In this report, DEBORAH TOLU-KOLAWOLE looks at the financial struggles of public universities amid the challenges of poor infrastructure, brain drain and the establishment of new tertiary institutions by the government
Earlier in 2023, academic activities were paralyzed at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, following the decision of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company to cut off the power supply to the university over unpaid electricity bills.
Students of the institution who had just returned to the campus following the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities in 2022 and the 2023 general elections had their hopes dashed when the school management asked them to go back home until the school resolved the issue with the electricity distribution company.
Findings by The PUNCH revealed that the institution owed the accumulated sum of N931,479,317.84 in electricity bills.
After the school was cut off from the power grid, it paid N40mn to the KEDC but electricity was not restored. In a bulletin published on May 15 on the electricity bill crisis, the school management said students’ resumption for the second semester earlier slated for Monday, May 29 had been put on hold.
“Accordingly, students would be kept posted when a new date for the resumption is decided soonest by the Senate of Ahmadu Bello University,” the bulletin said.
After a series of meetings and stakeholders’ engagement on the issue, the university management, in another bulletin dated Saturday, May 20, said it could not afford the outstanding bills of over N100 million every month.
“To say the least, the university, at the moment, cannot foot the outstanding bills of over N100m every month with its yearly average overhead funding of about N150mn.”
The bulletin further explained that the university management has since written to the Federal Government about the power situation and is in contact with relevant officials over the matter.
Relieving his experience during the period, a 400-level student of physics, Sani Musa (real name withheld) said, “It was a terrible situation. The 2022 ASUU strike affected us, we didn’t even resume immediately after the strike was called off, then when we managed to resume, we went back home for the elections.
‘’By the time we resumed, we had to battle with a power outage. It is just so frustrating and embarrassing that a Federal Government university will be shut down because of a power outage.”
Though electricity would later be restored to the school following the intervention of the Kaduna State Government, findings by our correspondent revealed that ABU was not the only Federal University to have suffered from power outages due to failure to pay accumulated electricity bills.
Also in 2023, the University of Maiduguri, Borno state was thrown into utter darkness following the failure of the institution to pay the new electricity tariff introduced by the Yola Electricity Distribution Company.
Though The PUNCH could not ascertain the amount owed, a student of the school, Ibrahim Muhammed, who spoke to our correspondent, noted that during the power outage, students had to read under solar-powered streetlights.
“Some of us had to read under solar-powered street lights. To be honest, you can’t even blame the university. Where is the money for them to pay that huge amount?
In January 2021, Obafemi Awolowo University was plunged into total darkness over outstanding electricity bills. The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company noted that the institution was indebted to the tune of N43mn.
Apart from power outages occasioned by poor funding, findings revealed that several academic institutions in the country were also challenged by a dearth of infrastructural facilities which has led to the poor learning environment, among others.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof Ini Uko, noted that the cost of running universities ranks high, hence the need for the government and stakeholders to hold a dialogue on adequate funding.
Uko, a professor of engineering said, “This is among the several issues plaguing the universities. The cost of running the university is very high. The government needs to dialogue with stakeholders on the way forward. The problem is that Nigerians believe that there is a ‘free lunch.’ There is nothing like that. We all live in our homes and we all know the amount we pay for bills.
“The meagre fees paid by students and the small amount released by the government is not enough to cater for the needs of the universities. Some of us lecturers have to go to the universities with projectors and even fuel generators ourselves so we can lecture our students. All these come from our pockets and then we still have new universities springing up here and there. There is a need for improvement.”
“The proliferation of universities which has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of universities in the country has continued to put pressure on the government’s purse so much so that the future of the older and new institutions remains uncertain.”
Lawmakers, state governors and ministers have continued to champion the creation of new universities despite the little to no funding to the older ones. For instance, House of Representatives members since their inauguration have so far presented bills for the creation of 32 new universities.
The Speaker of the 10th House, Tajudeen Abass, led the trend when he presented a bill seeking the creation of the Federal University of Technology, Kaduna, which had its first reading in July 2023. The Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, proposed the establishment of the Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences, Bende in Abia State.
“Despite poor funding of the universities, student admissions have continued to grow over the years putting further strains on the overstretched resources.” However, multiple quotas remain unfilled.
Data obtained from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board revealed that in 2017, a total of 418,391 persons gained admission to universities while a total of 119,878 quotas remained unfilled. In 2019, 444,947 applicants gained admission to universities. Despite the increase in enrolment, the unused quota was a staggering 115,666 slots. In 2022, a total of 417,609 persons gained admissions and 458,817 quotas remained unused. Experts in the sector have continued to juxtapose the increase in the number of unused quotas with the increase in the number of universities.
