Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian state-owned universities, Justice Karibi-Whyte (rtd), has called for the urgent upward review of the fees charged in various universities across the country in order to attain world class standard.
Justice Whyte in his welcome address at the 3rd Biennial Conference of Pro-Chancellors held in Minna, Niger State said the call had become necessary due to the fact that both federal and state governments are politicizing the issue of payment of fees in the universities.
"We at the Committee of Pro-Chancellors have observed that the federal and state governments are politicizing the issue of payment of fees in the universities. For the state universities to attain world class standard, there is the urgent need for upward review of the fees charged by the universities because it is common knowledge that private primary and secondary schools charge higher fees than many of the state universities," he declared.
He noted that critical to the attainment of world class standard is the issue of funding and therefore called on state governments to adequately fund their universities by ensuring that budgets allocated to these institutions are released as at when due. He, however, called on authorities of the existing state universities to explore ways and means to improve on the internally generated revenue and also raise funds through external interventions adding that this has become necessary since state governments are faced with other challenges.
Justice Whyte applauded the settlement of conflicts between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government but noted that if care is not taken, another disruption of the university calendar is almost in the air. He did not however elaborate on this.
He said for the survival of the university system and the realisation of the goals of university education in the country, an equitable system should be devised to curb incessant strike actions by lecturers.
"The Federal Ministry of Education should know their proper role in university administration and confine itself within that scope because it is clearly not the employer of staff of universities and cannot lawfully and rightly intervene," he said.
Justice Whyte lamented the obstacles between the visitors to state universities pointing out that the interaction between the two bodies is very vital as it will provide a forum to exchange ideas and intimate the visitors on the common challenges of state universities.
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