Increasing state varsities depend on TETFund for survival
Some state universities across the country are bedevilled by financial constraints. Consequently, they depend, to a large extent, on the federal government through TETfund-driven interventions for survival. Daily Trust on Sunday in this special publication takes a look at the situations in some of the affected states. Ogun State Government can be more responsive […]
National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters
Some state universities across the country are bedevilled by financial constraints. Consequently, they depend, to a large extent, on the federal government through TETfund-driven interventions for survival. Daily Trust on Sunday in this special publication takes a look at the situations in some of the affected states.
Ogun State
Ogun State owns two universities, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode.
The immediate past governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, at the twilight of his administration, established the Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology (MAUSTECH). However, the new government put it on hold.
Besides, the state tops the ladder as it hosts the highest number of approved universities in Nigeria, with at least 13 universities located in different parts.
Beyond the reasons given by the government for the establishment of the institutions, Daily Trust on Sunday’s findings revealed that the state universities have turned into a cash-cow for the state government, generating a substantial part of the state’s monthly internally generated revenue (IGR).
When COVID-19 broke out in 2020 and forced institutions to close, Ogun’s monthly IGR recorded a N20 billion drop.
Governor Dapo Abiodun confirmed that a sharp decline in the state’s IGR in 2020 was due to the lack of revenue from the education sector.
Last year, the OOU said it had received a total of N5.072 billion, which included a total of N4.1bn from the IGR, covering over N2.6bn from tuition and examination fees, representing 64.2 per cent of its target for the year (2021).
Prof. Deji Agboola, the institution’s deputy vice chancellor, academics, disclosed this while defending the 2022 budget proposal of the university before members of the Ogun House of Assembly.
Meanwhile, some students who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday lamented the lack of adequate lecturers and infrastructure, especially lecture rooms as some of the challenges confronting the institutions.
“Like in our Faculty of Science, Information and Technology, we have to wait for some set of students to vacate the lecture hall before we could make use of it, on many occasions. We also do not have enough lecturers,” a female student of the TASUED told our correspondent.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
Gombe
The Gombe State University was established in 2004 by the administration of former Governor Muhammad Danjuma Goje. It is the first tertiary institution in the state.
It took off with the structures of former Teachers’ College (TC), Gombe, where the three pioneer faculties of Social Science and Humanities, Science and Education debuted.
Apart from the College of Medical Sciences, all the departmental buildings, offices, the Senate building, as well as students’ hostels, were located at the take-off site until the intervention by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Since then, (10 years ago), all the existing new buildings were constructed by the TETFund through its different intervention programmes.
Some of the projects executed with TETFund financing include the university library, students’ hostel, faculties of Sciences and Pharmaceutical Science as well as the ongoing construction work on the faculties of Law and Education.
Others included lecture theatres, multi-purpose halls as well as the proposed senate building.
Since inception, the principal officers of the university are operating in old renovated offices, which also serve as the senate building.
Daily Trust on Sunday also gathered that apart from interventions for infrastructure, TETfund is solely responsible for sponsorship of seminars, workshops for non-academic staff as well as post graduate degrees for academic staff both at the masters and PhD levels.
A senior official who preferred anonymity also said that apart of old structures inherited from the old Teachers’ College, all the new buildings, including completed or ongoing ones were being by the TETFund intervention.
He added that after the College of Medical Sciences, constructed by Goje’s administration about 14 years ago, there was no new project undertaken by the state government in the university.
“The administration of former Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, however, constructed a new College of Medical Sciences for clinical for medical students.
“The only intervention in the university by the state government is the monthly subvention of N200million for salaries and overhead costs,” he said.
Daily Trust on Sunday also learnt that computers, operational vehicles, laboratory equipment and other equipment needed for teaching in the university are being provided by the TETFund.
When our correspondent visited the university, it was gathered that there’s no abandoned project in the institution as all the awarded projects were at different levels of execution, with some nearing completion.
