The Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Prof. Jonathan Babalola, has called it unfair that the Federal Government does not extend the benefits of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to private universities.
He spoke in Iwo on Monday while addressing journalists ahead of the university’s 21st convocation.
Babalola said the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities has tried to convince the Federal Government to extend TETFund support to researchers and NELFUND support to students of private universities. So far, he said, the efforts have not worked.
He urged the government to recognise the contributions of researchers in private universities to nation-building and give them the necessary support. He also said students in private universities, like those in public ones, deserve to benefit from NELFUND.
“And government will say because they are in a private university, they don’t need help. That is why I said it is unfair. If you all contribute, you must all share. If the money is only from government, fine. This is an opportunity to tell government, let us do what is right. I understand the problem is that they think, okay, how can we support somebody else’s agenda?
“But we can do it directly to the individual students who are Nigerians. So if you are giving a research grant to Bowen University, let the research grant be to the lecturer directly. So that you say, okay, it’s Nigeria that is benefiting from the output of the research and not the university itself.
“I am sure there are ways of circumventing what the Federal Government has as its fear. But I think we must not lose the fact that we are all Nigerians.
“I tell you now, of the top scientists in the world, we have several in Bowen University. Some universities that are getting this grant don’t have one. So the brains that are here at Bowen University are being wasted by the Nigerian government because they are not giving them the opportunity,” the VC said.
On the convocation, Babalola said the university will confer degrees and postgraduate qualifications on 1,443 graduands. They comprise 1,345 undergraduates and 98 postgraduate students.
According to him, 218 students will graduate with First Class degrees, 657 with Second Class Upper Division and 315 with Second Class Lower Division.
He added that 86 students will graduate with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degrees.
The vice-chancellor also announced that all eight academic programmes the university presented for accreditation secured full accreditation.
“These programmes are Surveying and Geoinformatics, Biochemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Pure and Applied Biology, Religious Studies, Architecture, Medical Laboratory Science and Doctor of Physiotherapy.
“For us, this achievement is more than regulatory compliance. It affirms the quality of our academic offerings, the competence of our faculty and the university’s sustained investment in facilities, learning resources and institutional standards,” he said.
He also said the Council of Legal Education raised the admission quota for the university’s Bachelor of Laws programme by 100 per cent after a professional accreditation exercise.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
