Lagos – The Vice- Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahamon Bello, on Monday urged the Federal Government to consider a re-evaluation of the funding pattern of public universities across the country.

Bello made the plea while delivering the 2nd annual memorial lecture of his predecessor, Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe.

The theme of the lecture is, “Funding of University Education in Nigeria: Trends, Challenges and New Directions”.

The lecture was put together by the Lagos branch of the University of Lagos Alumni Association.

Sofoluwe died in active service on May 11, 2012.

According to the vice-chancellor, the current system of funding the nation’s ivory towers does not promote efficiency, pro-activeness, scholarship and best practices.

He suggested that government should consider payment of tuition fees for university students rather than subvention.

Bello said, “if this is done, it will change the situation and make the universities live up to their mandates with less disruption to academic calendars.’’

“The amount of money that the Nigerian government devotes to education, which is lower than 26 per cent of its expenditure as recommended by UNESCO, explains in part, the little progress that has been made in this sector since 1990.

“Lack of adequate financing has been identified as the greatest problem facing education development in Nigeria.

“This problem is further compounded by the growing number of students that enroll annually in our universities.’’

“This challenge has led to many recurring problems in the system over the years.

“Institutional deterioration and salary erosion during the past decade have prompted substantial brain drain of academic staff and impeded new staff recruitment,’’ he added.

Bello said the 2012 NEEDS assessment report of the Federal Government had shown that majority of the universities were grossly understaffed and relied heavily on part-time and visiting lecturers.

He said that a lot of under-qualified academics were currently in the system.

Bello also said that staff development programmes outside the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Intervention as well as the Presidential First Class Scholarship programme were inadequate.

According to the university administrator, reports have also shown that only about 43 per cent of teaching staff in the public universities have doctoral degrees.

Only seven of the 100 Nigerian public universities had up to 60 per cent of their teaching staff having PhDs, he noted.

“As we speak, it is good to note that the ratio of teaching staff to students in many universities is 1:100.

“For instance, it is 1:363 at the National Open University of Nigeria, 1:122 at the University of Abuja and 1: 144 at the Lagos State University,” he said.

Bello said that if funds were released per students and not used to pay for personnel and services directly, the financial and administrative autonomy would be guaranteed.

Under that regime, he hoped that each institution would be guided to chart a course and manage its resources to service its core business similar to how the private universities operate.

This will change the psychology and behaviour of students toward their academic pursuits and also improve the learning environment, he stressed.

The vice-chancellor said that stability in the academic calendar would also be attained with less disruption.

Bello, however, called for a restructuring of all tiers of education in the country, adding that with the increasing population of the country, adequate infrastructure should be provided.

“The human resource element of any nation will largely determine the direction it will go.’’

Earlier in his goodwill message, the Chairman of the alumni association, Dr Ayodele Ogunleye, said the annual memorial lecture series were aimed at celebrating and advancing Sofoluwe’s intellectual and administrative legacies.

Ogunleye said the lecture series would also promote the values that Sofoluwe struggled to advance throughout his life time.

He listed such values as human rights, social justice and freedom of expression for all. (NAN)