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Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 1
TERTIARY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA AND THE CHALLENGE OF
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
by
O. A. Bamiro
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty of Technology
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
E-mail: [email protected]
August, 2012
Speech at the TETFund Year 2012 Strategic Planning Workshop, held at the Idris Abdukadir Auditorium, National
Universities Commission, Maitama Abuja, 7th
to 8th
August, 201
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 2
1. PREAMBLE
First and foremost I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Executive Secretary,
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for the invitation as Guest Speaker in this Strategic Planning Workshop
organised for the Heads of Public Educational Institutions in the country to give them the
opportunity to interact with the Fund, identify lapses and strategize on the way forward for
intervention programmes of the Fund. I have been requested to present a paper on the topic
“Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenges of Corporate Governance.”
In order to do justice to the topic, there is first and foremost the need to identify the institutions
that provide tertiary education in Nigeria paying due attention to the challenges they face in
meeting the identified reasons for their creation. In other words, there is a need to ask the question
– what are these institutions for? What challenges do they face in meeting the goals of their
establishment? Finally, what is the role of corporate governance towards achieving the identified
goals?
In view of the above, Section 2 is devoted to the identification of the Nigerian higher education
institutions. In Section 3, an attempt is made to answer the question - what are the HEIs for? In
Section 4, I posit that our HEIs, particularly universities, must be transforming to world-class
institutions if they are to be able to act as agents of transformation to achieve economic
diversification through the production of knowledge workers with requisite skill sets. The
implications of the transformation agenda for corporate governance are then discussed in Section
5.
2. THE NIGERIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
The Nigerian HEIs comprise at present 122 universities (36 Federal, 36 State, 50 Private), 71
polytechnics, 47 monotechnics and 79 colleges of education with geographical
distribution as shown in Fig. 1. The uneven spread of these institutions over the country is
obvious with the southern part of the country having the highest concentration of these
institutions. The uneven distribution of the federal universities probably informed the
establishment in one fell swoop of 9 universities by the Federal government in 2011 towards
ensuring a federal university in each of the 36 states in the federation.
The higher education (HE) sector in Nigeria can be described, to a large extent, as a sector
locked in an iron triangle defined broadly by the vectors of Access, Quality and Cost as
depicted below. But why has it been referred to as an ‘iron triangle’? This is be due to the
following factors: one, most, if not all, of the identified initiatives by government in the sector
can be grouped under the three vectors; and two, the observed outcome of the interplay of the
various vector-driven initiatives as illustrated below. Suppose, in response to the increasing
demand for higher education, the access is increased by admitting more students through
establishing new institutions and/or expanding the existing ones as being done in Nigeria at
present; with the growing number, the recruitment, training and payment of lecturers have not
been able to keep pace in Nigeria as will be shown later based on available data. The cost, in
terms of funding and financing of the system, goes up; class sizes increase and, as to be
expected, quality of learning goes down. If quality is to be improved through provision of
more books and learning materials in support of lectures, coupled with excellent teaching and
learning environment, as being done in some of the private universities in the country, the cost of
teaching goes up leading to higher fees as demonstrated by private universities charging the
highest tuition fees in the country and admitting only a few that can afford such fees (less access).
Thus, any attempt to improve one side of the triangle leads to undesirable changes in the other
two sides; hence the description as an ‘iron triangle’. Thus, the situation calls for a holistic
approach to handling these key vectors in planning interventions in the sector. However, of
interest in this paper are not only the issues of access, quality, cost, but also, governance of the
tertiary education system at both national and institutional levels.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 3
Figure 1: Geographical Distribution of HEIs in Nigeria
UNIVERSITIES
POLYTECHNICS / MONOTECHNICS
COLLEGES OF EDUCATION
KEY
SOKOTOKATSINA JIGAWA
ZAMFARA KANO
BAUCHI GOMBE
YOBEBORNO
ADAMAWA
PLATEAU
TARABA
KEBBI
NIGER
FCT
NASARAWA
KOGI
EBONYI
C/R
IVE
R
ENUGUEDOONDO
OSUN
EKITI
KWARA
OYO
OGUN
KADUNA
DELTA
BAYELSARIVERS
A/BOM
IMO
ABIA
SOKOTOKATSINA JIGAWA
ZAMFARA KANO
BAUCHI GOMBE
YOBEBORNO
ADAMAWA
TARABA
KEBBI
NIGER
FCT
NASARAWA
KOGI
BENUE
EBONYI
C/R
IVE
R
EDOONDO
OSUN
EKITI
KWARA
OYO
OGUN
LAGOS
KADUNA
BAYELSARIVERS
A/BOM
IMO
ABIA
AN
AM
BR
A
SOKOTOKATSINA JIGAWA
ZAMFARA KANO
BAUCHI GOMBE
YOBEBORNO
ADAMAWA
TARABA
KEBBI
NIGER
NASARAWA
KOGI
EBONYI
C/R
IVE
R
EDOONDO
OSUN
KWARA
OYO
OGUN
KADUNA
BAYELSARIVERS
A/BOM
IMO
ABIA
5 3
9
7
3
5
4 6
2
15
9
3
7
6
9
9
9
8
11
12
127
14
16
8 8
10
4
7
53 5
11
12
6
4
2
P
System of Governance and Management of HEIs at the National Level
The existing system of governance and management of the HEIs at the national level is
depicted in Fig. 2. The HEIs are under three agencies that perform supervisory and regulatory
functions under the Federal Ministry of Education. These are the National Universities
Commission (NUC) for universities; the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)
for the polytechnics/monotechnics and technical colleges; and the National Commission for
Colleges of Education (NCCE) for the colleges of education. The mandates and the resulting
functions of these agencies are indeed structurally similar. Of interest in this paper, are the
following key functions by NUC which have to do with quality assurance:
To lay down the Basic Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) for all universities in the
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 4
Federal
Republic of Nigeria and to accredit their degrees and other academic awards; and
To ensure that quality is maintained within the academic programmes of the
Nigerian University System.
NBTE and NCCE perform identical functions for the polytechnics and the colleges of education
respectively.
NUC has evolved a robust scheme of international standards for the accreditation of programmes in the system. This has had a salutary effect on the commitment of the system managers to quality of their programme delivery. For the accreditation exercise, NUC developed the basic minimum academic standard (BMAS) for every undergraduate programme in the university system. The BMAS forms the basis of accreditation of
programmes in the national university system (NUS). Universities interact with NUC through its
performance of this important quality assurance function. The result of programme-based
accreditation exercise is in terms of a programme being found to be worthy of “full accreditation”
or “Interim Accreditation” or the worst case, “Denied Accreditation”. The commitment of the
university administration is towards ensuring that all programmes attract full accreditation or,
where the deficiencies cannot be fully taken care of, an interim accreditation. Polytechnics and
Colleges of Education also face the challenge of accreditation by their regulatory bodies namely,
NBTE and NCCE respectively. TETFund, in its interventions, encourage HEIs to utilize regular
allocations by the Fund to address programmes that have been found deficient.
Based on its experience over the years, NUC realised the inadequacy of absolute reliance on programme accreditation to handle QA in all its ramifications in a world now characterised by nation states committing resources to nurture world-class universities to face the challenges of globalisation. This has led to the development and deployment of various elements to undertake, what is now commonly referred to as, institutional accreditation. The developed institutional accreditation, which seeks to capture the operational environment for the conduct of the basic functions of teaching, learning, research and community service, is based on the minimum standards set for the following criteria:
i. Institutional vision, mission and strategic goals; ii. Institutional governance and administration;
iii. Institutional resources; iv. Quality of teaching, learning and research; v. Institutional efficiency and effectiveness;
vi. Extension services and consultancies; vii. Transparency, financial management and stability
viii. Financial management and stability. A test run of the developed instruments for institutional accreditation was carried out in six universities in 2010. The perfected instruments were later used to carry out institutional accreditation in several universities. Surely, institutional accreditation focuses on the quality of governance of an institution beyond other parameters being measured. It is instructive to note the following elements and the weighting of the second criterion namely, institutional governance and administration:
Quality of governance and administration by Council (2), Senate (2), Principal Officers (Vice-Chancellor[7], Registrar [3], Bursar [2], University Librarian [2]), Faculty Boards, Departments, and other statutory bodies (2) in relation to vision, mission and strategic goals of the university.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 5
It is worthy of note the weighting (7 out of 20) of the Vice-Chancellor as the recognised champion of the implementation agenda of the university’s vision, mission and strategic goals. It is also pertinent to note the assumption that every university has set strategic goals being pursued.
