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Says only four varsities raising enough own funds
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The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, on Tuesday disclosed that only four of the 68 federal universities in the country are currently making meaningful efforts to raise funds outside government allocations.
Alausa, who described the situation as unacceptable, charged Vice-Chancellors of public universities to urgently diversify their sources of funding by tapping alumni, industries, philanthropists, research grants and endowments.
The minister spoke at the National Advancement Forum 2026 in Abuja, where he challenged university administrators to stop depending solely on government funding and take greater responsibility for mobilising resources to develop their institutions. “Government funding is obviously not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,” Alausa said.
He urged Vice-Chancellors to move beyond merely administering government allocations and actively build relationships with prominent individuals, alumni, businesses, philanthropists and research funders.
“University leaders in advanced education systems are actively involved in networking and resource mobilisation. They don’t sit in their offices waiting for government funding,” he said.
He noted that Nigerian universities have enormous intellectual and human capital which they could leverage to attract funding for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other strategic projects.
Alausa, however, reiterated that the Federal Government was not withdrawing its support for universities, pointing out that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had demonstrated strong commitment to education through improved budgetary allocations, infrastructure investment and other interventions.
He said the Federal Government currently funds personnel costs in full, while universities retain 75 per cent of their internally generated revenue and continue to benefit from direct and special interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The minister, however, maintained that government support must be complemented with diversified and sustainable sources of funding.
To drive the new funding strategy, Alausa directed all university Advancement Offices to report directly to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor rather than the Registrar.
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He also directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to build lasting relationships with donors, alumni, industries and other funding partners.
“Advancement Office operation is a professional job. Advancement officers are professional fundraisers who require institutional support and stability to deliver results,” he explained.
Alausa further ordered universities to strengthen alumni engagement by establishing functional databases and deploying technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and abroad.
He said universities must see their alumni as strategic partners in institutional development and not only engage them during ceremonies or special occasions.
The minister recalled that some research and endowment funds were previously moved into the Treasury Single Account (TSA), creating challenges around access and affecting confidence in the management of such resources.
He said President Tinubu subsequently directed the development of a framework allowing research and endowment accounts to be moved out of the TSA to commercial banks of choice.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you beyond halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it,” Alausa said.
He disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation (NHF), would develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.
The framework, he said, would cover endowment governance, research grants, advancement structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management, accountability and transparency.
Alausa said public universities would be progressively onboarded into the framework, with each institution expected to establish an endowment, maintain a functional alumni database, strengthen research funding capacity and build productive relationships with industry, philanthropists and other strategic partners.
