Don Urges Government To Reconsider Funding Varsities

A University Don, Prof Rahamon A. Bello has called on government at all levels to re-evaluate funding systems in Nigeria universities.

According to him, the current practice of funding by government does not  promote global best practices in tertiary education.

Prof Bello, who made the call Thursday, as part of commendations in his convocation lecture at the 29th convocation of the Rivers State University of (RSU), said such re-evaluation is necessary to, among other things, promote efficiency.

“Governments are hereby called upon to consider re-evaluation of the funding pattern of universities.  The current practice does not promote efficiency, proactiveness, scholarship and best practices”, he said.

In the Convocation lecture titled, “Self Funding In Nigeria Universities: Contemporary Challenges and Solutions”, Prof Bello X-rayed the current funding pattern in Nigerian Universities to be based on three basic components.

They are Personnel Costs, Overhead and Capital Costs, which he said accounts for the inability of such universities to embark on capital project execution.

“The very little component of the funding released for overheads and capital allocations would account for the decay in infrastructure and very little capital project execution to meet the growing population of student and staff.

“The fund released for Overhead expenditure, which would take care of running the offices, the municipal services, environment, maintenance, security services etc is ridiculously low.

“The universities are left to source for funds or generate funds to meet all these obligations”, he said.

In addition to the re-evaluation, Prof Bello who is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos also called upon the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) to “carryout an evaluation of the true cost of educating a student in the universities in Nigeria.

While acknowledging numerous contentions regarding the adequacy of Government funding of Universities, the Professor of Chemical Engineering noted that the Volume of fund disbursed by government falls far short not what should be expanded on education, based on the 26 per cent of budget stipulated by United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

This, he said, also raises the question of how efficient is the use of the available fund in relation to the key mandate of universities in terms of teaching and research.

In his contribution, the Chairman of the occasion and Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District, Senator George Thompson Sekibo supported the recommendations of Prof Bell’.

According to him, “Universities should be financially autonomous.  The reason is that every university has the same kind of problem, but they don’t want to delve into the same kind of challenge.

“So, f I want to go to the moon, but University of Lagos does not want to go to moon, we don’t require the same amount of money in terms of funding”, he said.

Highlight of the occasion was the presentation of a coastal bus to the university by the Senator.