Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has urged the Federal Government to empower the National Universities Commission (NUC) to oversee the budgets of Nigerian universities, instead of leaving this responsibility to individual institutions.
Oloyede believes this approach would strengthen university autonomy. Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s socio-political program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin explained that the NUC’s regulatory role in accrediting courses in Nigerian universities could be extended to managing their financial resources.
“We need to reconsider the funding mechanism. The NUC should be in charge of university operations and held accountable for their management,” Oloyede said.
“When the NUC was given full responsibility in the past, things ran more smoothly. I firmly believe university autonomy would be better achieved if we allowed the NUC to coordinate university affairs.”
Oloyede recalled the Universities Annual Review System, which evaluated universities’ student numbers across disciplines to determine their funding for the next year. He pointed out that this system minimized favoritism during budget defense sessions.
“Currently, each university presents its budget to the National Assembly, and influence is determined by the strength of your connections,” he explained.
“The NUC should set the parameters, such as the number of students, and defend the budget on behalf of the universities before the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education.”
He further suggested that funding could be tied to outcomes, such as the number of medical doctors produced by universities.
“For example, if the University of Abuja trains XY medical doctors, we would calculate the necessary funding based on that quota, without delving into capital or recurrent expenditures,” he added.
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