FG can no longer fund tertiary education

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In a keynote speech, she delivered at the maiden Tertiary Education Summit themed ‘Fresh Ideas for Overhauling Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Complex’ the next day, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Lilian Salami, said the country’s tertiary education needs a holistic overhaul.

The Chair of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Universities of Nigeria identified outdated curriculum, low-quality staff, corruption, a decline in student reading culture, government agencies operating outside mandate and confusion, quota system, internal politics within institutions, and low quality of students as challenges facing tertiary education in Nigeria.

Professor Salami further submitted that the Federal Government could no longer fund tertiary education and that parents need to bear the cost of educating their wards. She said, “There’s confusion in the system in doing the same things and returning to the same place. New ideas are therefore needed to overhaul the long overdue system. I believe what we need is a holistic approach whereby attention goes to these challenges. We need to redirect the system and walk the talk. When there’s a way, there’s a way.”

Expounding on why she said the Federal Government could no longer fund tertiary education, she noted the dismal budgetary allocation to education in Nigeria’s education budget as a stark indication of the government’s inability or unwillingness to fund education. She disclosed that her university receives a monthly budget of N11m. In contrast, she spends N77m on electricity alone but has to find creative ways to run her university.

“TETFund and ETF have been there, but they must be more robust. Education is allotted 8.2% of Nigeria’s 2023 budget. Ghana allotted 12.8 in 2023, and South Africa allotted 18.4. At UNIBEN, we’ve undertaken the cost of training a student in each department. It takes N3m to train a medical student per session, but such a student pays only N240 over six years. Interestingly, this amount is far less than paid in a private secondary school; some of us pay as much as N380,000 for our children in creches per term. Students must pay commensurate fees for their courses of study. We must pay for services rendered.”

Salami said students could receive financial help, including bursaries, loans for indigent but brilliant students, alumni associations annual levies, scholarships, and others, adding, “Good funding can redress dilapidated equipment, and other infrastructure, improved remuneration to motivate teachers and attract global scholars.”

She tasked ASUU to rethink its strike options, saying, “The union must jettison its obsolete ideas and embrace new ideas on how to seek better working conditions. The union must hold an education summit on how to sustain education. The Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC) is working on ways to make tertiary education meet international standards to make universities competitive. Curricula must be updated and must imbibe new teaching methods. E-learning must be adopted. Most courses should be on e-learning.”

The UNIBEN VC also said universities should admit their students, saying those admitted for them are an unnecessary burden the universities shoulder. Salami said IPPIS is a dead programme that hinders the effective running of universities. “Government should allow universities to pay lecturers to determine work rate and excellence. The almighty IPPIS is not the way to go. It’s fueling indiscipline, laziness, lack of commitment among teachers.”

She condemned the proliferation of universities, saying most were glorified nursery schools. “The current system, as approved by NUC, is unproductive, wasteful and unsustainable. Institutions do not have to run all programmes. The mandate of the University of Agriculture should be on agriculture. Similarly, a polytechnic should be recognised for a certain area of technology. A medical university should be for medical sciences. A situation where a university undertakes courses it is ill-prepared for should be over. We must courageously avoid amorphous, amoebic, and shapeless programmes in tertiary institutions.”

Earlier at the opening of the international conference attended by several government agencies, the Chairman of Nigeria Book Fair Trust and organiser of the book fair, Dare Oluwatuyi, expressed pleasure at the quality of guests and the topics for discussion. The 22nd Nigeria International Book Fair featured children’s programmes and other exciting activities.

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