SUSTAINABILITY OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA DURING THE PERIOD OF RECESSION

ADEDOKUN, Jonathan Olusegun Ph.d

Department of Public Administration

The Polytechnic Ibadan.

Higher Institutions in Nigeria are established to meet certain objectives and fulfill specific purpose in human organisation.  They are as well expected to evolve specific traditions to attain and sustain their original and subset goals.  It should be noted that higher education is a key to sustainable national development.  It is axiomatic that no nation has ever developed technologically and economically without first investing heavily in her higher education.

Higher education institutions are sources of new knowledge and innovative thinking; they provide skilled personnel and credible credentials and contribute to innovation and improve productivity of nations.  There is growing number of public and private higher education institutions in the country, especially since the inception of democratic governance in 1999 in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for student admissions into various fields of study.

Inspite of the availability of all these institutions, it is indeed worrisome to note that several of these institutions if not all are in state of despair occasioned by poor infrastructure and inadequate funding.  Many have attributed this to the present economic recession while many traced the cause to corruption and bad leadership.  In fact, as at today, all government owned university in Nigeria are on strike as a result of the ASUU’s demand on expansion of infrastructure which will ultimately, create enabling environment for learning.  In addressing the infrastructure gap, the federal government designed a number of framework to ensure qualitative education in Nigeria.  One of these is the TETFUND which is an intervention agency set up to provide supplementary support to all level of public tertiary institutions with the main objective of using funding alongside project management for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of tertiary education in Nigeria.  The main source of income available to Tetfund is the two percent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria.

The funds are disbursed for the general improvement of education in federal and state tertiary institutions specifically for the provision or maintenance of essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning, institutional material and equipment, research and publications, academic staff training and development, and any other need which is considered critical and essential for the improvement and maintenance of standards in the higher educational institutions. 

It is interesting to note that many institutions have benefited from (TETFund) but there is still the need for collaborative effort to afford non-governmental organisations, private institutions and international organisations the opportunity of expanding facilities in our tertiary institutions by providing grants and other necessary support that will aid learning process in  our higher institution. 

Aside this, it becomes imperative for all higher institutions to boost their internally generated revenue and be prudent in spending.  The federal government needs to increase budgetary allocation on education so as not to collapse the sector outrightly and serve as yardstick for solving the problem of incessant strike action in our educational sector

ADEDOKUN, Jonathan Olusegun Ph.d

Department of Public Administration

The Polytechnic Ibadan.