A former vice chancellor, University of Ibadan, Emeritus Professor Olufemi Bamiro, says that the universities’ continuing over-reliance on government funding, fuelled by the ideological stance of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has encouraged apathy and laziness on the part of the individual institutions in the country.
Speaking during a presentation recently in Abuja, on: ‘Realistic and Alternative Funding Models and Resource Management for Nigerian Universities,’ Bamiro outlined the problem with funding and revenue generation in Nigerian public universities.
According to him, “there is a high level of unsustainable dependence on government for funding which must be tackled through exploration of other sources of funding from other key stakeholders”.
He noted that the universities’ continuing over-reliance on government sources of funding, in which education is portrayed as a public good, is surely out of tune with a modernising nation state like Nigeria with the desire to take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
He said, contrary to die-hard opinions, Education remained both a public good and a private good, arguing that continuing reliance on government encourages apathy and laziness on the part of the individual universities, which results in their lukewarm attitude to the deployment of their intellectual endowment or potential to explore other sources of funding.
Bamiro pointed out that the funding system is socially inequitable because of the absence (or near total absence) of tuition fees, whose payment has been largely politicised with the no-tuition policy of government denying the universities access to the most important readily available additional source of funding.
He advocated for resuscitation of the scrapped National Education Bank, to support indigent students in addition to the operation of scholarships, students’ loan schemes and bursaries.
He stated that the present situation calls for the preparation of needs-based budget for the consideration of government and also the management of the finances of the university in an optimal manner.
He also said, the funding mechanism by the government requires the operation of a performance-driven system with well-articulated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as basis of fund allocation.
He called for a revisit of the present system of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as some of the commercial activities such as production of table water, bakery, rental of spaces, guest houses, among others; require management system that does not interfere with the academic functions of staff of the university.
Acting Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Mr Chris Maiyaki, said there was an urgent need to enthrone a legacy of good governance values, principles, standards and best practices in the nation’s institutions of higher learning.
He called on the governing councils to demonstrate good leadership and stewardship towards the growth of their institutions.
In a technical paper entitled: ‘Roles and Responsibilities of Governing Councils: Navigating Expectations and Limitations,’ the immediate past vice chancellor, Bayero University Kano(BUK), Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, stated that the functions of the Councils of each university were stated in the Law establishing the university.
He noted that there are lots of similarities in the laws establishing the various federal universities, with the laws of the seven second generation federal universities (the seven sisters), established in 1975, have served as templates for the laws of other subsequent federal universities.
He said, the functions of councils specified in the individual university laws were further explained, and provided for in the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993 and its various amendments (in 1996, 2003 and 2012).
Professor Bello noted that Section 7 of the University Act defines the functions of Council and very clearly indicate from the sub-section (1) that the Council is responsible for the general control and superintendence of the policy, finances, and properties of the university.
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