Inadequate Funding as the Bane of Tertiary Education in Nigeria

Abstract

History and growth of the University system started in 1948 with establishment of the University College Ibadan (now University of Ibadan) by the British Colonial Masters. Overtime, this has grown into a three tier of system consisting of Federal, State and Private Universities. Each tier is financing its own established institutions. The last strike by Academic staff of public schools in Nigeria (Federal and State) when they were agitating for government's positive action on inadequate funding of higher Institutions is a reference point. These kinds of strikes had adversely affected the standard of education in Nigeria to the extent that none of Nigeria's higher institution is ranked among the first seven institutions in Africa. Based on past experience in this country, several efforts of the Federal Government to address this issue have not yielded any progressive result. It is certain that our tertiary Institutions need to raise funds to supplement government funding, and not only this, there is need for proper monitoring of how such funds are being used judiciously because of the corrupt nature of some of our officials in the African continent, most especially Nigeria. It is in doing this that our Tertiary Institutions, especially Universities will be able to conduct relevant and quality researches, improve the quality of graduates being produced and make sustainable contributions to the National development of the country. Consequent upon this, the paper critically examines sources of funding higher education, problems and prospects and posits that one way out of this problem is to focus on internally generated Revenue projects which can be used for research works and other development projects. This I believe will catalyze government's role and create an enabling environment for consistency and better standard of education in the Country.

Addressing the Factors Responsible for Schooling without Learning in Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria

“…Insufficient budget allocation Insufficient budget allocation to the education sector is one of the factors responsible for schooling without learning in Nigeria. Even though the Nigerian government has continued to reiterate its commitment to the development of the education sector, Nigeria's education sector has received much lower than 26% of national budget, as recommended by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) so as to enable the nations to adequately cater for rising education demands (Ejere, 2011;Famurewa, 2014;Ibara, 2011;Ololube, 2016;Tiamiyu, 2012). Sadly, the Nigerian government has been consistently underfunding the sector.…”

Infrastructure development in higher institutions: the role of private organisations via unexplored expanded corporate social responsibility (ECSR)

“…The education sector is one of the sectors that have been hit by infrastructural deficits (Ololube, 2016). Inadequate funding has complicated the education sector's issue (Famurewa, 2014;Jacob and Musa, 2020). Ololube et al (2016) affirmed that governments (developed and developing nations) funding for education is vital in building a robust infrastructure that can train the skilled workforce for the growth and development of a nation.…”

Public private partnership (PPP) as an aid to tertiary institution support for internally generated revenue (IGR): a case study of yaba college of technology

“…Onuoha (2013) explains that the IGR theory means that the central government should not have to accept the burden of providing funding for every expenditure item of public universities. The following researchers (Baro et al, 2017;Famurewa, 2014;Khaemba et al, 2014;Ogungbenle & Edogiawerie, 2016) agreed with the observation that some tertiary institutions across the globe have done reasonably well in their drive for substantial IGR and have used it to positively change the landscape of the institutions while some were yet to catch up with the vision.…”