ASUU STRIKE: The truth about university funding ...Read more

FOR over three months now, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been on a strike action, which has left their students in the lurch, the government embarrassed, parents agitated and everyone concerned. Apart from the other issues around their remuneration cleverly tucked away, ASUU’s main grouse is what it terms inadequate funding of our universities. But is ASUU correct in their position on university funding?

   From what we have heard so far on the ongoing strike action – at least from the camp of ASUU – government is reneging on its commitment on the Needs Assessment Fund. According to the lecturers, the government entered into an agreement with ASUU in 2009 to intervene to save the universities from infrastructural collapse by promising to invest N400 billion over the next four years. Lest we forget, this special intervention was the initiative of the government without any pressures from ASUU or the unpatriotic politicians now lurking on the side and cheering lecturers on to continue the strike. 

   By rejecting the N130 billion that the government has offered, ASUU is pretending that special intervention from the government in the Needs Assessment Fund is the only source of funding for the universities. That is not correct. Apart from special intervention from the government, there are at least five other means or sources of funding for Nigerian universities. The question is, why is ASUU shielding from the public its other sources of funding? Is it a conspiracy to blackmail the government?

Is it a cover to aid and abet corruption in the management of these funds by its members? Or is it sheer admission that it has no interests in how their various universities are governed?

   Yes, we do know that there is also general intervention by government through some of its agencies to provide funds for the running of Nigerian universities. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) is one of such institutions that intervene generally through funding of the universities by providing research grants, building of hostels, equipping of university libraries and laboratories and even in the area of assisting lecturers in publishing some of their manuscripts in book format.

Similarly, the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PDTF) is another government agency helping in funding the universities. Their intervention has been felt largely in the area of providing scholarship for graduate studies in and outside the country to qualified Nigerian students. They are also helping out in providing infrastructural upgrading in our campuses across the country.

   Apart from the special intervention from government and the general intervention by some of its agencies, the universities are also exposed to special grants from the government or any of its agencies to individual universities or group of universities to tackle their unique problems.  And from time to time, we do hear of donations coming from some specialised agencies like the Central Bank to our universities. I hope ASUU members do not see these funds no matter how irregular they may be, as just mere pocket money?

   Universities, we know, also get some funding as external grants from foreign donors. Ideally, the nature of universities makes them international citizens and institutions exposed to global goodwill and support. These can come in the way of provision of fellowships and scholarships for capacity building in research and learning, donation of books and other teaching materials, and of course, cash donations. That this source of funding is not regular does not mean it is nonexistent.

Even its irregularity may be traced to the lethargic activities and obsolete programmes of our universities that are no longer relevant to the fast-moving world of knowledge. For example, it is not difficult to see a university professor teaching his students in 2013 with the notes he made in 1980, if not in the 70s! The very day that our university departments begin to do things that excite and tickle the world, all sorts of international donors, especially big industries would be scrambling for them. Agreed, it is easier to argue that this can only be possible with adequate funding.

   What about the various endowments from many private sector organisations to universities? It is also well documented that our universities enjoy considerable endowments from private sector and even public sector companies through which funds are made available to run their various programmes and departments. Companies like PZ, First Bank, Afribank, Chevron, Shell, Intercontinental Bank, Guinness PLC, Nigerian Breweries, and several other corporate organisations are known to have contributed at different times various amount of money or have donated hostels, classrooms, faculty or department buildings or instituted awards in different universities in the land as their contributions to the funding of universities. While it is true  that the private sector needs to contribute more to the funding of education, especially at the tertiary level, it is patently misleading to pretend that that no funding at all comes from the sector.

  Finally, the principle of autonomy, which ASUU has canvassed over the years, connotes financial independence. What this means is that our universities must be able to generate and manage their resources internally without the unnecessary interference from the government. Indeed, universities charge all kinds of fees from students and other clients for services rendered. While the argument whether the fees presently charged by federal and state-owned institutions are enough to sustain them rages, it is nonetheless pertinent to raise accountability questions in the management of what is available at the moment. And this is where ASUU has a responsibility to Nigerians to ensure the judicious use of its internally generated revenue on our campuses. This must be so because ASUU members dominate all layers of university governance, whether Council or Senate!    

Nwokoroigwe writes from Owerri