Background: The expansion of private higher education within Nigeria has emerged as a neoliberal and market-oriented reaction to the pervasive instability inherent within a public sector susceptible to frequent strikes. This research posits that the resultant "student-as-consumer" paradigm has engendered a systemic market failure epitomized by an "Illusion of the Premium." By utilizing the "strike-free" academic calendar as a commodified façade, these institutions capitalize on information asymmetries, thereby prioritizing revenue generation at the expense of their institutional responsibility towards student welfare. Methods: Employing a qualitative methodological framework, this investigation amalgamates reflective case studies, a digital ethnographic exploration of parental advocacy networks, and twelve semi-structured interviews with students from three institutions accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Southwest Nigeria. This triangulated methodology scrutinizes the authentic experiences associated with the premium through the perspectives of individuals maneuvering within the system. Results: The analysis reveals a pervasive "Accountability Inversion" a disintegration of the social contract that is manifested across four pivotal dimensions: (1) The Time Tax: The enforcement of full tuition fees for services that are not rendered during industrial training periods (SIWES). (2) Pedagogical Stagnation: An overreliance on "high-cost dictation" despite the presence of superior physical infrastructure. (3) Captive Markets: The establishment of exploitative monopolies within nutritional and healthcare sectors. (4) WhatsApp Governance: The rise of informal digital mobilization as a counter-hegemonic strategy to address the absence of functional grievance mechanisms. Conclusion: The study concludes that the erosion of institutional trust is driven by "Regulatory Myopia," an oversight paradigm that emphasizes auditable tangible infrastructure while neglecting the imperative of effective service delivery. This paper advocates for a statutory transition towards the establishment of Parent-University Partnership (PUP) Councils and the legal formalization of fee-to-service alignment to reinstate the social contract. Keywords: Academic Capitalism; Accountability Inversion; Market Failure; Nigerian Higher Education; Regulatory Myopia; WhatsApp Governance.
Nancy Rita Jegede (Wed,) studied this question.