NUC has been conducting both programme accreditation and institutional accreditation. However
the performance of the key function of programme accreditation has been compounded by the
existence of about 3,398 NUC-approved degree programmes being run in the system as at 2011
spread over the 13 disciplines as shown in Fig. 3. Since programmes, even with full accreditation,
have to be re-evaluated every six years, it can readily be seen that it is indeed an uphill task to
keep pace with accreditation schedules which, ordinarily, may involve close to 500 programmes
per year. The situation calls for a revisit of the concept of programme accreditation, which is
proving to be unsustainable as more programmes are being approved and NUC has to budget for
the exercise for funding by the federal government.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 6
Figure 2: The Management Structure of the HEIs
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 7
Staffing at the University Level
One of the critical issues facing the NUS is the staffing situation which has been compounded by
the rapid rate of establishment of universities in the country in the past few years as shown in Fig.
4a. The academic staff situation poses serious challenge to the quality of programme delivery.
From the available data presented in Table 3, the total enrolment for the different programmes
and levels in the university system during the 2006-2007 session was 1,096,312 with the Federal
Universities accounting for 56% of enrolment, State Universities 37% and Private Universities
3% only. The total staff strength of 27,934 translated to a students/academic staff ratio of 40:1
globally. Private universities had the lowest ratio of 19.2 while the State universities had the
highest ratio of 59.1. These figures show the ra ther poor staffing levels of the universities,
particularly the State universities. The Executive Secretary of NUC captured the situation as
follows:
A key challenge at present towards actualizing the desired quality university
education remains the paucity of high quality academic staff. There were a total of
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 8
27,39 academic staffs within the University system as at 2006 comprising Federal –
17,836 (65%), State- 7,586 (28%) and Private 1972 (7%). Of these, Professor/Reader
cadre constituted just 5,483 (20%), Senior Lecturer Cadre 6,475 (23.6%), while
Lecturer I cadre constituted 15,436 (56.4%). Computation using current approved
student/teacher ratios however indicates that the Nigerian University System requires a
total of 34,712 academic staff for effective course delivery across the disciplines.
Fig 4a: Profile of Establishment of 117 Universities in Nigeria (1948-2011)
From the above, the system recorded a shortfall of 7,318 academic staff to adequately take
care of the programmes being run as at 2007. With the establishment of close to 42
additional universities since 2007, the staff situation must have worsened due to the fact
that most of the new universities have basically been poaching staff mainly from the 1st
-
and 2nd
- generation universities while the rate of production of Ph.D graduates with interest in
academia has been rather low.
Table 3: Students Enrolment and Staffing Level in the University System
(2006-2007)
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 9
Ownership
Sub-Degree
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Total
Total
Academic
Staff
Students/Staff
Ratio
Federal
49,999
503,154
57,300
610,453
17,836
34.2
State
8,734
419,901
19,459
448,094
7,586
59.1
Private
357
36,641
767
37,765
1,972
19.2
Total
59,090
959,696
77,526
1,096,312
27,394
40.0
% of Total 5.4 87.5 7.1
The rates of establishment of polytechnics and monotechnics in the country are shown in Figs 4b
and 4c. The impact of this rate of establishment on the staffing situation has not been provided.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 10
One of the key issues generating debates in the NUS in respect of staff quality is the policy of
NUC that lecturers in the university system must possess Ph.D degrees. In other words, the
possession of Ph.D degree by lecturers has become the recognized currency for stay in the
Nigeria academia. Al though the t imetable set by NUC for the univers i t ies to
comply with this direct ive has been shown to be very unreal is t ic , there is no
denying the fact tha t the ini t iat ive is aimed at seeing that the human capital in the
sector possesses evidence of competences in teaching, research and, possibly, innovation.
The centrality of research in any academic setting cannot be faulted. So also is the use of a
Ph.D degree as a pseudo-measure of not only the research capability of a staff but, to
some degree, teaching quality, as one reinforces the other. A survey of some universities
(Bamiro, 2009) showed a variation in the percentage of staff having Ph.D degree from as low as
5% to the highest of 68%. It also varied from faculty to faculty as shown for the case of
University of Ibadan (see Fig. 5), perhaps the university with the highest percentage of staff with
Ph.Ds in the country. It can readily be seen that only about one out of two academic staff had a
Ph.D.
The scarcity of staff with doctoral degrees in most disciplines, especially the science-based,
should be regarded as a challenge for staff development scheme that must look beyond the local
institutions into foreign institutions that are ready to engage in staff capacity building through the
operation of mutually-benefiting memoranda of understanding. That is already happening in
some federal universities through the funding support by Foundations like the MacArthur and
also the TETFund. Noteworthy is the significant achievement of TETFUND in the area of
capacity building through which 1,364 junior academics were sponsored for postgraduate training
(538 PhDs and 826 Masters) involving local institutions (1,157) and overseas institutions (207) in
year 2008 as presented in Table 4.
Suffice it to note that the university system faces serious staff capacity problem – both in
quantity and quality.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 11
Figure 5:
Percentage of Staff with Ph.D Degree on Faculty Basis at University of Ibadan in 2010
Table 4: TETFUND Academic Staff Training Programme in Year 2008
S/N Institutions
Malaysia
United Kingdom
Local
Others
(Foreign) -
USA, India,
Ghana
PhD Masters PhD Masters PhD Masters PhD Masters
1 Universities 38 1 49 27 132 97 32 2
2 Polytechnics 3 23 4 13 79 216 0 5
3
Colleges of
Education 1 4 0 3 193 392 0 2
4 Monotechnics 0 0 0 0 7 41 0 0
TOTAL 42 28 53 43 411 746 32 9
General Overview of the funding mechanism of Higher Education in Nigeria
The cost of university education is related to the cost of performance of the basic functions of
teaching, research and community service. The pertinent question to ask in respect of cost is – are our HEIs recovering the cost of providing quality service in the delivery of their educational and training programmes? Are they having sufficient funds to perform their assigned functions? To answer this question faithfully, it must be assumed that the
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 12
universities also have ready figures of how much is needed for each of their programme offerings, and, by extension, a budget that reflects the income and expenditure of the university to perform its assigned functions creditably. This has turned out to be a problem with most universities, for example, not preparing appropriate budget as discussed later. There is a high degree of ad-hocism in handling finances at the institutional level beyond the regular payment of salaries and wages.
A resource planning model (RPM) as depicted in Fig. 6 is a very useful tool for appreciating the structure of items of income (resource inflows) and expenditure (resource outflows). The cumulated surplus or deficit is determined by the dynamics of the net resource flows.
Figure 6: Identified Elements of Resource Flow Model for HEIs in Nigeria
RESOURCE
OUTFLOWS
1st
STREAM
3rd
STREAM
2nd
STREAM
RESOURCE
INFLOWS
CUMULATED
SURPLUS/DEFICIT
Resource Inflow Resource Outflow
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
(STAFF/STUDENT
WELFARE)
CAPITAL
EXPENDITURE
(CORE ACADEMIC)
GENERAL
OVERHEAD
RECURRENT
EXPENDITURE
(ADMIN. SUPPORT)
RECURRENT
EXPENDITURE
(CORE ACADEMIC)
Resource inflows are cast in terms of 1st Stream, 2nd Stream and 3rd Stream with the elements
shown in Fig. 7. The 1st Stream comprises:
Government/Proprietor subventions
Education Trust Fund (ETF), now TETFund
Other Agencies of government
Students fees/levies constitute the 2nd Stream. The 3rd Stream has as its elements, sources of
income other than those from the above identified 1st and 2nd Streams. These, are mainly:
Grants from funding agencies
Endowment
Gifts and donations
Investment Income
Consultancy services
Others
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 13
Figure 7: Elements of the Income Streams
INCOME
STREAMS
3rd
Stream
2nd
Stream1
st
Stream
Other
Government
Agencies
ETF
Government/
Proprietor
Alllocation
Students
Fees/ Levies
Grants
Consultancy
Services
EndowmentGifts and
Donations
Investment
Income Others
The Resource Outflow is captured in terms of Recurrent Expenditure and Capital Expenditure with
elements shown in Figs. 8.a and b.
