‘Diversify funding or stagnate’ – Education Minister reads riot act to varsities

Nigeria’s education minister has warned public universities that dependence on government allocations threatens their ability to grow, telling vice-chancellors to diversify funding or risk stagnation.

Tunji Alausa said only four of the 68 federal universities were making meaningful use of alternatives such as research grants, endowments, alumni donations, philanthropy and partnerships with industry. He described the situation as unacceptable and urged university leaders to make resource mobilisation a central responsibility.

“Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,” Alausa said at the National Advancement Forum 2026. He said universities around the world deliberately build relationships with alumni, businesses, philanthropists and research funders to finance laboratories, scholarships, research chairs and innovation programmes.

The minister argued that Nigerian universities already hold significant intellectual capital that could attract more private-sector and institutional support. He stressed, however, that the federal government was not withdrawing from tertiary education. The government continues to cover personnel costs in full, while universities retain 75 percent of internally generated revenue and receive support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

Alausa described those measures as a foundation, but said universities must build diversified and resilient financing systems on top of it. As part of that policy, he directed Advancement Offices in all universities to report directly to vice-chancellors rather than registrars. He also said directors of advancement should serve a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, and instructed vice-chancellors to communicate the decision to their institutions.

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Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding.