LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) –The National Universities Commission (NUC) has highlighted the critical issue of inadequate funding as a major challenge facing Nigerian universities.
The commission emphasised that sufficient funding is crucial for the growth and development of the country’s university system.
Speaking at the seventh annual registry lecture of Elizade University in Ilara Mokin, Ondo State, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the NUC, Dr. Biodun Saliu, highlighted the pressing need for significant funds to enable universities to effectively fulfill their core mandates of teaching, research, and community service.
The lecture was titled ‘The Nigerian University System and Its Many Challenges: The Way Forward.’
He said: “Be they public or private universities, the annual budgetary allocations released from their respective proprietors are grossly inadequate. Studies have shown that inadequate funding in Nigerian universities is due to poor government/proprietor allocations, low internally generated revenue, low school fees charges (for public universities), low enrollment for most private universities probably due to high tuition fees/other charges, institutional corruption, poor planning/projection, poor research income, and poor contributions from the private sector, non-governmental organisations, and alumni.”
“Inadequate funding leads to the underperformance of all aspects relevant to the quality delivery of university education in Nigeria, including the quality assurance activities of the regulator.”
“This can be achieved through improved budget allocation and releases from proprietors of public universities and improved subvention to private universities by their owners. In fact, in the case of the latter, proprietors should be discouraged from seeing the university as a profit-making venture for at least a decade. This move will relieve the pressure on most private universities, allowing them to grow better and faster, ultimately providing more satisfying and sustainable gains to their owners.”
“Improved funding will also address staffing and infrastructural deficits in the university system, as more money would be available for the development of physical facilities, thereby strengthening research and development. Robust research and development will, all things being equal, result in strong university-industry linkages and collaborations,” he recommended.