The recurrent expenditure has been deliberately categorized as:
i. Core Academic (in order to determine the level of deployment of resources to
the core business).
ii. Administrative support
iii. Overhead
iv. Students and Staff welfare
The Capital expenditure is similarly categorized as:
i. Core academic
ii. Municipal functions
iii. Staff and Student welfare
The elements of the Recurrent Expenditure and the Capital Expenditure, shown in Figs. 8a and b,
will provide the pattern of resource outflows which when balanced against the Resource Inflows
(Income Streams) will capture the general dynamics of resource accumulation. The framework
will facilitate the identification of the key operational parameters for resource control. Such
parameters can then be subjected to plausible scenarios towards evolving models for sustainable
financing. The implications of sustainable financing for governance and relevance will be
obviated.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 14
Figure 8.a: Resource Outflow: Recurrent Expenditure
RECURRENT
EXPENDITURE
ADMIN.
SUPPORT
STUDENT
&
STAFF
WELFARE
CORE
ACADEMIC
OVERHEAD
Teaching & Research /
Laboratory
Consumables
Academic Staff
Salaries/Wages
Academic Staff
Development Technical
Support Staff
Staff
Schools
Hostels
Staff
Quarters
MUNICIPAL
FUNCTION
Roads/Buildings/
Grounds
Maintenance
Electricity
Generation
Water
Supply
Non-Teaching Staff
Salaries/Wages
General
Administration
Non-Teaching Staff
Development
Figure 8.b: Resource Outflow: Capital Expenditure
CAPITAL
EXPENDITURE
STAFF &
STUDENTS
WELFARE
MUNICIPAL
FUNCTIONCORE
ACADEMIC
Construction
of Academic
Buildings
ICT
Infrastructure
Teaching & Research
Equipment Acquisition
Water
Supply
Scheme
Roads &
Grounds
Construction
Power
Generation
Construction
of Hostels
Construction
of Staff
Quarters
Government Allocation
The federal government continues to be the major funder of federal HEIs. Presented in Table 5 are
figures of Federal government allocations to the federal HEIs from 2006 to 2008 budget
years. Allocations were in terms of personnel, goods and non-personnel services, and capital
projects. There were 25 universities, 21 polytechnics and 21 COEs during the period. Fig. 9 shows
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 15
the relative
allocations to the universities, polytechnics and the COEs for the period 2006-2008. The total
allocation of N392.9 billion during the period was shared as follows: 68.1% to universities;
18.9% to polytechnics; and 13.0% to COEs. Analysis of the various allocations to universities
showed that, on the average, allocations to Personnel Cost accounted for 84.7% of the
total allocation, Goods and Non-personnel Services 4.6%, and Capital Projects 10.7%.
Table 5: Federal Government Allocation (Naira) to Federal HEIs
(2006-2008)
Institution
Year
Year
Personnel
Personnel Cost
Goods & Non-
Personnel
Services
Capital
Projects
Total
Allocation
Universities
2006 69,952,108,028 3,175,567,183 6,412,015,000 79,539,690,211
2007 70,600,358,870 5,584,703,445 8,285,015,000 84,470,077,315
2008 86,078,825,055 3,551,429,669 13,958,579,185 103,588,833,909
Polytechnics
2006 18,990,972,823 1,715,916,763 2,164,746,264 22,871,635,850
2007 19,443,972,823 1,895,916,763 2,424,746,264 23,764,635,850
2008 22,024,993,058 2,149,712,599 3,578,057,860 27,752,763,517
Colleges of
Education
2006 10,911,206,151 1,067,435,864 3,063,175,000 15,041,817,015
2007 11,401,898,534 1,207,989,217 4,991,020,000 17,600,907,751
2008 14,088,802,102 1,279,807,659 2,883,329,309 18,251,939,070
Total
2006 99,854,287,002 5,958,919,810 11,639,936,264 117,453,143,076
2007 101,446,230,227 8,688,609,425 15,700,781,264 125,835,620,916
2008 122,192,620,215 6,980,949,927 20,419,966,354 149,593,536,496
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro: 16
Figure 9: Federal Government Annual Allocation to Federal HEIs
(Naira billions) (2006-2008)
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 17
Of interest is the total allocation to the education sector in relation to the total government budget. This is important against the general advocacy that developing nations, such as Nigeria, should be allocating not less than 26% of total national budget to education as recommended by UNESCO. The pattern of allocation to education relative to the total government budget by the Federal and State governments from 2002 to 2006 is shown in Fig. 10. From the highest percentage allocation of 9.5% by the Federal government it dipped to about 6% for the next three years before rising again to 9.4% in 2006. The percentage allocation by the State governments was almost constant at an average of 11.6%.
Figure 10: % Expenditures on Education Relative to Total Expenditure
(2002-2006)
The allocation to education is also examined further against the background of
universities budgets. The Federal government appropriation and amount eventually
released to Nigerian universities in relation to their budgets between 1990 and 2008
are graphically illustrated in Fig. 11. In Years 2005-2008, the Federal Government
applied the "Envelope" system of fund allocation. In other words, the allocation had
nothing to do with the actual budgets of the institutions. Unfortunately, the
Envelope system led to the institutions not bothering to engage in proper budgeting
as used to be the case. The question that arises is – were the universities able to
cover their shortfalls from other sources? The answer is unequivocally, no; thereby
casting serious doubt on the quality of service delivery. However, government, as a
result of series of agitations by the staff unions for increased funding, have been
steadily increasing funding of the institutions. This has partially informed the
current 2012 budget in terms of quantum of allocation to the education sector while
the Table 6 shows the breakdown of the 2012 Budget of the Federal Government in
which the share of education translates to only 8.43% of total budget despite the
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 18
increase in the quantum of allocation. The Security sector took the lion share of
almost 20%! There have been serious criticisms of the 2012 budget in terms of
prioritization.
Figure 11: Funding of Federal Universities (1990-2008)
Table 6: The Breakdown of the Federal Government 2012 Budget Allocation
SECTOR
AMOUNT ALLOCATED
(N’ billion) % OF TOTAL
Security 921.91 19.41
Education 400.15 8.43
Health 282.77 5.95
Works 180.80 3.81
Power 161.42 3.40
Agriculture 78.98 1.66
Niger Delta 59.70 1.26
Petroleum Resources 59.66 1.26
Transportation 54.80 1.15
Aviation 49.23 1.04
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 19
FCT 45.59 0.96
Water Resources 39.00 0.82
Science & Technology 30.84 0.65
Land & Housing 24.90 0.52
Communication & ICT 18.31 0.39
Total Other Sectors 2,340.94 49.29
TOTAL 4,749.00 100.00
The share of the Federal HEIs in the allocation to the Education sector by the Federal
Government is presented in Table 7. It can be seen that the HEIs have taken the lion
share of N307.757 billion out of the total allocation of N400.15 billion to the
education sector. Most significant is the fact that Recurrent accounts for 93% of total
allocation. It is however worth noting that the public HEIs are also expected to enjoy
the annual interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in addition
to the allocation by the Federal government.
