Varsities lament economic downturn, galloping inflation
Tamarauemi Ebimini
Vice Chancellor of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Prof. Kayode Ijadunola, yesterday, called on the federal government to take swift and innovative measures to address the country’s economic challenges towards safeguarding the future of Nigerian youths.
The vice chancellor, who expressed displeasure over the state of university education in the country, stressed the severe threats posed by the economic downturn, noting that the challenges stem not from educational content but from the repercussions of a struggling and depressed economy.
Ijadunola, who chaired the maiden edition of the Elizade University Bursary Lecture, stated that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had helped sustain many public universities amidst financial hardships, pointing out that without such support, numerous institutions would have collapsed.
He, however, lamented the increasingly hostile economic environment faced by private universities, emphasising the urgent need for comprehensive solutions.
The Bursar of Elizade University, Mr Samuel Ajeigbe, observed that the Nigerian economy was groaning as it was bedevilled by damaging naira depreciation and hyperinflation, which, he said, was the highest in about 28 years.
According to him, financial challenges in the country have led to a sharp drop in student enrolment, increased voluntary withdrawals and the high cost of running alternative power sources, alongside the larger social problems of high levels of unemployment, kidnappings, insurgencies, and insecurity.
The guest lecturer, Vice-Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, whose lecture dwelled on “Financial Challenges in the Nigerian University Sector in a Volatile and Uncertain Economy,” said appropriate cutting-edge technology and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) must be deployed in management in the university system.
She observed that the cost of university education was fast increasing, making a single source of funding unrealistic and unsustainable, even as the government budget for education in Nigeria remained ridiculously low at 6.39 per cent of the total budget, against the UNESCO minimum benchmark recommendation of 15 per cent. Olarinde lamented that a lot of highly qualified Nigerian youths were being wasted and denied university education.
According to her, statistics show that only 19.5 per cent of candidates were offered admission into medicine, surgery, and health sciences out of those who qualified. This, she said, was the fallout of poor funding for university education in Nigeria.
He noted that there was no justification for the exclusion of private universities as beneficiaries of TETFund, which derives its funding from taxes collected from both public and private companies, adding: “Private universities, which play a crucial role in expanding access to tertiary quality education, are denied any benefits from TETFund.”