“When you go to some institutions, you notice that these institutions don’t even have enough students to take in so they are left with a huge number of unfilled quotas. Personally, I think that some states don’t even need up to two universities; that is to say one federal and one state university.
‘’Now, the government is forced to release allocations because there is an institution somewhere even though that institution is not even getting enough students while other big institutions are not even able to attract adequate funding,” Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, an education expert with Reform Education Nigeria said.
Between 2020 and 2023, a number of federal, state and federal universities were created. In 2020, the Federal Government approved the take-off of two federal universities. In 2021, four federal universities were approved by the Muhammadu Buhari administration. In 2022, just one federal university was approved, according to data obtained from the National Universities Commission.
In 2023, shortly before the handover, Buhari approved the take-off of two federal universities. However, the administration of President Bola Tinubu announced the take-off of six new federal universities. On the other hand, several universities were also established by state governors. Between 2020 and 2023, it was observed that two were established in Ekiti and Kogi States. In 2021, three state universities were established in Delta State. In 2022, six state universities were established and so far in 2023, three state universities have taken off.
Apart from establishing new universities from scratch, politicians have continued to convert other higher institutions of learning to universities. Investigations by our correspondent revealed that no fewer than 24 state polytechnics and colleges of education were converted to universities. For instance, in 2023, the Tinubu administration approved the conversion of two colleges of education, namely the Adeyemi College of Education and the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, to universities.
Earlier in the year, the immediate-past governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, converted the state-owned college of education, Saadatu Rimi College of Education, into a university.
Similarly, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, upgraded the state-owned Emmanuel Alayande College of Education to a university of education. Earlier, the immediate-past governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, announced the conversion of the Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, to the University of Ilesha.
Also, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, announced the conversion of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education and the Michael Otedola College of Education to the Lagos State University of Education. The governor also announced the upgrade of the Lagos State Polytechnic to the Lagos State University of Science and Technology.
In March 2022, the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, received approval from the National Universities Commission to upgrade the state-owned Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, to a university.
The immediate-past governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, in 2021, announced the conversion of the College of Education, Agbor, to the Delta State University of Education, and the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, to the Delta State University of Science and Technology.
Though a former Executive Secretary, NUC, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, noted that the reason for the upgrade of the institutions to universities was to increase access to university education for citizens, the National President of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Dr Anderson Ezeibe, described it as a frivolous upgrade and “a manifestation of lack of consistency in pursuit of vision by proprietors of public polytechnics in the country.”
Ezeibe argued, “Polytechnics were established to produce professionals in technical/technological and vocational education, which should address national manpower needs in such a direction. This is why the practical component in the curricula for polytechnics is higher as they are expected to produce people with hands-on expertise. This is not the same with universities.
“The question for those who are on this voyage of conversion, like the Lagos State Government, is whether the need for such manpower has been satisfied. The principal reason for the poorly-thought-out conversion is just because the enrolment figures are dropping across polytechnics due to the discrimination against the polytechnics and their products as well as the rustic and anachronistic policies of the government on degree-awarding status for the polytechnics.”
The funding of public universities in Nigeria has long emerged as a critical challenge to the promotion of good tertiary educational standards, maintenance of physical infrastructure, training of lecturers and funding of research in the country, among others. These issues have caused friction between the staff of tertiary institutions and the government, leading to a crisis in the sector.
Higher institutions in the country have often resorted to strike actions to press home their demands for better working conditions and funding. For instance, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the umbrella body of academics in Nigerian universities have gone on strike actions over 16 times in the last 23 years.
Most academics have left the country owing to poor welfare. This has continued to create a shortage of manpower in the university community. The national president of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, while commenting on the matter said, “Nigeria is in deep crisis. Our best brains in academics are leaving the country.
‘’Thousands of our colleagues, the good ones are leaving the country. Some are leaving to go and farm. We must rescue our country, and allow the money for universities to go into universities.”
To address the problem of tertiary education funding, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund was established as an intervention agency. Its areas of intervention include sponsorship of lecturers for postgraduate studies, funding constructions and refurbishment of educational facilities, promoting creative and innovative approaches to learning; provision of higher educational books and funding of libraries, and provision of learning equipment.
TETFund was established at a time when the educational sector at the tertiary level had suffered many years of neglect by successive governments. According to the guidelines for accessing TETFund intervention funds, it is “mandated to administer, manage and disburse the 2 per cent Education Tax collected from the registered companies in Nigeria for the primary purpose of providing auxiliary support for the general improvement of education in Public Tertiary Institutions.”
Accordingly, TETFund disburses its funds to all public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, whether at federal, state or local government levels. All that the public tertiary institution needs to do is follow the guidelines for accessing funds from TETFund by presenting a viable proposal (s) for the project it wants to execute. This poses lots of challenges in the management of the funds to meet the number of problems facing the sector. Beneficiaries of the funds have to use it properly for rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of education infrastructure and facilities and other learning resources including manpower, libraries and laboratories, amongst others.