Table 7: Federal Government Allocation to HEIs in the 2012 Budget INSTITUTION
(Number) ALLOCATION (N' million)
Personnel
Cost Overhead Cost
Total
Recurrent Capital
Total
Allocation
% of
Total
Colleges of
Education (21) 36,092.9 1,942.6 38,035.5 4,555.1 42,590.6 13.8
Polytechnics (21) 54,399.5 3,268.4 57,667.9 3,300.0 60,967.9 19.8
Universities (36) 184,292.0 6,090.9 190,382.9
13,815.7 204,198.6 66.4
TOTAL 274,784.4 11,301.9 286,086.4
21,670.8 307,757.1 100.0
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)
TETFund is a substantial source of financial assistance to the various institutions in
the country, especially in the commencement, completion or rehabilitation of
capital projects embarked upon by institutions at the Federal, State and Local
Government levels. Most of the recent capital developments in our tertiary
institutions have been sponsored or financed by the Fund. It is pertinent to note
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 20
that the fund from the ETF was used initially to support activities at all the levels
of education based on a sharing ratio of 2:3:5 for the Primary, Secondary and
Tertiary institutions respectively. Through a major policy shift, informed by the
commitment of the Federal government to revamping the higher education sector,
TETFund is now to fund only public tertiary institutions. Consequently, the Fund is
now referred to as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Fortunately, the
inflow of fund to TETFUND has increased significantly due to the efficiency of
FIRS in collecting the education tax from registered companies in Nigeria. For
example, about N135.4 billion was received by TETFUND from FIRS collection for
January to October, 2009 as against the N40.9 billion received for the same period
for year 2008. TETFUND was the source of the special intervention of close to N42
billion to develop 6 universities, 3 polytechnics and 3 COEs into world-class
institutions. While announcing the special interventions in April 2009, the
Honourable Minister of Education made the following pertinent statements:
There is no doubt that the education sector is facing enormous challenges.
The effective resolution of these challenges is a pre-condition for our
nation's development. As you are aware, the present Administration is
committed to the realization of the 7-Point Agenda and our national vision
of becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2020. In order
to succeed, the nation needs world-class manpower, possible only through
world-class institutions. This calls for strategic investment towards
improving the teaching and learning environment as well as the quality of
lecturers in our institutions.
The Honourable Minister of Education also noted further that the objective of the
special intervention was the provision and upgrading of facilities for the
promotion of the core activities of teaching, learning and research in the
following critical areas:
Establishment of standard central teaching and research laboratory in each
of the six selected universities. This is to be a facility for the benefit of all
institutions in a particular zone although located in the federal university.
Programme upgrade in Science, Technology and Humanities/Social
Sciences such as Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and the Arts/Social
Sciences. Here, the intervention is targeted towards nurturing the programmes
into centers of excellence.
General improvement of the teaching and learning environment ranging
from lecture theatres, classrooms, laboratories, workshops etc. This is to
involve the rehabilitation of physical infrastructure and the provision of
instructional facilities and learning resources
Of relevance was also the following statement of the Minister on the same
occasion, and I quote:
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 21
In addition, the Federal Government is aware that the realization of
the 7-Point Agenda and Vision 2020 lies not only in the provision of
facilities but equally importantly in encouraging research and scholarly
publications. Accordingly, the sum of N3 billion has been approved to
support our scholars, as individuals and groups, to conduct research
capable of contributing to national development in their areas of
specialization. Similarly, the sum of N2 billion has been approved to
support the revival of scholarly journals, the publication of well researched
tertiary level textbooks and to make these materials available to the libraries
of our tertiary institutions.
The above shows the commitment of the Federal Government to developing
some of its institutions to world-class standard in order to address pressing
developmental problems engendered in its development initiatives – the Vision 20-
2020 and the 7-Point Agenda. Most significantly, it sees the intervention as an
investment towards the development of requisite human capital. Nonetheless, the
major driver of the current government massive intervention in the select
institutions was the concern for the rather poor rating of Nigerian institutions in
the increasingly influential, but least understood, global ranking of universities. It is
the desire of the Federal Government that the selected institutions would improve
their rankings after the implementation of the various projects. The Federal
Government also gave last year N3 billion to additional six federal universities
under its special intervention programme. The plan is to cover all the federal
universities eventually.
TETFUND has since put in place the machinery for the implementation of the
TETFUND Research Fund through calls for research proposals from researchers in
the system in three thematic areas: Humanities and Social Sciences; Science and
Technology; and Crosscutting Issues (www.etf.gov.ng ). The Textbook Project for
which N2.0 billion has been allocated has also taken off.
Generally, TETFUND’s normal interventions in the tertiary institutions are in the
following areas:
Construction and Rehabilitation of buildings and laboratories
Procurement of teaching and research equipment
Academic staff training
Research and book development
Capacity building and teacher training programme
Provision of ICT infrastructure
Development of facilities that sustain institutions such as boreholes, electric
power generators, etc.
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3. WHAT ARE THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS FOR?
Before answering the question – what are the HEIs for? - I shall briefly identify the
challenges that the HEIs face within the framework of the challenges arising from the
on-going globalization of the world economies.
It is a well acknowledged fact that one of the important prerequisites for the economic
well-being and prosperity of any nation is the sustainable development of industry. As
noted by Ntim (1991), it is industry that provides services to members of a society by
making consumer and capital goods, creating new products and processes, generating
new companies and opportunities, and providing, in the process, unlimited new jobs
for the population. The key to the success of modern industrial development is
science, technology, engineering and innovation (SETI). The application of
technology to industrial development and maintenance is made possible by SETI
professionals (scientists, engineers, technologists, craftsmen, artisans, etc.) whose
education and training must, at all times, reflect, at least, the requirements of industry.
Universities, as the producers of some of these key SETI professionals, undoubtedly,
have the important responsibility of making sure that they turn out graduates that
possess the necessary skills set. According to Machando (2000)
“… the new industrial revolution will multiply the technology management
complexity ten fold. Developing countries' quantitative requirements in terms
of number of skilled human resources are certainly astronomical. They will
have to satisfy the needs of existing enterprises, of newly created enterprises,
of innovation system agents such as R&D centres, consulting enterprises,
standards and metrology boards, financial institutions, science and
technology policy agents, incubators and many others..”
As I observed in the WARIMA paper (Bamiro, 2011), this is a situation that calls for
a strong university-industry-government partnership (Triple Helix). The need for such
partnership is further underscored by the challenges of competition in the industrial
place arising from the on-going globalisation of world economies. We can no longer
ignore the forces of globalisation as they seek to shape everything – economic, social,
cultural, etc. - in ways that are not totally edifying for a developing nation such as
ours (Bamiro, 2004). The nature and consequences of globalisation are rather
unsettling especially for developing economies that are still, by and large, “the
globalised” or “captives” from the front lines of what some have characterised as
‘World War III’. As remarked by Korten (1996):
“It is a very different kind of conflict. There is no clash of competing military
forces and the struggle is not defined by national borders. But it does involve
an often violent struggle for control of physical resources and territory that is
destroying lives and communities at every hand. It is a struggle between the
forces and institutions of economic globalisation and the communities that are
trying to reclaim control of their economic lives… It is a competition for the
control of markets and resources between global corporations and financial
markets on the one hand and locally owned businesses serving local markets
on the other.
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Underlined is mine in the above quotation to accentuate the nature of competition
faced by our productive sector, particularly the micro, small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs). The lopsided nature of the competition is epitomized by the imbalance of
the world trading system. The imperatives of global competition demand that we
reclaim and build our local economies. And quite a number of those who have
commented on the present discomforting level of insecurity in the country, have
placed the problem squarely on the high level of unemployment, especially of youth,
which is symptomatic of weak industrial base. To diversity and grow the economy as
envisioned by our governments, the partnership engendered in Triple Helix is a must.
In charting such directions for future growth and development, worldwide experience
dictates that we commit ourselves to the use of the triad of knowledge, information,
and innovation. The imperative for these strategies is not simply to survive, but to
thrive. The triad of knowledge, information, and innovation implies a central role for
our universities as eminent members of the knowledge industry. The triad now
surpasses most natural resource endowment as strategic economic resources for
development. Innovation is defined in the broad sense to mean " the process by which
firms master and implement the design and production of goods and services that are
new to them, irrespective of whether or not they are new to their competitors -
domestic or foreign". Thus, innovation can operationally be defined as “the
introduction into a market (economic or social) of new or improved products,
processes or services”.
