Resolving The Perennial ASUU-Federal Government Face-off Through Alternative Funding Means

Since 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has embarked on strike in no fewer than fifteen (15) times. These range from a few days warning strikes to full blown industrial actions, lasting well over a semester. Demand for better funding and improved working conditions have been said to be the major reasons for these perennial strikes that have seen poor parents/guardians and students as the ultimate losers, because nothing significant has changed in the university system in the last twenty-two (22) years.

This has made me wonder why ASUU, a body of intellectuals, keeps doing the same thing (which has been largely unfruitful) for over two decades and expects a different result. Some of the questions that come to mind include: are there other funding alternatives that can supplement the meagre releases from the States/Federal Governments? Are there no better options than strike actions? What are truly the major hindrances to adequate university funding in Nigeria? Among others.

While I will continue to urge governments at all levels to take education seriously, which has to be shown by adequate funding provision and forward-looking policies formulation and implementation, for Nigeria to make meaningful and sustainable progress; I will suggest that ASUU and university administrators should explore the options below as some of the possible ways of resolving the perennial funding crisis.

ALUMNI ENDOWMENT FUND: Funding of public schools, particularly universities, has become a global challenge for most governments. Therefore, to meet their mandates of advancing knowledge through teaching and research, innovations, community service, among others; and remain a going concern, most universities in the West have resorted to diversification of revenue sources- including endowment funds. Endowment funds for some universities run into several billions of dollars. These are usually contributed or donated by such institutions’ alumni, other individuals and corporate organizations towards the continuous actualization of the school’s mandate in a sustainable manner.

Having worked well in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, for instance, I always wonder why universities in Nigeria have not keyed into the huge opportunities in endowment funds. This led me to conduct a research to ascertain the willingness or otherwise of Nigerians to contribute to an alumni endowment fund. The research was conducted both online and in-person. The research question was “In view of the ASUU-FG face-off, will you contribute to your alma mater’s “alumni endowment fund” annually, as one of the ways of ensuring sustainable funding, if proper system and accountability are in place?” To this, 52% of the respondents answered in the affirmative. 34% said they won’t contribute to an alumni endowment fund, while 14% were undecided. Worried by the large percentage of graduates who are unwilling to give back to their alma mater, I probed further to know what the issues are. The exercise threw up a serious issue in our university system that requires urgent attention- students/lecturers relationship. Almost all the respondents who said “No” cited their experiences in the hands of lecturers and the school system in general as reasons. Here are what some alumni have to say. “God forbids!”, “I do not feel any affiliation to the institution. There was no tradition, no communal spirit, and the faculty definitely did not inspire students to be proud of the school. My better memories were actually my interactions with other students.” “This is supposed to be a laudable initiative but it might suffer like the disparaging feeling of leadership across board. This will sit in the paradigm of what the school did for you when you were there.

Did they provide the needed tutorship and educational care? Most tertiary institutions in Nigeria after the 80s never did anything for their students. Students did almost everything for themselves. So why should I give them? Why would I get involved when some of these lecturers actually frustrated some of our colleagues in school? This sort of thing happens when a school ecosystem builds and supports the individual and most importantly, ensures his or her progress.” It is unfortunate that most lecturers see themselves as gods, creating a master/servant relationship and making the university experience horrible for most students. In my set’s WhatsApp group, discussing our alma mater and course lecturers is usually a sure way to open old wounds for most people. Interestingly, those who said no to voluntarily contributing to a university alumni endowment fund agreed to supporting their secondary school to any length.

Beyond the noxious lecturers/students’ relationships, the institutions themselves have failed on many fronts. How many schools have up-to-date data about their students and alumni in an easily retrievable and ready use manner? This in itself will pose a serious problem to the success of any endowment fund being set up. Most schools in the West have offices specifically for their alumni engagements and this can be attributed to one of the reasons why their endowment funds have been so successful. In the course of putting this piece together, I checked the website of ten (10) federal universities to get insight into their alumni associations and what they are doing.