But despite dependence on TETfund, Governor Dankwambo, at the twilight of his administration, inaugurated the Gombe State University of Science and Technology at Kumo, Akko Local Government Area.
He appointed the pioneer vice chancellor of the GSU, Professor Abdullahi Mahdi, as the vice chancellor, alongside other principal officers for the institution.
But until the end of the administration’s tenure on May 29, 2019, the university could not take off.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that all the members of academic and non-academic staff had not received salaries for the months they spent in the university.
However, when the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya took over in 2019, he retained all the principal officers, although they are sitting idle. However, both academic and non-academic staff were sacked by the state government due to paucity of funds.
Efforts to speak with the state government and other management of the institutions were futile as officials contacted declined comment.
Kano State
Kano State owns two universities: Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, and Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano (YUMSUK), formerly known as North-West University. They were established in 2001 and 2012 respectively by former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to complement the only federal university in the state (Bayero University) to cater for the growing need of institutions of higher learning in Nigeria’s most populous state.
The KUST has six faculties and 29 academic departments while the YUMSUK has six faculties and 19 academic departments. But both institutions largely depend on the federal government’s interventions through the TETFund for their infrastructures.
Findings by Daily Trust on Sunday indicate that more than 80 per cent of lecture theatres and other infrastructure were built with grant from the TETfund.
“In KUST, Wudil, I can confirm to you that more than 80 per cent of the buildings were constructed with TETFund. In terms of infrastructure, I don’t think this institution would stand without federal government’s intervention,” a staff of the institution who did not want to be mentioned said.
He, however, commended the state government for taking care of certain responsibilities.
“The state government is living up to some expectations. There were some outstanding hazard allowances that accumulated for almost seven years, but were all paid by the state government. There is no much complaint in this aspect. It is only in the area of infrastructure that the institution must rely on the federal government to stand,” he added.
Our correspondent also gathered that only the Senate building and one other that is still under construction are being funded by the state government.
A 400-level student in the Department of Information Technology who preferred anonymity said, “Just recently, after completing our exams, I was arguing with some of my coursemates about state versus federal government projects. We went round the entire campus, and to our surprise, we found out that only the Senate building and one other that is still under construction were done by the state government. All the rest of the structures are TETFund projects.
Our correspondent also gathered that the state government is funding both institutions. It said it had appropriated over N2.2bn for different interventions for both of them in its 2022 budget.
The interventions, we learnt, included meeting the terms of accreditation of some courses by the National Universities Commission (NUC), construction of some departments and staff quarters, purchase of some security gadgets, as well as construction of some feeders.
Speaking about the state of funding in the KUST, Wudil, the secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the university, Dr Murtala Muhammad, said the institution, like many others owned by the state, was suffering.
He said proliferation of state universities and their poor funding were part of ASUU’s current strike demands.
“The KUST has funding problems. There are times the government does not even release budgeted funds. There was a year that only two per cent was released.
“States create universities they cannot fund, just for political reasons. Virtually all the school’s capital projects were executed by the TETfund.” he said.
Similarly, at the YUMSUK, the story is almost the same as virtually all the projects there were done by the TETfund.
“The funding problem is largely with infrastructure. The school relies on TETFund, not the state government.
“But we don’t have a problem with payment of staff salaries. In terms of manpower, we are gradually moving as the institution has just commenced postgraduate programmes,” a staff of the institution told our correspondent.
Efforts to hear from the state’s commissioner for higher education, Dr Mariya Bunkure, were not successful.
Edo
Edo has three state-owned universities – Ambrose Alli University, located in Esan West Local Government, Edo University, Uzairue in Etsako West Local Government Area and Ekiadolor University in Ovia North East Local Government Area.
Ekiadolor was upgraded from a college of education to a university by former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, but the university is yet to take off.
It was gathered that the existing ones are not adequately funded, especially the Ambrose Alli University, where lecturers frequently embark on strike to protest inadequate funding and non-payment of salaries and entitlements.
The university, which was established by a former governor of the state, the late Ambrose Alli, has over 15 professors but is still lacks in the area of infrastructure.
