The top of the fee scale
Most expensive secondary schools in Nigeria: 17 with a sourced fee above ₦3m a year
The most expensive secondary schools in Nigeria charge between ₦3m and more than ₦50m a year, and the lists that circulate online rank them on numbers nobody sourced. This page ranks by the fee figure we could source, dearest first, with the page it came from beside it, and says whether the figure is tuition only, a full boarding package, or a dollar fee converted.
All but one of the schools are in Lagos and Abuja, and most teach a British, American or IB curriculum: the fee buys a pathway to a university abroad more than it buys a Nigerian one. The schools on the bigger city pages that publish nothing, Loyola Jesuit and NTIC among them, do not appear here because they cannot be ranked without a figure.
17 schools listed, 17 with a fee figure and its source. Updated 22 September 2026.
How this list is ordered
Ordered by the highest sourced yearly fee, dearest first; yearly figures are used where the source gives them and term figures are multiplied by three. Only schools with a sourced figure above ₦3m appear. Position says what the school charges, not what it teaches.
- •A sourced fee above ₦3m a year
- •What the figure covers: tuition, boarding package, or a converted dollar fee
- •Curriculum: British, American, IB or Nigerian
- •City
Fees. 'Published' was read on the school's own site; 'estimate' comes from the named third-party page linked beside it. The international schools set fees in dollars or pounds and the naira figure moves with the exchange rate; treat every figure here as the order of magnitude for the year of its source.
The list
| # | School | Area | Type | Fees | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American International School of Lagos (AISL) American, IB Diploma · Co-educational · Day | Victoria Island, Lagos | International, American curriculum, day | ₦28,224,000 to ₦51,464,000 per yearestimate ₦28.2m to ₦51.5m a year as cited on the source; AISL publishes tuition in US dollars on its own site and the naira figure moves with the rate. | The American-curriculum, IB Diploma school on Victoria Island, founded for the diplomatic and expatriate community; tuition is set in dollars and is the highest in the country in naira terms. |
| 2 | Charterhouse Lagos British (IGCSE, A Level) · Co-educational · Day and boarding | Lekki | International, British curriculum, day and boarding | ₦16,100,000 per yearestimate ₦16.1m a year for the youngest years on the published 2025/26 schedule, rising by year group; ₦2m one-time application fee. | The first African campus of the English public school, opened in Lekki in 2024, with published tuition from ₦16.1m a year and a ₦2m application fee; the top of the Lagos fee scale. |
| 3 | Day Waterman College British (IGCSE, A Level) · Co-educational · Boarding | Asu, near Abeokuta (Ogun State) | Private, boarding | ₦6,100,000 to ₦8,100,000 per yearestimate Source: Nairametrics (2022), Lagos.cool (2026) ₦6.1m day and ₦8.1m boarding in 2022; Lagos.cool puts 2026 at ₦5m to ₦7.5m. Confirm with the school. | Outside Lagos, on the Abeokuta side of Ogun State, but on most Lagos boarding shortlists: a purpose-built British-curriculum boarding campus opened in 2008. |
| 4 | British International School, Lagos British (IGCSE, A Level) · Co-educational · Day and boarding | Lekki | International, British curriculum, day and boarding | ₦6,000,000 to ₦8,000,000 per yearestimate Source: Nigeria Private Schools (2025) Day tuition; boarding and extras push the total above ₦10m a year on the same source. | The secondary-only British international school in Lekki, with a large boarding house; one of the highest fees in the city. |
| 5 | Lekki British International High School British (IGCSE, A Level) · Co-educational · Day and boarding | Lekki | Private, British curriculum, day and boarding | ₦4,600,000 to ₦6,800,000 per yearestimate Source: Nairametrics (2022) ₦4.6m day and ₦6.8m boarding per annum in 2022; fees have risen since. Confirm with the school. | British curriculum through IGCSE and A Level with boarding on the Lekki campus. |
| 6 | Nigerian and British · Co-educational · Boarding | Poka, Epe | Private, full boarding | ₦6,000,000 to ₦6,700,000 per yearestimate Per session, boarding included; doris.school adds a ₦15,000 application fee and a ₦200,000 acceptance fee. | The full boarding school Lagos families name first, on a large campus at Poka outside Epe since 1989. Admission is by entrance examination. |
| 7 | Chrisland High School, Lekki Nigerian · Co-educational · Day | Lekki | Private, day | ₦3,500,000 to ₦6,000,000 per yearestimate Source: Lagos.cool (2026) Lagos.cool's band for the Lekki college; the group publishes nursery and primary figures more readily. | The Lekki secondary campus of the Chrisland group. |
| 8 | British (IGCSE) · Co-educational · Day School website | Ikeja GRA | Private, British curriculum, day | ₦3,600,000 to ₦5,500,000 per yearestimate Source: Lagos.cool (2026) The school's own FAQ lists a ₦20,000 application fee; tuition is given at admission. | The British-curriculum day school on the Ikeja GRA side since 1958, and the usual mainland alternative to the Lekki international schools. |