Where is Nigeria on the scale of global industrial competitiveness? Towards
answering this question, reference is made to the planned Conference of African
Ministers of Industry (CAMI) which was to have been held in March 2011 under the
theme “Enhancing the Competitiveness of African Industries through increased and
improved value addition”
. Of relevance are the following observations by the
organisers of CAMI:
According to the 2009 Africa Competitiveness Report, 23 African countries
out of the 31 that were surveyed remain at the most basic stage of the
competitiveness index of a factor-driven economy (that is, one whose ability to
compete is based on unskilled labour and natural resources). Only five
countries – Algeria, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia - have
reached the second stage of competitiveness – the efficiency driven stage
(which is driven by efficient goods, sophisticated labour and financial
markets, a large market size and the ability to utilize technology effectively).
No African country has reached the innovation-driven stage, that is, a stage
based on an ability to compete with new and unique products, and the use of
sophisticated production driven competition.”
Based on the above, it can be seen that most African Countries, of course, including
Nigeria, are still at the basic stage of competitiveness, with ability to compete based
mainly on unskilled labour and natural resources, which, in most cases, are agro- and
mineral-based. This is accentuated by the fact that while 98 percent of agricultural
production in high-income countries undergoes industrial processing, in developing
countries, barely 30 percent is processed. Yet, the latter’s agro-processing industries
generate 40 to 60 percent of manufacturing value added and agro-industrial products
The Conference did not hold due to the on-going political upheavals in North Africa.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 24
account for half of all exports from most developing countries. Noted further is the
following submission of the CAMI planners, and I quote:
“The industrial processing of mineral resources can serve as a trigger for
industrial diversification of the economic basis of Member States. This will
trigger a carry-over effect on the development of technology, well-trained
labour and managerial methods. Industrialization based on mineral processing
can have as objective, the creation of a regional industrial base, geared towards
producing intermediate products to meet national and regional needs and the
export of a part of those products to meet foreign demand. The key drivers for
these include having, among others:
A significant entrepreneurial base looking at opportunities to service
local, regional and export markets;
Competitive production (high productivity, low costs compared to
competitors);
Craftsmanship and specific skills;
Access to markets (domestic and foreign);
Good market intelligence; and
Research and development.
From the above it can readily be seen that our HEIs have important role to play in
transforming the economy as knowledge workers. At this juncture one can now
attempt to answer the question - what are the HEIs for? The following submission by
the organizers of the Going Global 2013 conference under the theme - Global
education: knowledge-based economies for 21st Century nations – has partially
answered the question, and I quote:
In the 21st century, knowledge based economies will create the wealth,
prosperity and well-being of nations. Research and tertiary education systems
are primary drivers of these, playing three key roles. They produce cutting edge
knowledge; they transfer, exchange and apply that to drive innovation; and they
educate and skill knowledge workers. For these three roles to build knowledge
and innovation in a globalised world, they must themselves be globally connected.
Cutting edge research requires world-class research partners from across the
globe; major innovation requires not only researchers but also businesses and
investors to collaborate across national boundaries; knowledge workers need to
develop international competences and skills to be effective in the future world.
In respect of universities, Boulton (2010) while observing that Universities play
increasingly important roles in modern society, noted further:
In the last two decades, higher education worldwide has moved from the
periphery to the centre of governmental agendas in most countries. Universities
are now seen as crucial national assets in addressing many policy priorities, and
as: sources of new knowledge and innovative thinking; providers of skilled
personnel and credible credentials; contributors to innovation; attractors of
international talent and business investment; agents of social justice and
mobility; contributors to social and cultural vitality; and determinants of health
and well-being.
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In respect of the polytechnics, the former Executive Secretary of NBTE
summarized it as follows:
Polytechnic education should be accorded recognition because it is designed to,
among others, provide technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for
agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development; impart the
necessary skills to produce craftsmen, technicians, technologists and engineers,
and to enable men and women to have the intellectual understanding of the
increasing complexity of technology and the role it plays around them.
As for the COEs, they are responsible for the training of teachers to feed the primary and secondary tiers of the educational system in the country. Their importance is derived from the fact that the quality of trained teachers determines the quality of the products of these sectors which eventually enter the universities and polytechnics.
How are governments, employers, universities, polytechnics and colleges of responding to the above challenges? In Section 4, I shall be dwelling on the case of our universities only in this short paper in order to highlight the problems they face, most especially governance problems from which we can possibly extrapolate to the other institutions.
4.0 The Challenge of Transforming to World Class
For our universities to be able to respond to the above challenges and establish their
relevance, they must transform to world-class. This is tune with the submission of the
erstwhile Minister of Education while announcing the ETF special intervention to
some HEIs as quoted above. For emphasis, the Minister stated “…In order to succeed,
the nation needs world class manpower, possible only through world class institutions…”.
In the specific cases of universities where the above interventions are on going, the
critical issue is – how are these institutions responding? Is the special intervention
being deployed towards implementing any well-articulated strategic plan aimed at
upgrading teaching and research facilities and achieving some form of
transformation? Probably in line with the above challenge, Obafemi Awolowo
University, a beneficiary of the ETF Special Intervention of N3.0 billion, held a
retreat for members of its Governing Council and the University administration,
including the then incoming Vice-Chancellor under the theme - “Policy frameworks
for Transforming OAU to a world class university”. So, one must commend TETFund
for organizing this Strategic Planning Workshop.
The challenge of transforming our universities to world-class is a useful construct to
interrogate the Nigerian university system against relevance. In what follows, I shall
be borrowing from the Convocation Lecture I gave at University of Lagos (Bamiro,
2012) in taking a cursory look at possible answers to the following pertinent
questions:
What is a World Class University?
What are the attributes of a World Class University?
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What is the checklist at institutional level in quest towards transforming to
world class?
What is the role of corporate governance?
What is a world-class university?
If a university is aspiring to become a world-class institution, it is to be expected that
it surely knows what it means against the background of its core mandate of teaching,
research and community service. Unfortunately, despite the widespread usage of the
term ‘world-class university’, it has defied any objective definition to the extent that
Altbach in 2004 succinctly observed:
‘everyone wants one, no one knows what it is, and no one
knows how to get one’.
This reminds me of a debate some years ago in the United States of America on
answering the question – what is pornography? After several agonizing weeks by the
committee set up to provide an operational definition for the judiciary, the committee
concluded thus ‘pornography is pornography when you see it’. In like manner, a
world-class university is a world-class university when you see it. But what are its
attributes?
Attributes of a world-class university
As noted by Jamil (2009), the few scholars who have attempted to define what world-
class universities have that regular universities do not possess have identified a
number of basic features, such as:
Highly qualified faculty
Excellence in research
Quality teaching
High levels of government and non-government sources of funding
International and highly talented students
Academic freedom
Well-defined autonomous governance structures
Well-equipped facilities for teaching, research, administration and student life.
International reputation of the university
University’s contribution to society
Let me note that all the key elements that have been identified in the section – what
are universities for – are included in the above. What is crucial is the operational
interpretation of these elements to achieve the desired goals.
Let us adopt the Jamil model, which made the case that superior results of world-class
institutions (highly sought graduates, leading-edge research, and technology transfer)
can essentially be attributed to three complementary sets of factors at play in top
universities:
a. High concentration of talent (faculty and students)
b. Abundant resources to offer a rich learning environment and to conduct
advanced research; and
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c. Favourable governance features that encourage strategic vision, innovation,
and flexibility and that enable institutions to make decisions and to manage
resources without being encumbered by bureaucracy.
The interplay of these factors is graphically illustrated below. For an institution
engaged in the process of evolving policy and actions towards transforming into
world-class, two complementary perspectives (external and internal) need to be
considered: one, the role of government at the national level and the resources that
can be made available to enhance the status of the institution; and two, which is
internal, has to do with the evolution and steps that the institution needs to take to
transform itself into world-class institution. The latter constitutes the challenge as it
calls for change. Some have noted that trying to get a university to change is like
trying to move a cathedral! Boulton (2010) even noted that changing a university is
like moving a graveyard, you get no help from the people inside!