It was gathered that the institution mainly relies on TETFund for infrastructure.
The Edo University, Uzairue, is run like a private institution; hence the tuition fee is beyond the reach of an average resident of the state.
Speaking with our correspondent on the state of funding, the chairman of the ASUU, Ekpoma chapter, Cyril Onogbosele, said it had been very inadequate over the years.
“We have struggled with this over the years, not just with this government but with previous ones. But it got to an alarming state recently as subvention from the government is almost insignificant,” he said.
He noted that in Ekpoma, it is the same problem, which is affecting the university administration, in terms of remuneration for workers, delay in payment of salaries and other entitlements.
“We have not received salaries in the past 17 months; what I mean is that when they paid, it is net salary. We have unremitted deduction, check-up dues to union and other bodies are withheld. That has been the trend,” he said.
On infrastructure, he said the school was seriously affected as it does not really get anything from the state government; but it gets from from TETfund.
Daily Trust on Sunday could not get a response from the Commissioner for Education in the state, Dr Joan Osa-Oviawe because when our correspondent visited her office for comments, he was asked to drop his number to be contacted when she approved it.
Ebonyi
There are three universities in Ebonyi State – two owned by the federal and state governments respectively, while the other is a private institution.
However, the state government under the present administration, has established another university known as ‘King David Medical University, Uburu, but it is yet to begin academic activities.
Originally, the concept behind the establishment of the King David Medical University was for it to serve as the teaching hospital for the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), which in 2011 was ceded to the federal government.
The state government also handed over the defunct Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH) so as to cut monthly subventions to the school.
Our correspondent reports that the EBSU is suffering from underfunding under this administration.
Investigation showed that the monthly subvention depreciated from N350 million (before the ceding of the teaching hospital) to N270m between 2011 and 2015 to the present N150m.
A senior lecturer in the university, Professor Ndubuisi Idenyi, regretted that budgets for the school were far below the benchmark of the NUC.
On the proliferation of universities, Idenyi said politicians had turned universities as their constituency projects or a tool for political compensation.
He argued that the fund used in establishing additional universities, if channeled to the existing ones, would go far in solving the current challenges facing the sector.
“In Ebonyi State, for instance, we have the EBSU and another newly built university called King David Medical University. And two others underway,” he said.
He advised the state government to think again, fund the existing ones, add relevant courses or programmes when needed and not to establish more when they are still battling to sustain the EBSU.
“Again, let me draw a line: the official monthly subvention made to the EBSU presently is N150m. Out of this sum, N31m will be deducted as tax, leaving us with N119m. And the exact monthly salary for staff is N380m.
“So with the present subvention, the EBSU can only pay salaries three times in a year; and with addition of the school fees, we can only pay for eight months in a year.
“To close this gap, that is why we keep rushing, taking two academic years in one year, which is not helping the students. And you cannot divert TETFund money to pay salaries,” he added.
Ekiti
Ekiti State has two state universities: Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti and Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology located in Ikere-Ekiti.
The ASUU chairman in the EKSU, Mr Kayode Arogundade, said the varsity was not being funded properly, adding that the institution gets 50 per cent subvention from the government, about N260m out of N520m needed by the institution to be funded properly.
He said the institution was surviving but without a good number of students’ population to generate enough revenue.
He added that states with two or more universities were doing so for political reasons and they are not being funded properly.
Reacting, the institution’s public relations officer, Mr Bode Olofinmuagun, said the institution had adequate number of lecturers in all its faculties and departments.
The commissioner for information in the state, Mr Akin Omole, said the manpower in the two institutions was enough to service them, looking at the scope of work they do.
Omole added that the EKSU had autonomy to fund itself through research and internal innovations and services.
Kogi State
Kogi has two state-owned universities, namely, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba and Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara.
While the establishment of the new university, CUSTECH, raised dust from some quarters as a misplaced priority, the state government said the idea behind it was to create manpower needs to handle teething issues of medicine and engineering that bedevilled the state and the country.
