Ajayi Crowther varsity VC laments funding challenges in tertiary institutions

Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Prof Timothy Adebayo, on Monday said the major obstacle facing education in Nigeria is inadequate funding.

Adebayo said this while delivering a speech at a press conference to kick-start the university’s 16th convocation in Oyo, Oyo State.

He said the challenge is not limited to private universities alone, with state and federal universities increasing tuition fees to enable them to fulfill their financial responsibilities.

He said, “Inability to access adequate funding means that many tertiary institutions are struggling to provide necessary laboratory equipment and other infrastructures needed for education development in Nigeria.

“You can point out to Tertiary Education Trust Fund and I agree that it has helped education to an extent but the politics behind its disbursement has not helped to make the fund have an appreciable impact on education.

“You experience private universities increasing tuition and even public tertiary institutions increasing their fees despite TETFUND intervention just to balance their books; this points to how much those institutions are struggling with funding.”

The Vice-Chancellor said that ACU has progressed academically and structurally in the past year, stating that the university is on the verge of executing plans to start the Distance Learning Programme.

“The university is making concerted efforts to establish an Open Distance Learning centre. ODL increases access to education for groups of people who may normally find it difficult or impossible to attend the conventional mode of higher institution,” he said.

Giving a breakdown of infrastructural facilities that his administration has added to the existing ones over the past four years, Adebayo said 29 major physical facilities have been erected, while the university has entered into an exchange programme with 15 institutions in and outside Nigeria.

According to him, 2,679 individuals will be awarded various certificates in this year’s convocation ceremony, with 86 undergraduates in the first-class category.

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