The Role Of Federal Government In Nigerian Universities.

Emwenta Jerry Osas

It amazes me to see Nigerian universities turning into business ventures. Funny enough, most of these universities have reneged on their primary functions of knowledge production to pure water and bread production. Of course this is unconnected to the school management. As air is essential for human survival so is finance to universities. However, it exposes the inadequacy of the federal government to tertiary education. Upon this, one would wonder if the supposed roles of the federal government to Federal universities are not as theoretical as the doctrine – democracy in Nigeria.

Universities are integra part of public utilities that add values to the social and material life of the citizens. Because of the strategic functions universities play in a society, the central authority assumes some indispensable roles to facilitate the actualization of the manifest and latest functions of universities. So, the survival of federal universities is intertwine with the proportion of key roles the central government faithfully performs. This then implies the reason why University of Ibadan or Lagos is still far behind in world universities rankings is due to the federal government’s inability to be coherent in its duties to Nigerian universities. The endless ASUU and NASU strikes, the poor teaching environment, dilapidated infrastructure and lack of technological equipment are as a result of government unfulfilled roles
Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of development. It raises people’s productivity, creativity and promotes entrepreneurship and technological advancement. Nelson Mandala argued that the development of a country is largely connected with the level of quality education provides by that country’s Tertiary institutions. In order to have a qualitative education that can facilitate development, the Federal Government of that country must assume some duties faithfully.

Finance is undisputable the life blood of every institution. The daily activities of university; the research components; and other strategic functions are all subjected to the richness of finance in that academy structure. This role of disbursement of finance by the federal government to the universities is very fundamental, it is often carried out by the Ministry of education. It is the otherwise consequences of this role that has changed the status of university to business venture. Mostly, Nigerian universities are financed by the Tax Payer money. Unfortunately, some leaders are too crude and analogical to understand the element of education in development of a Nation in the 21st century. This is the problem that befalls Nigeria today. Five to six percent (5-6%)of her budget goes to education as against 25-30% of Singapore’s budget that accrues to education.
Singapore is a practical example of African country that has attained the status of developed country through education. For education to be seen as a driver of development, federal government must fulfill this role religiously.

Also, a stable and Democratic society is impossible without wide spread acceptance of some common set of values and Norms. This the government does by setting the universities curriculums. The federal government, through the ministry of education, assumes the responsibility of setting the Universities curriculums in line with the societal needs and demands. It shapes students into different areas of specialization, with each area addressing a peculiar need in the society. I can categorical say Nigerian universities’ curriculums replicate British university curriculum. This is uncalled for. What our government need to understand is that every society has unique problems. And also that it’s sometimes unacceptable to address same problem in same way in different context. It on this point I will call on the federal government to have an overhaul of the Universities curriculums, and scrap some departments or courses irrelevant to our society.

The idea of Government subsidies is also an engineering factor in sustaining public universities. There are some brilliant indigent students who totally rely on government subsidies to achieve their educational goals. One of the major reasons why federal universities are affordable when compared to private universities is because of this role of the government. Over time government seems withdrawing itself from this strategic role, hence the increase in some federal universities school fees, hostel fees..etc. I will appeal to government to never conceive any idea of totally removing subsidies as this is one of the reasons The poor still attend good universities.

As it has been seen above, the federal government roles are sine qua non to the development of Universities. Despite the fact that the Nigerian government seemed failing in its duties, its presence can’t be totally rule out. Upon this there is room for improvement. However, there are many other roles perform by the federal government to Public universities asides the ones listed above. I would admonish the federal government to strengthen itself in the area of finance to the Universities as this is the life blood of the universities and has a lot to determine in the Universities.