Seek alternative means of funding, FG tells universities

The federal government has advised tertiary institutions to develop alternative means of generating funds to run their activities.

Adamu Adamu, minister of education, said this on Wednesday at the third conference of the committee of pro-chancellors of Nigerian universities, in Abuja.

Adamu, who was represented by Fatima Ahmad, director of tertiary education, said that poor deployment of information communications technology in the education sector was responsible for slow migration from traditional classrooms to smart classrooms.

“Resource constraint is a challenge we are facing. However, the reality for now is the effective and efficient management of all resources available –human, material or financial.

“I would also want to urge you to come up with a framework for funding tertiary education to augment the statutory sources which are not adequate. This is critical because education, as we all know, is a critical nexus in the development process.

“With the present drive for global comparability and harmonisation of tertiary education qualifications, ICT deployment is a must feature in our educational institutions. The current deployment is low and most education officials lack ICT skills.

“There is also a shortage of ICT personnel across the nation. Issues of broadband and power outages are constraining factors that government is trying to address. However, we must look out for alternative support because government cannot do it alone.”

In response, Kimse Okoko, chairman, committee of pro-chancellors of Nigerian universities, said that there were ongoing efforts by tertiary institutions to generate funds internally in order to bridge infrastructural development gap.

“We are encouraging our experts in our universities to get involved in publications so as to increase research collaborations leading to development and, thereby, increasing the internally generated revenue base of the universities,” he said.