However, for those who are ready to make the change or initiate change such as the
participants in this Workshop, the following checklist of activities is proposed at the
level of the institution, in line with Jamil (2009):
i. How can the institution build the best leadership team?
ii. What are the vision and mission statements, and what are the
specific goals that the university is seeking to achieve?
iii. In what niche(s) will it pursue excellence in teaching and research?
iv. What is the target student population?
v. What are the internationalization goals that the university needs to
achieve (with regard to faculty, students, programmes, and so
forth)?
vi. What is the likely cost of the proposed qualitative leap, and how is it
going to be funded?
vii. How will success be measured? What monitoring systems, outcome
indicators, and accountability mechanisms will be used?
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It is not also possible to elaborate in this short paper on all the above factors, most of
which are probably fairly obvious. However, I will like to examine sequentially, the
following three crucial factors:
the high concentration of talent in terms of quality staff and students
funding and funding sources
governance
Concentration of Talent: Staff
Perhaps the foremost determinant of excellence is the quality of staff in a university.
A university aspiring to become world-class must be able to attract, select and retain
good staff. The raging debate in the Nigerian university system on the NUC-stipulated
requirement that academic staff in our universities possess doctoral degree is needless
as far as I am concerned. There is no gainsaying the fact that research is central to the
functions of a university. Apart from research and innovation being required for
socio-economic development of the country, the fact remains that it also enriches
teaching, another important function. Also, inculcating research culture in our
graduates is the greatest platform of achieving socio-economic transformation of our
societies. Let me also add that it is not so much what a student or staff researches on
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 29
that matters, but, the training in research – defining the problem, employing relevant
tools of analysis, and handling the dynamics of problem solution. If the situation at
the University of Ibadan is anything to go by, the problem varies from faculty to
faculty as shown earlier in Fig. 5. It can readily be seen that professional faculties
such as Clinical Sciences, Dentistry and Law lag behind other faculties. However,
through the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) project,
more clinicians are now being trained in research leading to award of doctoral
degrees.
The scarcity of staff with doctoral degrees in most disciplines, especially the science-
based, should be regarded as a challenge for staff development scheme that must look
beyond the local institutions into foreign institutions that are ready to engage in staff
capacity building through the operation of mutually-benefiting memoranda of
understanding. That is already happening at some federal universities through the
funding support of TETFund as earlier mentioned. Fig. 12 shows the profile of
research and technical MOUs between University of Ibadan and institutions spread
over the world.
Several academic staff, particularly the young academics, have benefited from the
MOUs through the MacArthur Foundation grant for capacity building. More than 200
such staff traveled abroad to other institutions to participate in collaborative research
capacity building for periods ranging from 3 to 12 months. It is pertinent to note that
they all came back to the university, in contrast to the generally held view that such
staffs usually do not come back. The fact of the case is that the University of Ibadan
also has been making deliberate efforts at improving the teaching and research
environment to encourage such staff to come back. There is even what the university
calls ‘re-entry grant’ to cushion the shock of inadequate facilities. Efforts towards
creating conducive environment for professional development of staff include the
establishment of the multidisciplinary laboratory equipped with specialized
equipment for top end research. This has salutary effect not only on research in the
university but also for sister universities that have been using these equipment. This
also ties with the deliberate vision of the University to transform to research or
postgraduate institution with greater emphasis on postgraduate programmes. This has
translated to appreciable number of doctoral awards as shown in Fig. 13.
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 30
Figure 12: Profile of Research and Technical MOUs between University of
Ibadan and other Institutions
Figure 13: Ph.D Degrees Awarded by University of Ibadan in 2009
Another critical issue in respect of staff quality is the nature of staff mix in terms of
the background of staff in a department. There is a growing in-breeding with most
staff in an increasing number of departments in our university system being products
of such departments at undergraduate/postgraduate levels, i.e., the growing tendency
to hire principally own graduates to join the teaching staff. This is what is now
referred to as ‘endogamy’ in staff hiring. Years ago when some Nigerian universities
were at the top of the ladder in ranking, most departments were staffed by lecturers
who trained either locally or abroad from different institutions or entirely abroad. I
can still recall in the 80’s when no two-members of the staff of the close to 20
members of staff of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 31
Ibadan came from the same university. Furthermore, almost 90% of the staff obtained
their doctoral degrees from abroad. There were also a few non-Nigerian staff. As
noted by Aghion et. al. (2008), a 2007 survey of European universities found an
inverse correlation between endogamy in faculty hiring and research performance: the
universities with the highest degree of endogamy had the lowest research results! I
dare say that during my vice-chancellorship at the University of Ibadan I had more
problems bordering on poor interpersonal relationships from departments with rather
high level of endogamy in staff mix.
An important dimension to the issue of staff in the Nigerian university system (NUS)
is the quantum of available staff as well as the mix based on the following categories-
Professorial cadre (Professors and Reader/Associate Professor), Senior Lecturer
Cadre, and Lecturer cadre. As shown in Table 8, there were 25,065 full-time
academic staff in the NUS in 2008/2009 academic session, comprising Federal
–15,569 (62.1%), State – 7,019 (28.0%) and Private - 2,477 (9.9%). Professorial
cadre (Professors and Reader/Associate Professor) constituted 18.2%, Senior
Lecturer Cadre 21.8%, while Lecturer cadre was 60.0%. The system had 571
foreign staff with the private universities accounting for half of them.
Foreign staffs were mainly from the United States of America, United
Kingdom, India, Eastern Europe (mainly Poland and Hungary), Turkey and
Africa (mainly Ghana, Egypt and Cameroon). Identified in the system also
were 939 Visiting Professors and staff on sabbatical leaves. Unfortunately
the figure has not been broken down between Visiting professors from
outside the country and those on leave from other Nigerian institutions.
Suffice it to note that Visiting professors from outside the country would
probably be at most 20%.
Table 8: Staff Profile of the Nigerian University System
(2008/2009 session)
ITEM Federal State Private Total
No. of Institutions Covered 24 25 31 80
Level of Employment
Professors 2,097 663 278 3,038
Reader/Associate Professor 1,007 400 129 1,536
Senior Lecturer 3,563 1,415 496 5,474
Lecturer II & I 8,902 4,541 1,574 15,017
TOTAL FULL-TIME STAFF 15,569 7,019 2,477 25,065
Foreign Staff 206 75 290 571
Visiting Professors/Sabbaticals 456 336 147 939
Source: Analysis of data obtained from the National Universities
Commission (NUC) of Nigeria.
Based on the NUC-stipulated student-teacher ratio for the different programs run
in the system (varying from 10 to 15 for science-based programs and 30 for programs
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 32
in humanities and social sciences), the Commission estimated that the Nigerian
University System had a shortfall of close to 5,000 academic staff in 2008/2009;
a situation that has been impacting negatively, as to be expected, on the quality of
delivery of some of our programmes. It is also a situation that has called to question
the continual approval of new universities – public or private.
Massification of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon aimed at improving the
age participation ratio. However, we must be ready to tackle the serious challenges it
poses, most especially quality assurance in the delivery of our programmes.
Concentration of Talent: Students
Important issue in this respect has to do with the ability and privilege of a university
to select the most academically qualified students. The fact of the case is that
admission on the basis of pure merit is not yet the case in the NUS, most especially,
the public institutions whose admissions into the undergraduate programmes are
dictated by the JAMB-prescribed guidelines of 45% Merit, 35% Locality and 20%
Educationally Less Developed States (ELDS). My take on this is that a policy such as
this, desirable as it could have been many years ago when it came into effect, should
have been time-bound. In other words, there should have been gradual transition to
the use of merit as the overriding criterion for admission into our university system
with the so-called ELDS states encouraged to improve their facilities towards
matching along with others.
