Ogun State
Governor, Gbenga Daniel at the weekend called on tertiary institutions
in the country to diversify their revenue base to enable them meet
their financial needs.
Mr Daniel, who
spoke at the second convocation ceremony of the Tai Solarin University
of Education, Ijagun- Ijebu, said : “Tertiary institutions should look
inwards and be close to their communities. They need to find out what
they can do to tap into what is available within the community to serve
their needs,” he said.
Mr Daniel described
institutions of higher education as complex entities whose leaders must
be armed with certain qualities such as integrity, taking decisions as
a team, relating well with higher authorities as well as be innovative
and be abreast of the needs of the society.
Proper funding
“Our
Administration, since inception in 2003, has devoted significant
proportion of the budget to tertiary institutions. For instance, in
2003, with five tertiary institutions, the salaries and allowances,
capital and overhead expenditure was N2.04billion. Then the student
population was about 39,000,” he said.
“By 2010, the
budget increased to N6.38billion, an increase of over 200%, where
student population in the 11 tertiary institutions increased to about
70,000, an increase of 75%. Salaries and allowances alone have been
above 80% of the actual budget of those institutions.” He added.
Retraining is necessary
Mr Daniel said his administration had consistently expended 26% of its budget on education, in line with UNESCO standard.
“Generally, the
Nigerian economy and that of the state is facing challenges and with
the meltdown, we have been struggling to meet up with our
responsibilities as a state,” he said.
He called on
managers of tertiary institutions to align their curricular with the
identified skills required by the employers of labour. He also advised
them to retrain lecturers so as to update their knowledge.
“There is a need
for a paradigm shift on the part of academic staff in the institutions,
who need to leave their ‘comfort zone’ and liaise more with private and
public organisations to constantly update themselves on current
practices in their professions,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Segun Awonusi said the
school has established a postgraduate school and masters and doctorate
degrees have since commenced in the university.
