The Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has lamented the poor funding of universities in Nigeria.
Ogunsola spoke on Saturday when she featured as the guest speaker on the third edition of Topaz Lecture which was organised by the UNILAG Mass Communication Class of 1988.
The lecture, titled, ‘Funding Tertiary Education: Challenges and Options,’ was delivered via Zoom.
The VC recalled that in 2023, the general school fee hike across many universities in the country wasn’t tied to the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
She said, “In Nigeria, the greatest funding that gives us the highest amount of funds is TetFund,” adding that UNILAG could no longer afford to send lecturers to events as government funding had reduced.
“Universities must have the right manpower, equipment, facilities, activities and processes,” she noted.
Ogunsola added that “4-6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product or or 15-20 per cent public expenditure (annual budget)” is recommended to fund education.
However, she called on the FG to rise to the need as the tertiary education age, according to her, stands at 86 million – about 38 per cent of Nigeria’s population between 15-30 years, as shown in the 2019/2020 education statistics.
Ogunsola lamented the idea of remitting all university funds into the Treasury Single Account, as directed under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
This, she said, has limited the development of the institution, and also put much pressure on the management to seek alternative ways of making more revenue.
She cited the lack of institutional memory from the government as “they kept forgetting the essence of IGR in universities.”
The VC added that the current literacy rate in the country is 140m.
She stated that the poor funding of universities had also contributed to the exodus of Nigerian lecturers seeking for better options abroad.
The guest speaker noted that despite the rise in inflation, “between 1948 and 1999, there were two federal universities every four years. From 2000 – 2024, there have been two federal universities every two years.”
She stated that the TSA, lack of institutional memory from the government, incessant strikes and pauperisation of the education sector, among others, had contributed to the low funding of universities.
While using 2022 as a case study, Ogunsola stated that while the university had projected the government-funded revenue to be N716m, the institution had N323m.
She shared that UNILAG made a total revenue of N10.4bn as against the projected N20.6bn, which was partly due to low government funding.
Ogunsola highlighted that universities could be funded in several ways including government funding, tuition and fees, research grants and contracts, endowments and donations, among others.
The VC compared the income source of Nigerian universities to their counterparts abroad.
She noted that Coventry University in the United Kingdom made 80 per cent of its revenue through tuition, from 2022-2023.
She also stated that Stanford University in the United States made 61 per cent of its revenue through healthcare services.
This, she added, was no longer feasible in Nigeria as former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during his military regime, had “uncoupled ” the nation’s universities from their healthcare services.
Thus, Ogunsola noted that Nigerian universities must find alternate ways through which they can be funded.
Ogunsola, the 13th VC of the institution, recommended that as a way forward, the universities’ endowment funds should be released from the TSA and policies that inhibit the generation of funds by universities be reversed.
She also called for proper funding of research and student loans among others.
When our correspondent asked what the institution is doing to review its curriculum and also stay in line with the 30 per cent recommendation by the Nigeria Universities Commission, Ogunsola stated that “UNILAG has been working intentionally in that direction.”
She noted that the institution has provided its students with innovation and creative hubs to help prepare them for the global competitive market.
“We’ve increased the intentionality of where our students go for internships. The other thing we’re doing is changing the way pedagogy is practised as we’re training our lecturers to be more hands-on,” she added.
Credit: punchng.com
