SHORTAGE OF FUNDS IN THE NIGERIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND WAYS FORWARD

Abstract

The university education is one of the most expensive forms of educational system in the World. The university education is very complex and capital intensive. The public universities in Nigeria are under-funded, and this is affecting the development of the system. This paper examined factors/causes responsible for shortage of funds in the Nigerian public universities. Print materials and online publication were sorted and used in the paper. This paper identified; lack of political will to implement UNESCO 26% for education, poor internally generated revenue, corruption and insecurity problems as causes of shortage of funds in the public universities while the effects of shortage funds in the administration of universities includes; inadequate infrastructural facilities, inadequate manpower, poor quality of education, strike actions and brain-drain. To address these problems of shortage of funds in the Nigerian public universities, the paper recommended that the government should develop the political will to implement the UNESCO 26% recommendation for annual education budget, the school administrators should generated ideas to increase the internally generated revenue and all forms of corruption should be fought in the university education system.