Of the schools looked into, University of Lagos and University of Jos stood out but can also be improved upon. They appear to have a well-coordinated alumni associations that are well integrated into the institutions, so much so that Unilag alumni has a permanent seat in the university’s governing council. That is highly commendable. For University of Ibadan, apart from their home page which was updated last in 2020 and indicates that they have over 450,000 graduates in about 160 countries, the other pages did not open. The other schools either did not have an alumni page or it did not open at all.

The way forward: Lecturers have to put human face to teaching and learning. There should be connection and rapport between lecturers and students to create an awesome experience that would always make alumni have a sense of gratitude and feel the need to give back to the institution. Also, instead of treating students as just numbers, schools must begin to view every student’s engagement as an opportunity for positive impact and lifelong relationship. Data must necessarily be effectively collected and efficiently processed from the point of admission till whenever; and used for the betterment of the student/alumni, university and society at large.

I understand that on funding, ASUU is demanding N200 billion (Two Hundred Billion Naira) only yearly for 5 years. Now, according to reports, there are 49 Federal Universities in Nigeria. This translates to N4,081,632,653.06 per institution per year on the average. Only the alumni listed on their sites, for Unilag and Unijos, alone can comfortably raise this cash for their respective alma maters. For UI, if 100,000 out of the over 450,000 graduates donate an average of N50,000 each, that is N5 billion.

From the above, it is very obvious that lack of coordination and lack of confidence in the school management (as to utilization of funds) are/will be the major hinderances to the successful establishment and management of Universities’ Alumni Endowment Funds in Nigeria. Therefore, if properly handled, once there is transparency, accountability and corporate governance in the university alumni endowment funds, not only will alumni contribute to it directly, they would also mobilize funds from their organizations and charity organizations abroad to support the cause.

COMMERCIALIZATION OF RESEARCHES: There has been increasing calls for the commercialization of universities’ research works. Top politicians, industry experts and some academia across the world have been advocating this as way of bridging the gap between the industry and higher institutions, and also to act as an alternative source of funding in the face of governments tight budgets. Extensive researches and a lot publications have been made on this subject, both for and against. Some universities around the world have started enjoying the gains of research commercialization, after mitigating against identified risks. Specifically, the success story of research commercialization has been told in Nevada Today’s edition of April 5, 2021.

It is my opinion that Nigerian universities can benefit from massive funding from large corporations, because some organizations will be ready to outsource their research and development (R & D) department or a part of it to the universities, once appropriate laws and enforceable agreements are in place. Also, relevant data access, up-to-date equipment usage, and technical skills transfer from industries to universities for practical experiences are derivable from such collaborations.

This will eventually bring about a healthy competition that will lead to more innovation and attraction to Nigeria and foreign students.

ENTERPRISE AND CONSULTANCY SERVICES: A twitter user mentioned a university name, with massive hectares of land, and asked rhetorically, “how much does XYZ generate from this land annually?” He went ahead to make an analysis of how much they should be making cultivating maize on 5,000 hectares of the university’s unused land. My independent search showed that at a production rate of 1.69 tonnes of maize per hectare, 5,000 hectares would generate N2,112,500,000 (Two Billion, One Hundred and Twelve Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) at N250,000 per tonne of maize; assuming a cultivation of once a year. “With the massive population of students in the school, why can’t ABC produce bread that can serve the university community?” A friend also asked in a similar fashion.

I know some universities run consultancy services, but how effective and profitable? A school that teaches how to be resourceful must first and foremost be resourceful. With proper structures and good corporate governance in place, this is expected to enhance hands on practical learning experiences for departments that are directly involved.

Finally, I recommend further research on each of the points above for possible implementation.

I thank all those who graciously participated in the research, especially Dr Joe Abah, former Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reform, whose retweet helped the research question to get huge engagements.