The Dwindling Standard of Education in Nigeria: The Way Forward (2), by Afe Babalola

Nigerians have been made to believe that all they have to do is to sit at home, produce children and donate them to the government to nurture, maintain, train and educate. Nigerians want free medical treatment, subsidised food, good roads, cheap electricity, free water, free education, etc.

With the huge damage done to all sectors of the economy and the need to revive each and every sector simultaneously, it will be unreasonable to expect that government would pump all its resources into our university education alone. Time has come when Nigeria must face the reality of its economic and financial circumstances and do what others elsewhere do to propel their universities to institutions of national relevance, capable of fulfilling their national aspirations.

The 13 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries reviewed higher education funding, it concluded as follows:

“Tuition fees are becoming the international rule and not the exception. Eight of the 13 OECD main competitor countries analyzed in this paper charge tuition fees of some sort. All of these eight vary their fees to some extent”.

In Canada, tuition fees are paid and they are on the rise.

In Australia, differential fees are paid on the basis of income. 

For Japan, with effect from 2000, state universities were allowed to have greater autonomy and, more importantly, they have freedom to set their own tuition levels.

In China, fees are set according to market conditions taking into account both costs and demands.

In America, fees of public and private institutions are rising by an average of 14.1 percent at public institutions.

In Nigeria, some people protested that the N90 hostel fee per student charged since 1985 should not be increased.

The Committee of Registrars of Nigerians Universities had sent a memo to government on this matter in 1996. The first of the solutions then proposed was to request universities to provide a professional accounting that would show what it costs exactly to provide its services.

What does it cost a university to provide for X number of medical students in their first semester study? This requires that all costs elements (e.g. Biochemistry 101) per X number of students per semester must be computed. This means that it will be possible to determine what it costs to educate a medical student in a university.

Now if the government says anyone who goes to medical school needs not pay, what it means is that the government is disbursing to the university exactly what it costs the university to provide the service for each student. Otherwise both government and college authorities are engaged in a murderous game of make-believe for the training of doctors.

The Registrar’s suggested solutions in 1996 are still valid today and are based on the following principles:

*Parents who can pay fees should be made to pay instead of declaring a tuition-free university policy which does not match with commensurate financial backing.

*No student who qualifies for admission should be denied higher education merely because of his/her inability to pay fees.

*All tiers of government from Local Council to Federal Government should be part of the fee-paying process

*The private sector should be allowed to be part of the scheme.

Guidelines suggested by the Registrars for the implementation of these Principles include the following:

*The Federal Government may provide scholarships on merit to say 30 per cent of those who properly gain admission to the university, to cover 100 per cent tuition. Tuition will of course be different from institution to institution as indicated above. Additional loans may be granted to cover a proportion of other cost of living and books, while parents or guardians take care of the rest, which will be minimal.

*Again, scholarships may be granted up to 75 per cent of tuition for the next 30 per cent on merit. And additional loans may be granted to cover another segment of the cost of living and books.

*State governments should also follow suit by granting scholarships and loans according to their own criteria to cover the remaining 40 of the population of admitted students from their states.

*Local councils may grant scholarships and loans to indigent students from their local council communities. Local authorities are best at determining criteria for indigence and membership of a local council.

*The Federal Government may again grant scholarships and loans to those from disadvantaged areas who have not been adequately covered by 1-4 above.

*Universities themselves may grant scholarships based on their own criteria.

These suggestions deserve attention.

Unless the funding of federal and state universities is properly and frontally addressed, the education sector is doomed.

It is significant to note that foreign students coming to Nigeria prefer private universities to federal or state universities. The obvious reasons include the fact that the university calendar is scrupulously adhered to and there is greater discipline among teachers and students, etc.

Alumni, Community and Endowment  Fund

What the Registrars omitted to address was the important role of Alumni, the Community and Endowment in the funding of the university.

Nigerians of today believe only receiving but not in giving. I recall the song credited to male and female frogs. The female says: “Bun mi (give me), while the male says: “Bun o” (which means take from me” or I will give you”). But Nigerians believe only in receiving and receiving but not in giving.

The Europeans and Americans believe in the philosophy of give and take in the establishment and funding of universities. Most early universities in the US were founded through gifts and endowment by philanthropists, the alumni and the community. Members of the community also donate heavily inter vivos or through WILLS which come in form of shares, buildings or money to universities. This was how the great universities in the medieval era were founded and funded. Harvard University and Cambridge University were not founded by government and do not depend on government funding.

During the fiscal year 2001 the Harvard University income was $2,228,200,000. The breakdown of the income of the University that year is as follow:

Student income –  23%

Endowment income distributed –  28%

Income from other investments –  5%

Current use-gifts –  7%

Other operating income –  14%

Sponsored research support –    23%

•Please send your comments to president@abuad.edu.ng 

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