Alternative Sources of Funding Higher Institutions
Funding of higher institutions in Nigeria University despite the abundance of natural resources resource as a major source of revenue for the country, has become a bone contention between the Federal Government and the administrator of Nigeria University.
The government has made its stand known to the administrators of higher institutions in Nigeria that they can no longer fund higher institutions in Nigeria. This is due to high financial debt servicing, insecurity, petroleum subsidy, crude oil theft, and so on which have negatively impacted the Nigerian economy.
Funding is the process of making resources available for the smooth running of an organization or institution.
Funding higher institutions in Nigeria includes providing financial resources for the payment of utilities such as electricity, fuels (for transportation, office papers, and utilities), school and plant maintenance, chairs, tables, photocopying machines, and so on.
Higher institutions in Nigeria are not resource-generating agencies, therefore leaving the funding of Nigerian institutions in Nigeria in the hands of the higher institutions administrator will worsen the current state of Nigeria’s educational system.
Even the internally generated revenue for the higher institutions in the country is not even enough for the internal utility let alone the total withdrawer of funding.
University administrators need to resort to another alternative source of revenue for the funding of higher institutions in Nigeria.
Source of Revenue for the Fund Higher Institution in Nigeria.
The following are some of the alternative sources of funding for higher institutions in Nigeria as submitted by Semantic Scholar
Fundraising Campaigns from School Alumni.
Alumni of a particular institution are individuals who have attended the school and have graduated from that institution. Every higher institution has an alumni association where individuals who have graduated from the institution keep meeting, sharing ideas, and keeping records of their friends and colleagues.
Alumni can also become Alternative Sources of funding higher institutions in Nigeria if they are well-engaged.
The University administrator can write to all the school alumni to assist the school or the faculty or department for a particular project that requires funding that the school is unable to meet.
They can set up a board of alumni that any graduating students who want to collect a certificate or statement of result have a written clearance from the board of alumni with evidence of payment. They can also set up an online platform for the school alumni to donate toward a particular project.
Some time ago a popular department at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria required financial assistance for a particular project, they wrote to all their alumni online (both home and outside Nigeria) and they were able to raise the said funds for the department.
So alumni can serve as another Alternative Source of Funding for Higher Institutions in Nigeria.
Donations from Community/ Foundations/Business Organizations
Donations from community, foundations, and business organizations can also serve as other alternative sources of funding higher Institutions in Nigeria.
During convocations or matriculation of students into higher institutions, the school administrator can introduce funding as one of the items of the program from local community organizations/ foundations/businesses organizations to fund particular projects in the school.
The school administrator can reach out to these people before the actual date of the program, informing them of the reasons why they have been invited to the program and preparing themselves for the donation.
Since the school is a nonprofit making organization they will be willing to contribute their quota for the success of the school.
Providing Consultancy Services
Higher institution is home to research and the embodiment of knowledge, they have both the human and material resources to carry out any project. The school can engage in consultancy services as a Source of funding for the school.
Higher institutions with departments of engineering, agriculture, health, sport, marketing, banking and finance, computer science, home economics, and so on.
The doctors, professors, and lecturers in these areas can serve as consultants to financial institutions, industries, businesses, and organizations thereby generating resources for the funding of higher institutions in Nigeria.
Liaised with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
This is another alternative sources of funding higher Institutions in Nigeria. University administrator can liaise with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in some areas to help handle some aspects of their program so fund some immediate projects as the core mandate of operations.
Liaising with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) will help university administrators willed some expenditures to the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Educational Loan from local financial institutions (thrift)
Local financial institutions in this context are financial institutions domiciled in the school environment.
The higher institutions have many local financial institutions in the academic environment like Academic staff cooperative societies, non-academic staff cooperative societies, and Institution-based cooperative societies that have pulled money together over the years. Some of them have millions of naira in their savings and cannot exhaust their savings in a single financial year.
The school administrator with financial needs can approach the local financial institution for assistance to pay back. This can serve as another Alternative Source of Funding Higher Institutions in Nigeria
Educational Loans from Local Financial Institutions (Commercial banks)
There are commercial banks that are available in the school environment, these financial institutions (commercial banks) are financial institution are often used for the payment of student staff, school fees, and other levies.
Some of these financial institutes are domiciled in the school environment and can serve as Alternative sources of funding higher institutions in the country. They include First Bank, Union Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, and United Bank of Africa, and have detailed the financial strength of the school and can give educational loans to higher institutions to fund some projects in the school and carry out deduction by installment.
More so the school administrator with financial challenges concerning some expenditures around the school can also approach commercial banks for assistance to pay back. This can serve as another alternative source of funding for higher institutions in Nigeria.
Sales of Agricultural Products
Sales of agricultural products such as livestock and crops cultivated within the institution can serve as alternative sources of funding for higher Institutions in the country.
Animals such as cattle, poultry, pig, goat, sheep, and horse domesticated as well as crops such as cassava, yam, pepper, tomatoes, oil palm, rubber, cocoa, and so on can serve as good financial sources for the institutions. Institutions can start domesticating animals and cultivating crops for the process of generating funds.
Liaising with Agricultural Industries
School administrators can liaise with agro-based industries to rent the unused portion of the school land to agro-based industries for agricultural activities and in return pay for the portion of the land.
Liaising with Agricultural Industries can serve as an Alternative sources of Funding Higher Institutions in Nigeria.
Some higher institutions in Nigeria occupy five thousand to eight thousand hectares of land, and most of the time the portion of land remains used, which the school can lend to agro-based industries for agricultural purposes.
Public-Private-Partnership
A public-private partnership is another Alternative Sources of Funding Higher Institutions in Nigeria, it refers to a form of business relationship between a private company and a public university.
In this type of partnership, the private company and the public university work together to render public services or develop assets in the school environment that the students can make use of.
This type of partnership may be slightly different from the usual public-private partnership because the school administrator will only provide the land or the space for the project while the private company will provide the funds, expertise, technology, and operational resources for the project.
After the completion of the projects students who volunteer to use those programs will be paying for them while the private will manage the projects. the major objective of this public-private partnership is to provide services in the school environment that will benefit the students.
In conclusion
Funding the higher institutions in Nigeria has become very difficult due to the number of higher institutions in the country, the government is finding it difficult to fund higher institutions due to the numbers of universities, polytechnics, and mono-technics in the country.
Some Alternative Sources of Funding for Higher Institutions in Nigeria are liaising with Agricultural Industries, Sales of Agricultural Products, Educational Loan from local financial institutions (commercial banks), Educational Loan from local financial institutions (thrift), providing consultancy services and Fundraising Campaigns from School Alumni.