| 9 | Greensprings School, Lekki Nigerian and British, IB Diploma · Co-educational · Day and boarding | Lekki | Private, day and boarding | ₦2,500,000 to ₦5,500,000 per yearestimate Source: CampusNinja (2026) ₦2.5m to ₦5.5m a year across the group per CampusNinja; Lagos.cool puts the Anthony campus at ₦2.0m to ₦3.2m. | The Lekki campus of the group founded in 1985, with boarding and the IB Diploma; the largest private school on the corridor. |
| 10 | Children's International School British · Co-educational · Day | Lekki Phase 1 | Private, British curriculum, day | ₦3,800,000 to ₦5,200,000 per yearestimate Source: Lagos.cool (2026) Lagos.cool's band; the school gives its schedule at admission. | A Lekki Phase 1 British-curriculum day school, nursery through secondary. |
| 11 | Loral International Schools Nigerian · Co-educational · Day and boarding | Sangotedo | Private, day and boarding | ₦2,500,000 to ₦4,200,000 per yearestimate Lagos.cool's band for the Festac campus. | The Sangotedo campus of the Festac group, with boarding. |
| 12 | Corona Secondary School Nigerian and British · Co-educational · Boarding | Agbara (Ogun State border) | Private, boarding | ₦2,500,000 to ₦4,000,000 per yearestimate Source: News Express (2025) Per session on the source; confirm with the Corona Schools Trust Council. | The Corona Schools Trust Council's boarding secondary school at Agbara, fed by the Corona primary schools across Lagos. |
| 13 | The Lagoon School Nigerian · Girls · Day | Lekki | Private, girls, day | ₦2,000,000 to ₦3,500,000 per yearestimate Source: Lagos.cool (2026) Lagos.cool's band; the school gives its schedule at admission. | The girls' school of the Opus Dei-inspired pair with Whitesands, on Lekki since 1996; day only. |
| 14 | Caleb British International School British · Co-educational · Day | Lekki | Private, British curriculum, day | ₦2,000,000 to ₦3,500,000 per yearestimate Source: Lagos.cool (2026) Lagos.cool's band. | The Caleb group's British-curriculum school on the Lekki side. |
| 15 | Meadow Hall Nigerian and British · Co-educational · Day and boarding School website | Lekki | Private, day and boarding | ₦3,000,000 to ₦3,300,000 per yearestimate Source: InfoExpand (2026) Day students; boarding about ₦5.0m to ₦5.5m a session on the same source. The school's own admission page lists a ₦50,000 application fee. | Nursery to secondary on one Lekki campus since 2002, with boarding for the secondary years. |
| 16 | British (IGCSE) · Co-educational · Day | Mabushi | Private, British curriculum, day | ₦2,900,000 to ₦3,200,000 per yearestimate Source: doris.school (2025) | Named on four of the five lists. Part of the Regent group that also runs the Maitama primary campus, so families can stay in one system from nursery to IGCSE. |
| 17 | Nigerian with Cambridge options · Co-educational · Boarding | Lugbe | Private, boarding | ₦1,000,000 per termestimate Source: SchoolsCompass (2025) SchoolsCompass lists tuition above ₦1,000,000 per term and a first-year joining total of about ₦5.4m including one-off charges. | The main private boarding option on the airport road side of the city, with a large purpose-built campus. |
Run a school on this list, or know a figure is out of date? Claim the profile and correct it; corrections with a fee schedule attached go live the same week.
What the fee buys
Small classes, expatriate or internationally trained staff, examination boards that transfer abroad (IGCSE, A Level, IB, the American diploma), and campuses that would not look out of place in Surrey or Connecticut. What it does not buy is a better route to a Nigerian university: JAMB does not care where the WAEC was sat. The families paying these fees are, almost without exception, planning a degree outside Nigeria, and the fee should be judged against that plan.
Reading the figures
Charterhouse publishes a full schedule by year group; the IB and American schools publish in dollars; the boarding schools quote a package that includes feeding and accommodation. Compare tuition with tuition and packages with packages, and ask each school for last year's full invoice for a new entrant, with the one-off application, development and capital fees that several of these schools charge in the first year.
Questions parents ask about this list
What is the most expensive secondary school in Nigeria?
On sourced figures, the American International School of Lagos, whose dollar tuition converts to between ₦28m and ₦51m a year at the rate the source used, followed by Charterhouse Lagos with a published schedule from ₦16.1m a year plus a ₦2m application fee.
Are these fees per term or per year?
Per year on this page; where a source quoted a term, we multiplied by three and say so in the note.
Why is Loyola Jesuit not on the list?
Because it publishes no fee and the third-party figures disagree so widely that we print none. The same applies to NTIC and a few others on the Abuja page.
Do the fees include boarding?
Only where the note says so: Atlantic Hall's and Day Waterman's figures are boarding packages; most others are tuition only.