Furthermore, the present serious problem of access to higher education in Nigeria has
made it extremely difficult for institutions to give places to foreign students,
especially at the undergraduate level. However the situation is different at the
postgraduate level, which I believe we should exploit to attract quality students from
far and wide. The research function of a university is enhanced by the quality of
postgraduate students. Actually, most recognized world-class universities
deliberately attract international students. For example, Havard University has a
student enrolment that is 19% international; Stanford University has 21%; Columbia
University, 23%; University of Cambridge, 18% outside United Kingdom and
European Union (Jamil, 2009).
Of interest is the weight of graduate students in a university. At the University of
Ibadan the vision goal is 60:40 ratio between postgraduate and undergraduate
enrolment. It is interesting to compare this with the situation in selected universities
as presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Weight of Graduate Students in Selected Universities
University Undergraduate
Students
Graduate
Students
Total
Enrolment
%
Graduate
Students
University of Ibadan 12,139 7,382 19,521 38
Havard 7,002 10,094 17,096 59
Stanford 6,442 11,325 17,767 64
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 33
MIT 4,066 6,140 10,206 60
Oxford 11,106 6,601 17,707 37
Cambridge 12,284 6,649 18,933 35
London School of
Economics and
Political Science
(LSE)
4,254 4,386 8,640 51
Beijing University 14,662 16,666 31,328 53
University of Tokyo 15,466 12,676 28,142 45
Funding and funding sources: Students Fees /Levies
The funding mechanisms of our tertiary institutions have earlier been discussed. Of interest in this section is the issue of student fees/levies. All federal institutions, and a few state universities, are not allowed to charge tuition fees. They are only allowed limited charges/levies for the provision of services such as accommodation in the halls of residence, sports, limited contribution to meeting the cost of municipal services (water and electricity), laboratory consumables in science-based programmes, etc. Consequently, undergraduate students registered in the various programmes in these universities end up paying between N30,000 and N50,000 per session including accommodation. Attempts by federal institutions to increase levies have always been met with stiff opposition by students; leaving these institutions to make do with whatever t h e y c a n s e t t l e amicably with students. Many have suggested the
need for students in the federal institutions to pay tuition fees to enable universities
reduce the shortfalls between budget and actual releases by government. For as long
as the federal government maintains this policy, universities will have to make do
with other sources of funding as nothing of significance is coming from students
fees/levies.
Governance
The challenges posed by the situation in the Nigerian university system, as articulated
above, put governance at the centre stage of achieving the goals of transforming our
universities. There is no gainsaying the fact that it calls for management systems that:
one, appreciate what goals the university should be pursuing; two, appreciate the state
of the university in relation to the implementation of the action plans and strategies to
achieve the goals; and three, can attract and properly manage resources towards the
performance of the fundamental functions of a university. I will put the governance of
a university squarely on the shoulders of: one, the Vice-Chancellor as the chief
accounting officer together with the supporting principal officers; and two, the Pro-
Chancellor and Chairman of Council and members of the governing council –
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 34
external and internal.
Let us take a critical look at the governing councils of federal universities. The current
membership, as contained in the military government Decree of 1st January 1993,
which amended the Acts of Nigerian Universities, and even in the autonomy bill of
2003, is as follows:
“The Council of any University shall consist of:
a) the Pro-Chancellor;
b) the Vice-Chancellor;
c) the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Deputy Vice-Chancellors in the 2003 bill);
d) one person from the Federal Ministry responsible for Education;
e) four persons representing a variety of interests and broadly representative
of the whole Federation to be appointed by the National Council of
Ministers;
f) four persons appointed by the Senate from among its members;
g) two persons appointed by Congregation from among its members;
h) one person appointed by Convocation from among its members.”
Thus, the membership of Councils is tilted in favour of internal members. The
external members – 6 in number representing various interests - are government
appointees with no input by the universities to their appointments. One of the external
members is appointed by government as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of
Council. The federal universities have witnessed three and ‘three quarters’ governing
councils in the past ten years despite the fact that each council is expected to operate
for four years. The fact is, for one reason or the other, the federal government has
been involved with system-wide truncations of the tenures of these councils, with the
last council appointed in February 2009, dissolved in November 2011. The ‘three
quarters’ referred to the present councils in most of the federal universities which
after initial dissolution in November 2011 after serving for less than three years were
asked, after a few months of being out of office, to come back to spend the remaining
part of the truncated 4-year term. Whilst all this is symptomatic of an unstable
system, the fact is that all is not well in terms of quality and calibre of some of the
people being appointed into councils by the federal government from to time to time
to the extent that His Highness, Alhaji Ado Bayero CFR, LLD, JP, Emir of Kano and
the Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, in his address at the 2011 Convocation
Ceremony stated as follows:
“May I plead with the Federal Government to please reconstitute these
councils with men and women of honour and integrity, who are keenly
interested in the development of our universities. This is more so
extremely important at this time of academic webometric ranking, so that
globally, our universities will be ranked among the world best.”
If the truth must be told most universities have not been lucky with the calibre of
people appointed by government into their councils. However, at the University of
Ibadan, I can say categorically, without any fear of contradiction, that available
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 35
records show the excellent performance of the Felix Ohiwerei-led Council and the
Gamaliel Onosode-led Council that succeeded it. It was the glorious period of about
7 years when the foundation for the re-emergence of Ibadan as a 21st-century
university was laid by the Ohiwerei-led Council through the articulation, among
others, of the Vision and Mission of the University. The Onosode-led Council that
followed evolved and started to implement the strategic plans towards achieving the
University’s vision goals. The two gurus of the private sector - Felix Ohiwerei and
Gamaliel Onosode - brought their culture of excellence and ethical orientation to set
the moral tone for the purposeful management of the university. While some
universities have also been lucky to have experienced and focused leadership, some
others have not been so lucky particularly with this last set of governing councils. So
much rascality went on in the system at the time that one could not blame the Federal
government for dissolving them, thereby throwing away both the good and the bad.
What does one make of a governing council at loggerheads with the Vice-Chancellor
over contract awards to the extent that the Honourable Minister of Education had to
call the two parties to Abuja. Or the Federal Ministry of Justice which, through one of
its officers, initially allowed itself to be used by some misguided individuals to
frustrate the implementation of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) by illegally
communicating the vice-chancellors of federal universities to the effect that federal
universities were not under the PPA but subject to their existing University Acts. The
Minister of Justice should be commended for stopping such rascality immediately it
was brought to his attention. Or, further still, a university where the Pro-Chancellor
took over the chairmanship of the Appointments and Promotions Committee for
academic staff!
Enough on the external members of council with most Pro-Chancellors not providing
quality leadership; as we direct our searchlight on the internal members. Honestly,
this is another sorry tale of hit or miss, in terms of quality of leadership expected at
that level of governance. While some members came to council imbued with
leadership qualities and commitment to the development of the system, a number had
no business being in a university not to talk of being in council. They were just
squarely politicians pursuing, in most cases, the narrow interests of their sponsors.
This is not unconnected with the fact that internal members are in the majority,
against international convention. As remarked by Falase (2010), the former Vice-
Chancellor, University of Ibadan (2000-2005) at his Valedictory Lecture delivered
January 2010:
“A Council with this composition is obviously not in a good position to take
an independent view of the affairs of its University. Such a Council will be
more concerned with internal politics.”
Furthermore, with councils now given the power to appoint and fire vice-chancellors,
under the present university autonomy, election of internal members to councils is
now almost a do-or-die affair. Anybody aspiring to the position of a vice-chancellor
or deputy vice-chancellor better be in the good book of the emergent cabal who have
now developed negotiation skills to extract promises from candidates they have
chosen to support. However, if the history of caucus-backed leadership is anything to
go by, the system should be getting ready for leadership that will be putting political
consideration above the common good. But let me also say, based on personal
experience, that any vice-chancellor that is honestly committed to moving his or her
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 36
university forward, has enough instruments, within the system, to operate and achieve
the institution’s vision goals, assuming there are such collectively-defined goals. It
will, however, call for not a one-off courage but an everyday courage in taking
decisions that are for the good of the system. After all, that is part of what leadership
is all about. It is gratifying to note that this is the case in some universities.
