Tertiary Education Funding: Srate Govts Urged To Brace Up

By Steve Oni, Ilorin

State governments across the country have been urged to stop leaving burden of financing polytechnics and colleges of education established by them to other agencies.

Chairman of the Governing Council of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Salihu Musa, who gave the admonition at the institution’s 25th convocation ceremony, said there was proliferation of state owned polytechnics and colleges of technology with no commensurate adequate funding by the states, adding that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which is one of the sources of fund the institutions are made to rely on was always meagre and not very helpful.

He said that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) which is another source may soon be overburdened owing to multiplication.of both public and private tertiary institutions.

He said: “Proliferation of polytechnics and colleges of technology across the stare, (owned by the states) is rampant, with no commensurate adequate funding by the states.

“Inadequate permanent academic personnel is similarly rampant in most of the institutions, while the population of non-academic personnel is of superfluous status as well as dearth of academic and administrative infrastructure and facilities.

The TETfund, which presently is the only grace may soon be over burdened, as both the private and public institutions continue to multiply. Already, private institutions are mounting pressure for their shares of TETfund facilities, which are believed to be a national cake to be shared by all

“We therefore once again speak to State Governments (owners of most of the institutions), to complement the efforts of the federal government in the funding of their institutions in all ramifications. It is glaring that at the moment, most State Governments tend to have left their complementary roles for the growth and development of their institutions to the Federal Government, vide the TETfund.”

Musa charged the graduating students of the polytechnic to make use of the entrepreneurial skills gained in the institution to launch themselves into self-reliance while urging tertiary institutions in the country to improve on practical oriented courses “so as to be able to fill the labour market with job creators and not job seekers. ”

Also speaking, the Rector of the Polytechnic, Mas’ud Elelu, congratulated the graduating students and while admonishing them on the need to use their skill to be self-reliant, he encouraged them to start with little resources they may have and maintain a good attitude saying they will later be prosperous in their enterprises.