Don wants NUC to audit, determine actual cost of university education

Chairman, Babcock University Schools Management Board, Prof Luke Onuoha, has called on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to conduct a research that will reveal the real cost of university education in the country.

He made the call during the schools’ board meeting in Lagos, where he listed modalities for moving the education sector forward, saying the system needs massive funding and infrastructural upgrade.

While the NUC is determining the actual cost of higher education, the current funding policy of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) must also be reviewed to include private universities.

Besides, proper census of the needs of the universities should also be conducted for purposes of supporting their programmes with adequate funding.Until all these issues are addressed, the challenges confronting the contemporary Nigerian institutions will persist.

According to him, “It would be appropriate for Nigerians to stop deceiving themselves by having the mindset that education is free. Free education is not meeting the test of the times. There is an urgent need for the NUC to carry out a proper audit to determine the actual cost of education. Private universities have proved that parents can pay for value and have it. Government could do its part by providing the necessary infrastructure for all universities in the country and then involve the beneficiaries in an appropriate way with part of the bills.

On TETFund he said, “There is need for private universities to benefit from TETFund. These are institutions that have unbroken academic calendar and also do their best to have good lecturers, quality facilities and conducive learning environment. Students in these private universities whose parents also pay huge taxes into the coffers of the government should not be made to take huge fees burden without a fair help from government interventions.”

On what is expected of university administrators in that regards, Onuoha suggested that vice chancellors should take an inward look at the affairs of their faculties and departments.

“They should constantly demand for a report of the progress of the students in various programmes to know if they are satisfactory or not; query areas of abuse they discover and get them corrected; make clear regulations that could protect students who challenge any injustices meted on them by the lecturers among others.”