To access the funds, institutions that had previously benefited from the Fund are required to render a satisfactory and credible account of previous funding as a yardstick to qualify for more funding.
The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities. Calabar zone, Dr. Aniekan Brown during a press briefing recently expressed concern over funding of state universities, alleging that some governors now rely on TETFUND and sometimes divert such money to establish new institutions.
He lamented that poor funding of state universities has resulted in poor state of capital projects in these institutions.
“In some instances, governors divert allocation meant for existing institutions from TETFUND to establish their politically motivated universities. The inadequacy or absence of funding for capital projects has overtly manifested in the dearth of well-equipped workshops, libraries, studios, classrooms, hostels, utilities and municipal services,’’ Brown observed.
Corroborating this, the governor of Kano state, Abba Yusuf, during a visit to TETFund headquarters in Abuja noted that most state universities would not survive without interventions from TETFund.
Findings revealed that most state governors who visit TETFund do so mainly to solicit grants for state-owned institutions. Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, during a visit to the Fund in September 2023, begged for money to execute more projects in tertiary institutions in the state.
“Of course, we’re also here to ask for more support and intervention in Kaduna State. Of course, Kaduna State has done a lot in supporting the TETFund. Only recently, we have been able to give the TETFund one of the most important pieces of land in Kaduna to build their zonal office”, he said.
Similarly, the governor of Osun state, Ademola Adeleke during a visit to the Fund also in September 2023 solicited support for the institutions in his state. Adeleke pointed out that most infrastructure developments in tertiary institutions were traceable to TETFund.
Our correspondent reports that TETFund is funded by a two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria. The tertiary education tax is imposed on every Nigerian company at the rate of 2.5 per cent of the assessable profit for each year of assessment. The tax is payable within two months of an assessment notice from the Federal Inland Revenue Services.
Due to the growing number of institutions in the country, TETFund in April 2023 appealed to the Federal Government to increase the education tax from the current 2.5 per cent to three per cent. The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, made the appeal while announcing the disbursement of N320 billion to public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education as approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari for 2023.
He said an increase would shore up the annual disbursements to tertiary institutions.
Analysis of the allocations made by TETFund to universities from 2020 to 2023 has increased due to the growing number of institutions. Data obtained from TETFund revealed that in 2020, N71.6 billion was budgeted as an intervention for 79 universities. The intervention grant jumped to N99.3bn for 86 universities in 2023.
ASUU believes that all the government needs to do to address the challenges in tertiary institutions is to increase allocation to education. Osodeke said, “Our universities already have autonomy. It depends on your interpretation of it. There is no way the Federal Government would say they won’t fund universities. It’s there in the constitution; section 18 says university, primary and secondary education is free.’’
“From what we’ve seen, I don’t think this government is going to hands-off on funding universities. But the autonomy law enacted in 2003 is there. If we follow it without interference from bureaucrats, universities will be fine,’’ he submitted.
Osodeke said if Nigeria devoted the quality of funding European countries are committing to education, the public university system would not have funding troubles.
“If you check the ratio of Nigeria’s education budget to our GDP, we have the lowest in the world at 0.5 per cent. I’ve heard the current president talk about committing a higher percentage to education and I hope we implement it,’’ he noted.
Osodeke said allocating up to N12bn for overhead costs in federal universities would guarantee the proper running of the institutions.
Continuing, he noted, “When you check our agreement, we have suggested other ways to fund the system because education is a public good. We’re saying they should listen to us so that we can sign and implement it. If UNN Nsukka, UI, and ABU get about N11 billion to N12 billion a year to run universities, won’t that solve the problem? Funding is a critical issue. The second is academics.
“The bulk of academics are leaving the country today because of what professors are being paid. A professor is paid about N400,000 and spends more than N100,000 on fuel to get to their office. They have to pay for their research.
“How will they survive? He goes to another country and is paid about N4 million a month. They are leaving. So we need to look at how we can pay a competitive wage that will enable our academics to stay and also allow non-Nigerians to come here and teach.”
However, experts in the sector think other means should be explored to better fund public universities.
Oluwatoyin of Reform Education Nigeria, said, “In as much as our institutions are not yet ripe for full financial autonomy because the move may force more students out of school because a move for full financial autonomy may lead to a corresponding hike in fees, there is a need for other options to be looked at.
‘’For instance, the best models in the world for funding public universities combine government funding, tuition, research grants and donor support in the form of alumni foundations etc. For these means to even work out, the government must mellow on the establishment of new universities because this alone is putting more pressure on the government purse.’’
