By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA-INDICATIONS of imminent and possible increment in tuition fees in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions of learning have appeared following a matching order by the Senate to the higher institutions to immediately increase their internal generated revenues.

The Senate insisted that academic institutions must begin to look inward with a view to generating more revenues to augment federal government allocations, stressing that government alone cannot adequately fund education.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, Jibril Barau, who handed down the position of the Red Chamber, Thursday, during the 2017 budget defence session his committee had with heads of federal colleges of education, challenged tertiary institutions across the country to develop mechanism to generate funds as internal revenues instead of depending on government handouts.

Senator Barau, who frowned at poor internally generated revenues of colleges of education in the 2016, said if such development persists, the nation’s colleges of education may find academic environment hard to operate.

He further explained that internally generated revenues would augment federal allocations, stressing that government alone cannot adequately fund education.

Hear him :”I want to challenge all of you here especially Colleges of Education to look inwards to generate funds to augment government allocations, in this way, it will enhance academic activities”, Barau noted.

“We cannot continue to see Colleges of education or Tertiary Institutions performing poorly in their internally generated revenues.’

But he suggested that higher institutions can generate revenues through Commercialization of their patent in research findings and create endowment funds through setting up of consultancy services.

He, however, cautioned that the revenues generation should not overburden their students.

In his presentation earlier, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Bappa Aliu Muhammadu, explained that poor funding was hampering the activities of colleges of education.

He explained that activities of the Commission has been on the increase, noting that the current budgetary provision was no longer sustainable.