By Adnan Adams Mohammed
As primary and secondary schools across West Africa prepare to reopen for the new academic year, governments and frustrated parents are pushing back against the skyrocketing costs of educational materials and extortionate sales practices by private institutions.
Leading the charge, the Lagos State Government has issued a stern warning to school proprietors who compel parents and guardians to purchase uniforms, books, and stationery exclusively from their institutions or designated vendors.
Through the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), the state government reminded school administrators that forcing parents to buy overpriced supplies directly from schools violates consumer rights, particularly when identical, approved items are available at lower prices in the open market.
“Where equivalent approved products are reasonably available elsewhere, parents and guardians should generally be free to choose where to purchase them,” LASCOPA stated in a public advisory released ahead of school resumption. “A school should not unnecessarily restrict parents from buying equivalent approved books, uniforms or stationery from other suppliers.”
Reiterating the state’s stance on consumer rights, the agency urged parents to resist undue exploitation.
“You have a choice. Know your rights. Speak up,” the agency added, assuring the public that “In Lagos State, consumers are kings.”
The intervention by Lagos authorities comes amid mounting public outrage, as families across the sub-region struggle with severe inflation and the rising cost of living.
Meanwhile, across the border in Ghana, a similar fireball of frustration is rolling as parents rise up against escalating back-to-school expenses, steep tuition fees, and delays in government supply distributions.
Recent reports from education advocacy groups in Ghana reveal that delays in the official distribution of free uniforms and textbooks have forced families to shoulder heavy out-of-pocket expenses to purchase prospectus-related supplies privately.
Lamenting the financial strain, Mrs. Dorcas Oppong, a mother shopping in Accra’s Central Business District, spoke out against the sudden spike in prices.
”Primary level textbooks that used to cost far less are now selling for significantly more,” she said. “Parents are besieging bookshops only to find that basic requirements are taking up almost our entire budget. It is getting out of hand.”
Market vendors in Ghana attribute the price increases to higher import duties, currency fluctuations, and updates to educational curricula, which render old textbooks obsolete.
”The new curriculum has made learning materials much more expensive for us to source,” explained Kofi Mireku, a bookshop vendor. “Textbooks for basic subjects that were sold at reasonable prices a year ago have nearly doubled.”
As the back-to-school push intensifies, consumer rights advocates and civil society organisations are calling on regulatory bodies in both Nigeria and Ghana to step up enforcement, enforce price transparency, and protect struggling households from unfair commercial practices in the education sector.
