The Rector, Yaba College of Technology {YABATECH}, Obafemi Omokungbe, has warned that for Nigeria to join the league of industrialised countries with the quality education system, there is need to introduce tuition fees in tertiary institutions in the country, as the nation is not ripe enough to make education tuition-free.
Omokungbe, a civil engineer, gave this warning at an exclusive interview with Businessday in his office, at the administrative building of the college, saying: ‘’it’s clear that the budget allocation can’t do justice to the needs of these institutions. If Nigeria is going to join the league of industrialised countries it needs to fund its education sector adequately. Most importantly, it needs to invest in solid infrastructure for teaching, research and national development.
At the moment, the Rector explained that ‘’no Nigerian student in a public tertiary institution that is paying tuition fees. The directive by the regulatory body is not to charge tuition fees but to impose levies. All we pay here is charges for an identity card, sports, ICT. So the whole burden….. government can’t carry it alone. These are the challenges facing tertiary institutions.
Said he: ‘’Take, for instance, a parent will go all out to pay N3.5 million for secondary school education and want to attend the higher institution for free. Are we not deceiving ourselves? Tertiary institutions deserve more funds to cater for academic and infrastructural development, as government budgetary allocation, not enough. Even when you go to Canada, UK, the international students are paying, for instance, $20,000 dollars the indigene pays $6,000 dollars that shows that education is not free out there. Why can’t we do the same here?
Read also: Parents panic over high fees, children’s safety as schools resume
‘’For us in Nigeria to be at par with others, we must do what others are doing. I understand people won’t be happy for my calling for tuition, but if one sees that we are paying much for secondary education, I see no reason why we can’t pay in the tertiary institution because schools would not totally depend on government. Perhaps, the government should reintroduce the loan’s board as it’s applicable in the UK and in the USA.
‘’Let’s examine what its take to train a particular student in dollars in UK and USA, and start implementing that here. You will then see that people and corporate firms will start shopping for our graduates.
“But with the way things are at the moment, I know that people won’t like my stand for needs to introduce tuition fees in schools. The ideal should be a fee-paying school. In South Africa, they are fee-paying though is not as high as in Britain, but start something so we can remove some of these loads from government,’’ Omokungbe said.
According to Omokungbe, Quality education, inclusive education, has to be among those for the post-2019 agenda because if we don’t put it with all the responsibility that is entrusted upon us we would not live up, in my view, to the expectations of the global community.
The level of funding of the education sector, Omokungbe explained, is one of the major factors that contribute to quality education, adding that ‘’this, in turn, determines growth and development of a country. It’s also been acknowledged that quality education determines the success in achieving sustainable development goals.’’
Another shortfall in Nigeria’s higher education sector Omokungbe further stated is a lack of research grants. He, therefore, urges the public and private sectors to create an enabling environment and work together with the higher education sector to achieve the country’s development goals, stressing that ‘’this is the path taken by developed countries.’’
Said he: ‘’In the last 40 years government funding in the education sector in Nigeria has varied between 6% and 9% of the national budget. This is lower than most other African countries which range between 11% and 30%.
‘’The main source of funding for Nigerian tertiary institutions has been annual budgetary allocations from the state and federal governments.
To complement these allocations, the federal government established an education trust fund in 1993. This agency has been supporting government tertiary institutions under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act. This imposes a 2% education tax on the profits of Nigeria’s registered companies.
‘’ The fund has played a significant role in promoting quality and education standards in Nigerian tertiary institutions. These funds have been used for: construction and rehabilitation of buildings and laboratories, procurement of teaching and research equipment, academic staff training and research development, Capacity building and teacher training, information and communication technology,’’ Omokungbe stated.
The Rector, however, commended those behind the establishment of TETFUND, saying ‘’without TETFUND, there won’t be many tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Visit any institution today, what you easily notice, is the logo of TETFUND. Be it at the lab, be it in buildings, be it equipment, it’s a wonderful privilege to have TETFUND in place. Its services had been tremendous in the life of every institution in Nigeria.’’