The commissioner for information and communication, Kingsley Fanwo said, “The idea behind CUSTECH is to make Kogi the tech leader of Nigeria by providing quality manpower for the growing number of industries in Kogi State and her 10 neighbouring states.
“We also have our eyes on the Ajaokuta steel company and some other multinational outfits within and outside the state. It is our dream that the CUSTECH would be a foremost baker of tech experts for our great country,” he said.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that apart from the issue of inadequate qualified lecturers that is posing a challenge in the two institutions, there is also the issue of accreditation of courses, which is a money-guzzling venture and has been a recurring decimal.
The vice chancellor of the PAU, Professor Marietu Ohurene-Tenuche, said the fear of consolidation and continuity of the courses due to accreditation was still in the air because of the challenge of funds.
Meanwhile, a student of the CUSTECH said it was too early to judge the academic exercise of the institution since the state government is fixing all the weak links to ensure that quality education is attained.
“So far, so good, it is not bad yet, we have kicked off well. And we hope we would get the best at the end of the day,” a student who preferred to be called Rabiu said.
Experts speak
Speaking on the trend, Prof Ben Ugheoke of the University of Abuja, said it was evident that many governors now embark on university establishment spree not minding the negative consequences of such endeavours.
According to him, the governors feel that the fastest way to develop a place is to establish a higher institution. “In naivety, this line of thought could easily be supported by the amount of money that would circulate in the place as a result of higher inflow of human beings. In a nutshell, change in social demographics, occasioned by the establishment of the universities, would favour this line of thought,” he said.
Prof Ugheoke said another reason was the fact that they see them as constituency projects as they look at the political map of the state and try to take some projects to their constituents, and universities are wrongly considered or classified as one of such projects.
“The last probable reason is that the governors believe that once the pronouncement is made, TETFund would be used to fund such glorified secondary schools they call universities,” he said.
He noted that, unfortunately, none of these reasons supports the establishment of what is defined as a university, saying that many of the currently established schools the governors call universities have no capacity for high-level learning and to conduct research.
He said, “Other than a means or conduit for financial drains and other forms of malfeasance, these schools have no reason to be in existence. They are never well funded. They are never adequately staffed. Apart from capital grants they receive from TETFund and other intervention funds available as a result of the struggles of the ASUU, these universities cannot boast of structures built by the state.”
He maintained that over 98 per cent of them could be classified as TETFund and Needs Assessment interventions-funded universities.
“In many of them, members of staff hardly receive their salaries. They are, therefore, pushed to engage in unwholesome practices uncharacteristic of the university system. This behaviour of indiscriminate establishment of universities without proper planning must stop,” he said.
For Prof Nasiru Idris, the dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, the global best practices, coupled with the population size of Nigeria, and the rate at which demand for university education in the country is currently at, there is a need for more universities in the country, but the problem of establishing new ones now is that “the existing state universities are currently under funded.”
“If you look at the existing physical structures and facilities in the state universities today, more than 50 per cent of their buildings are provided by TETFund. Most state governments are just paying part of the university salaries and ignoring physical projects.
“What I am expecting state governments to do is very simple: establish a state public university but privately driven. This means that the tuition fees will be higher than the fully state-owned university and tuition fees across programmes will be different,” he said.
While noting that the current tuition fee obtainable in some universities across Nigeria is not sustainable, he said that in universities in Asia, Latin America and North America that are fully government-owned, the tuition fees are not cheap.
Prof Idris, however, called for full university autonomy as the answer after establishment, saying, “Also, ask yourself a question: How are some private universities in the country surviving? They all have their tuition fees not less than N500,000.”
By Chidimma C. Okeke (Abuja), Peter Moses (Abeokuta), Sani Ibrahim Paki (Kano), Tijani Labaran (Lokoja), Usman A. Bello (Benin), Nabob Ogbonna (Abakiliki), Raphael Ogbonnaiye (Ado-Ekiti) & Haruna Gimba Yaya (Gombe)