However, a more disturbing symptom of poor governance of the Nigerian university
system, particularly the public universities (federal and state), is the historical
evolution and changing dynamics of staff unionism. The university system can now
boast of four staff unions – the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities
(ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the
National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and the Non Academic
Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU). Over the years
ASUU had embarked on series of strikes in order to force government to the
negotiation table. As shown graphically in Gig. 14, ASUU had gone on strike at the
national level for a total of 177 weeks from 1993 to date.
It is pertinent to note that the seeds of ASUU strikes were sown in 1981 when the first
agreement with the Federal Government was signed with plan to review after three
years. This was not fully implemented leading to the subsequent series of strikes and
other agreements in 1992, 1999, 2001 and 2009. Added to the above national strikes
by ASUU in pursuit of issues considered national and affecting the entire university
system, were the series of local strikes in pursuit of one local issue or the other at the
institutional level. My concentration on ASUU is deliberate. It is my belief that if
ASUU gets it right, other unions will have no alternative.
Profile of ASUU National Strikes (1993-2011)
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 37
This is not a blaming exercise as the concern herein is how governance, involving all
the stakeholders, is impacting the system. It is important that I make this point as I
expect not a few to rush to reel out the achievements of the past struggles in bringing
positive changes to the system. This, I do not doubt. But I ask, at what cost to the
system? Strikes have really inflicted serious damage on the entire university system in
Nigeria. The twelve weeks strike of 2009, for example, really destabilized University
of Ibadan. We were really pained by the cancellation of the staff exchange
programme between the University and a sister university in South Africa. A group of
students for training in the University had to abandon the trip, which was at the peak
of the strike, causing serious disruptions of their programme. Also, the image of an
unstable university system in the country was to work seriously against University of
Ibadan when we were competing for the Earth and Life Sciences Hub of the newly
established Pan African University (PAU) by the African Union. Thank God that we
won, but we had to promise that the programmes, which are to attract postgraduate
students from across Africa, will be insulated from strikes.
That unionism has complicated university governance is attested to by the memoirs of
a few former Vice-Chancellors. A recent publication by Prof Roger Makanjuola, the
former Vice-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, is titled, Water Must Flow
Uphill : Adventures in University Administration”. I believe the title is a serious
pointer to what he had to say in the book, which, without being a hired promoter, a
must-read by heads of institutions. But the present situation need not be!
The above serves to accentuate the serious challenge we face in bringing sanity to the
system without which all talks about universities becoming agents of development
will be an exercise in futility. But we must also shine light on the government itself, a
key stakeholder. Unfortunately, there has been so much instability in the leadership at
the level of the Federal Ministry of Education. For example, as the Vice-Chancellor of
University of Ibadan between 2005 and 2010, I interacted with five (5) Ministers of
Education! Little wonder, the policy somersaults in the sector, particularly in relating
to the university system. As remarked by Falase (2010):
“Majority of the strikes, financial and other problems of the Universities are
traceable to Government who routinely bypasses the Management and
Governing Councils to issue all sorts of instructions in form of circulars to the
Universities, most of which are inappropriate, unimplementable and contrary to
the laws setting up the Universities. In many cases, financial awards to staff
arising from union agitations are not cash-backed and this leads to further
protests on campuses, more debts for the Universities, closures and distortion of
University calendars from prolonged strikes. Invariably when trouble arises
because of these instructions (circulars), the fallout is dumped on the laps of the
Vice-Chancellors who are asked to "go and sort it out". The Vice-Chancellors
are therefore in precarious positions as they are caught in the middle of
Government and union battles. Often, the Vice-Chancellors' decisions or
actions during such periods are perceived as hostile by their unions, making
them extremely unpopular with the staff and students.”
Suffice it to note that we will have to go back to the drawing board to evolve a more
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 38
stable and responsive governance structure for the Nigerian university system, if the
system is not to gradually slip into irrelevance. Towards such an exercise, let me
quote a statement from a 1997 South African White Paper titled “A Programme for
Higher Education Reform”, referred to by Falase (2010).
"Councils are the highest decision-making bodies of public institutions. They
are responsible for the good order and governance of institutions and for their
mission, financial policy, performance, quality and reputation. To sustain
public confidence, Councils should include a majority of at least 60 per cent
of members external to the institution. Councils ought not to be involved in the
day-to-day management of the institutions as that is the responsibility of the
executive management led by the Vice-Chancellor, Rector or Principal, who is
in turn accountable to the Council."
Other Issues of Relevance to Governance
Worthy of note are these other issues that impinge of governance of an institution: the
implementation of the Procurement Planning Act (PPA), payment of allowances not
financially backed by government; managing without data.
Implementation of the Procurement Planning Act (PPA)
There is no doubt that the PPA has vested a lot of responsibility on the Vice-
Chancellor as the Chief Accounting Officer. This has apparently not gone down well
with Pro-Chancellors in some universities who feel that they should, as used to be the
case, Chairman of the Tenders Board as well as the Projects Committee for the award
of contracts. All I need say is that under the present dispensation the buck stops on the
table of the Vice-Chancellor who should not be under any illusion that there is shared
responsibility, should things go wrong. Vice-Chancellors should digest the PPA for
their own good.
Payment of allowances not financially backed by government
The present University Salary System contains so many allowances payable to
different categories of staff as negotiated by the different unions. I dare say that
nothing can be more destabilising than the present system. Once upon a time there
were about 33 different allowances in the University System with unions threatening
the management for payments of some of these allowances, even those not negotiated
by their unions with government. A classical example during my tenure as Vice-
Chancellor of University of Ibadan was the so-called High Risk Allowance. This
allowance was specifically to be paid to junior staff working in areas designated as
high risk. And those areas were spelt out by NUC. But NASU insisted that it should
be paid to all their members irrespective of where they were working! When I
refused, it was hell let loose with the junior staff closing the university gates and
disrupting academic activities. It took time to resolve the matter, but only those
entitled were paid. Similar scenario is repeating itself in a number of universities with
the unions demanding payment of allowances not yet backed by government. Some of
the institutions caved in and paid what some referred to as palliative or loans just to
Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Challenge of Corporate Governance by O. A. Bamiro. Page: 39
buy peace. And, of course, such payment must be coming from the university’s IGR.
Some call this staff welfare, I regard it as a transparent bleeding of the system to buy
temporary peace. My take in all this is that we should go back to the period of
consolidated salary system that brought sanity through consolidation of allowances
into only two or three allowances at most without any reduction in the quantum of
salaries earned.
Managing without data
There is a saying that – if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. It underscores
the importance of data and information management system to support decision-
making. Most universities are still to pay needed attention to the deployment of
information and communication technology (ICT) to the academic and administrative
functions. Cases of students not being able to get their transcripts after the sessions
and even after graduation abound. Some departments do not even have data of
registered students in their departments, and, by extension, some universities do not
have such data at the university level. NUC that should be the first port of call for data
and information on the university system is unable to perform such coordinating role
due to paucity of data flowing into the Commission from the universities. It is
inconceivable that an institution can be talking about strategic planning without data.
Suffice it to say that it is the starting point in strategic planning.
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The paper has provided insight into the different notions of what our institutions are
for. This is because the issues of functions and purpose are crucial and need to be
stripped of any ambiguity. Our institutions are expected to transform into socio-
economic development agents through the development and deployment of their
teaching, research and innovation capacities to moving the country from resource-
based economy to a knowledge-based economy. This calls for a paradigm shift in
respect of formulation of strategic vision and plan for its implementation that
addresses the key issues of environment for teaching, learning and research, funding
and funding sources, and a governance system that manages efficiently resource
inflow and outflow. To achieve this, government and the institutions must focus
attention on three key elements for transforming to world-class: one, staffing to
ensure adequacy in quantity and quality; adequate resource inflow to support the
fundamental functions –teaching, research and community service; and three, the
evolution of favourable governance structure.
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