Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Joseph Ajienka has raised alarm that unless the existing pattern of funding higher education in the country was reviewed, public universities stand the risk of collapsing in the next ten years.

He said critically-needed funding was dwindling by the day, while the average cost of running each institution was correspondingly escalating, and decried a situation where parents were willing to pay astronomical school fees for their wards at Nursery, Primary and Secondary School levels, yet they were not encouraged to pay fees to keep critical university system afloat as is the case in other countries.

Prof Ajienka, who disclosed this at the 29th convocation of the university, explained that many parents were willing to pay outrageous fees for their children in universities outside Nigeria.

“How can we explain this untenable situation in which we pay to sustain quality education in other countries while treating our own universities system with inexplicable contempt?” he queried.

The VC said the scenario no longer makes sense as the university system in this country continues to strain under the weight of underfunding from statutory sources and indifference from society.

“The truth is that statutory Federal allocation alone can no longer be relied upon to run the universities as little or nothing is left to embark on meaningful research and infrastructural development, after payment of salaries to staff, who are not interested in stories of lack of funds,” he stressed.

He maintained that, “we can no longer shy away from considering the introduction of some form of school fees, if we hope to dig it out of the deep morass into which years of tuition-free has placed the public universities, if we still hope to see them in ten years period.”

Insisting that government alone cannot fund higher education, Prof. Ajienka suggested that government should consider the option of converting subventions given to universities , to loans for indigent students while those who can afford, pay fees.

Graduates, he said, should be made to start paying back the loans from the time of National Youth Service, adding that evidence of loan repayment would be mandatory like NYSC discharge certificate in any employment and business ventures by every graduate.

“Unless we secure sustainable funding of our higher educational institutions, we are only postponing the demise of the public higher educational sector,” the VC remarked.

Chris Oluoh