{"id":47646,"date":"2019-04-23T11:27:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T18:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=47646"},"modified":"2019-04-23T11:27:43","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T18:27:43","slug":"nigerian-universities-are-suffering-from-neglect-why-this-should-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/nigerian-universities-are-suffering-from-neglect-why-this-should-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian universities are suffering from neglect. Why this should stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe level of funding of the education sector has been\u00a0recognised<\/a>\u00a0as one of the major factors that contribute to quality education. This, in turn, determines growth and development of a country. It\u2019s also been\u00a0acknowledged<\/a>\u00a0that quality education determines the success in achieving the sustainable development goals.<\/p>\n

As Irina Bokova, the former Director General, UNESCO,\u00a0said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Quality education, inclusive education, has to be among those for the post-2015 agenda because if we don\u2019t put it with all the responsibility that is entrusted upon us we would not live up, in my view, to the expectations of the global community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the last 40 years government funding in the education sector in Nigeria has varied between\u00a06% and 9%<\/a>\u00a0of the national budget. This is\u00a0lower<\/a>\u00a0than most other African countries which range between 11% and 30%.<\/p>\n

This meagre allocation is also expected to fund the country\u2019s higher education system.<\/p>\n

At independence about 60 years ago Nigeria had only two tertiary institutions. These were Yaba Higher College (founded in 1934), now Yaba College of Technology and the University of Ibadan,Ibadan was initially a College of the University of London, founded in 1948.<\/p>\n

After independence in 1960, all Nigeria\u2019s states were determined to make education accessible at all levels. This, plus\u00a0population growth<\/a>\u00a0led to a significant increase in the number of tertiary institutions.<\/p>\n

By 2018, Nigeria had 160\u00a0approved universities<\/a>. These included 43 federal universities, 48 state universities and 79 private universities. In addition, there were 113\u00a0polytechnics<\/a>\u00a0and 47\u00a0monotechnics<\/a>\u00a0,71<\/a>\u00a0colleges of health technology, 153\u00a0innovation enterprise institutions<\/a>, most of which are privately owned and 132\u00a0technical colleges<\/a>. There were 82\u00a0colleges of education<\/a>,consisting of 22 federal, 46 under the state\u2019s care and 14 privately owned.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that the budget allocation can\u2019t do justice to the needs of these institutions. If Nigeria is going to join the league of industrialised countries it needs to fund its education sector adequately. Most importantly, it needs to invest in solid infrastructure for teaching, research and national development.<\/p>\n

Funding<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The main source of funding for Nigerian tertiary institutions has been annual budgetary allocations from the state and federal governments. To complement these allocations, the federal government established an education trust fund in 1993. This agency has been supporting government tertiary institutions under the\u00a0Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act<\/a>. This imposes a 2% education tax on the profits of Nigeria\u2019s registered companies.<\/p>\n

The fund has played a significant role in promoting quality and education standards in Nigerian tertiary institutions. These funds have been used for:<\/p>\n