Nigeria for you: one nation, different destinies. It’s not hard to see why some Nigerians advocate for the country’s division. But here’s the thing: Dr. Aminu never represented the views of the Talakawa or the Almajiri. That’s why I’ve never supported calls to dismantle Nigeria. And it’s also why I have no fear in expressing my views, especially when opposing policies rooted in ethnic bias.

And here we are today. Where has that mindset taken us?

The rise of Boko Haram didn’t happen overnight. It was planted, nurtured, and allowed to grow into a global terror organisation. Today, bandits, kidnappers, and armed herders move freely across the country, especially in the North, disrupting farming, turning road transportation into a dangerous venture and stalling economic activity.

Years after the protests, Dr. Jubril Aminu—then Professor—was appointed Minister of Education by President Ibrahim Babangida. He launched the Nomadic Education programme, aimed at integrating pastoralist communities into the education system. President Babangida gave him a blank cheque to implement it. In the end, the programme was abandoned.

This pattern reveals a larger problem. When education reforms or student support initiatives are proposed, many influential figures from the North (technocrats, politicians, and traditional leaders) often focus not on how to increase student participation but on how much funding their region will receive. This has led to a culture of inflating population figures just to secure a larger slice of federal resources.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if we truly want to measure the success of educational funding, we should be looking at NECO and JAMB enrolment data across all states over the last 10–15 years, for example. That’s where we’ll see whether the funds were effective and equitable. Sadly, that kind of accountability remains absent.

When you watch videos of some communities attacked by bandits, especially in parts of the North, the outdated housing alone reveals the extent of neglect by state governments. In some places, like Sokoto and Zamfara States, armed bandits have even been seen collecting "taxes" from locals. That’s a sign of disconnection, abandonment, and widespread illiteracy.

You can’t spread extremist ideology (Western education is forbidden) in a community that has had access to quality, compulsory education for decades. But over 40 years ago, when free education was proposed nationwide, Dr. Aminu opposed it, arguing it would benefit the South more than the North. That moment marked a critical turning point. And we’re still living with the consequences.

This is a conversation we must keep having, not out of resentment, but out of necessity. Because the truth is, many of the wars we’re fighting today, and the billions being spent on them, could have been avoided. Funds that should have gone into education, research, and industrial growth are now being spent fighting endless wars.

History doesn't just repeat itself; it evolves when we fail to learn from it.