Inadequate Funding is The Major Problem Of Nigerian Universities – Prof. Amin

Inadequate funding is major problem of Nigerian Universities – Prof Amin

By Madu Mohammed, Maiduguri

The former Vice Chancellors University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), and Federal University Dutse, Professor, Jibrin Dahiru Amin has said that inadequate funding is the major problem of Nigerian universities, as overhead funds which is meant for the day to day running of the university cannot even pay for electricity bills.

Professor Jibrin Amin who stated this yesterday while presenting a send off Lecture to mark the end of the Tenure of the Vice Chancellor University of Maiduguri, Professor Aliyu Shugaba at the Indimi International Centre of the university yesterday said overhead cost which meant for the day to day runing of the universities are grossly indquate.

Prof Amin in a paper titled ” Leadership challenges in Nigerian Universities” said ” funds for salaries are usually provided for although the fact that the take home pay cannot take staff home is quite a challenge to university leaders because staff have to engage in other things sometimes outside academia to make ends meet”.

“Overhead is generally very meagre, yet it is used for the day-to-day running of the university. This aspect of the budget is the most important limiting factor in funding federal universities in Nigeria. When Vice-Chancellors say that there is no money in the university, they are invariably referring to the meagre overhead allocation. The overhead funds are meant to be used for electricity, water, telephone services, travels, training, meetings, stationery, laboratory consumables, petrol/diesel, minor repair of buildings, examinations, academic ceremonies, internet services, repair of equipment/vehicles and sundry expenses. Yet in some cases it may not even pay for the electricity bill not to talk of petrol and diesel/”, the former VC added.

He therefore, said Universities find themselves in a situation whereby they can comfortably construct buildings from capital and TETfund budgets but cannot afford to pay for electricity to effectively use the building, stressing that Students’ fees is usually the most important source of funds for running universities in many parts of the world. However, in Nigeria most students of public universities are not in a position to pay anything reasonable to fund quality education.

“The fees charged is usually nothing to write home about. So federal universities find themselves in a difficult situation, because the overhead is meagre and fees from students is nowhere near enough for running the university. This inadequate running cost has serious implications for the quality of education given by our universities and constitute another challenge to university leadership”, further stressed.

Prof Amin said ” the challenge of Quality Assurance is a very important one in our universities. Our educational system is not globally competitive by any stretch of imagination. The problem is multifaceted but inadequate funding is at the heart of it. Many outside the university system do not seem to understand that universities are self-regulating. This appears paradoxical. Yet the fact of the matter is that despite having professors in a department, we still subject examination questions and results to moderation by external examiners, our journal papers are peer reviewed, our bid to become Readers and Professors subject to external assessment, our programmes subject to accreditation by professors from other universities and so on. These are essential Quality Assurance measures.”.

He further said in the last two decades many professional bodies have been created by the National Assembly and part of their mandate is to regulate the training of potential members. In other climes most professional bodies serve only in advisory capacity to universities and only regulate entry and practicing qualification/experience of their members. They do not regulate those that are not their members. Here in Nigeria it is possible to receive full NUC accreditation and denied professional accreditation thereby leaving university leader in a state of quandary.

According to him, there are too many professional bodies trying to regulate their professors and Vice-Chancellors are left without any option than to serve several masters in their universities.

“Research or Knowledge creation is an important mandate of our universities, but it has taken a back seat of recent because of lack of funds. Except for Tetfund there is hardly any large and consistent source of research funds in the country. There are therefore few opportunities for getting a research grant locally based on national competition. The environment for research is also rudimentary especially where expensive equipment and infrastructure are needed in the sciences”, he stressed.

He noted that visionary Leaders mobilize their teams and use resources to work towards a shared vision for the advancement of their organization, adding that visionary leader have very clear idea of how a desirable future state of their unit should look like and mobilize and lead their team to achieve their goal..

While sighting example of former US President JF Kenedy, Professor Amin said ” I always enjoy watching on YouTube Tafawa Balewa’s visit to the US during the time of President Kennedy. Tafawa Balewa was well received, unlike subsequent visits to the White House by Nigerian Presidents. The two leaders were both visionary and had a relationship based on mutual respect I was particularly able to further study JF Kennedy when I visited his Library in 2001.
President J. F. Kennedy came into office at a time of intense Cold War with the then USSR a country that was slightly ahead of the US in space research. He therefore had to position to the US to take the lead. In doing this Kennedy demonstrated most of the leadership qualities mentioned earlier.
In his speech to the US Congress President Kennedy laid out his vision for putting an American on the moon before the USSR did so. He told Congress “First I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth…. But in every real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon, we make this judgement affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.”