Challenges of Fuel Subsidy Removal on Academic Engagements of Undergraduates in Public Universities in South-East Nigeria

The study examined the challenges of fuel subsidy removal on academic engagements of undergraduates in public universities in south-east Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study was 268,340 students from 10 public universities in South-East Nigeria. The sample comprises of 1000 undergraduates in the universities. The sample was composed using the simple random sampling and purposive sampling technique. Data collected were analyzed using mean. Findings from the study indicates the ways in which fuel subsidy removal affects the education performance of students in these universities are very negative, and they include lack of adequate funds to manage the universities, poor academic results from students, lack of interest by teaching staffs, lack of interest in learning by students, rape, untimely death by cohabitation, unwanted pregnancy, cyber fraud, poor pay for lecturers and lack of research funding for lecturers. Furthermore, the study found that the ways to mitigate this effect of fuel subsidy removal include increasing lecturers pay, introducing student loan, making accessible research grants, introducing free education in Nigeria universities, introducing free transportation in universities, introducing free feeding school programs, and flexible car and house loans. The study therefore recommends that government must put into consideration of the consequences of their policies on students before promulgating sit, and at such, must role out palliatives that must cushion the harsh effect of subsidy removal on students in other to avoid a serious social and moral crisis that is imminent.