Obafemi’s commitment to funding Nigeria’s public universities – Part 8

Having identified the ‘profound effects’ of ‘inadequate funding of teaching and research’ which compel universities to embark on income generating projects in order to source alternative funds, and proposes some innovative strategies through which Nigerian universities can source non-governmental funds and their deleterious ‘implications for the quality of teaching and research.’

Nonetheless, Universities are advised to guard against the possible commoditization of the university ideal and system on the pedestal of alternative fund-seeking because the commercial ventures the universities generate are found to be ‘fraught with problems of management’.

This is why, appropriately, institutional policy and their implementation rest solely on the Governing Council which supervises activities of Management, including their fund and finance generating activities, especially with regards to prudency, financial management and accountability, such that allocations can be more prudently managed.

On management of allocations, Sola Akinrinade, (November 2015) also identifies and blames the endangering of the future of Nigeria on ‘the high incidence of corruption in the university system’ which makes nonsense of available funding in the university system through injudicious utilisation of already scarse funds.

Meddlesome agencies
Furthermore, there is need to check the flow of monies and resources that the Universities are entitled to, some of which do not get to their destinations as released from source. There are leakages in the system that painfully short- change higher educational institutions. Some of the reasons responsible for this situation can be traced to irregular and unedifying practices in the process before and after these monies get to the higher education institutions.

The undue interference of non-educational institutions, especially the National Assembly with their self- indulgent, nebulous, exercises like the mythic and sightless ‘oversight functions’ have deleterious effects on the effective management of funds meant for higher education institutions.

If these NASS people have discernible minds to know how their counterparts in other lands, carry on, they will swoon, if there is enough blood in their veins for such virtuous acts by others. Hear what an American Congressman said of the negative impact of high fees: ‘The Millennial Generation is being crushed by soaring college costs and student loan debts, and as lawmakers, we must find solutions to address affordability and flexibility in higher education (Elis Stefanik: (From Quote Master: htpps://www.quotemaster.org.edu)

This unwarranted interference has implications for autonomy and resource management. No (busy) bodies, outside of the system, meant to be supervised only by the Governing Councils, should meddle in the affairs of the universities, financially or otherwise. In a time like this, when Councils are said to be dissolved, Vice-Chancellors must be wary of giddiness in seeking Ministerial collusion or validation of action that corrode university autonomy.

Conclusion
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished audience and comrades, my position in this Lecture is simple. And you may have noticed that I have unconventionally embedded my observations and suggestions in-text. It is needlessly, repetitive and superfluous to restate them here, especially now that I may have bored you stiff.

As I said before, permit me to restate here that ‘there is no short-cut to building a knowledge society in a knowledge economy’ Humongous sums wasted on insane fripperies must be rechanneled to and invested in universities and other tertiary institutions and the disbursement must be accountably executed in the interest of both government and our people. Chummer, F. and Hart, K (2003) instruct us tellingly that “In a knowledge-based agenda, funding of university research and university education generally is an investment…”

First, there is no wholesome alternative to the Federal Government taking responsibility of financing federal institutions, especially the public universities because of their centrality to national development, the growth of the nation’s macro and micro economy, the production of new knowledge, skilled manpower and democratic citizenship upon which the nation’s civilisation depends.

Second, every nation in the world clutches inviolably, to its universities, the academe and knowledge houses, as its guarantee of growth and development. And this position is invariable, whether it is the sciences, technologies and the Humanities.

Third, it is important therefore to continue to impress it on the Federal Government the need to continue to fulfill its constitutional obligation to education in general and higher education in particular. Every university should get what it needs in accordance with the budgets prepared and approved by its Councils. Funding should no longer be the basis for poor performances in the universities; poor performances in the domains of teaching, learning, research and community service in the university system.

To end, finally then, let me quote, pertinently from another recent Lecture I gave in Lokoja [2023] on the ultimate import of the university and its ideal for a nation;

While university education is a variant of the educational process, systems and societies rely on it, for its ability to chart new paths. In charting new paths, universities refine and define our understandings, in manners that constantly give us fresh beginnings. This is the hallmark of a society in transition, a system in motion, where trends are regularly requiring adaptation.

The centrality of the university in the envisioning evolvement of society is captured in the apt statement of the late renowned economist and university administrator, Professor Ojetunji Aboyade (1982) to which I referred earlier. He argued that a nation has the right to look up to its universities as;

The highest intellectual, aesthetic, ethical, cultural and skills development” (and he) asserts that “the growth of nations and the wisdom of people’s are therefore bound up with the flourishing of their universities” (such that) “the future character of a nation’s development some two decades away is mirrored by the present quality of its universities.

For any government with a vision, taking responsibility for funding the nation’s university is a given, in enlightened self-interest, requiring no proselytizing.
Concluded.
Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.