The cost of building many government
houses in Nigeria is far higher than what it
takes to build many universities in the
country with some state houses gulping as
high as nine times more than the cost of
building a university, Saturday PUNCH
investigation has shown.
It was also discovered that in many states
where billions of naira were expended on
building bogus and expansive state houses
for the first families, universities owned
by such state governments were in
terrible conditions.
In addition to this, many programmes run
by these state universities are yet to be
accredited by the National Universities
Commission, the regulatory agency for
universities in Nigeria, due to lack of fund.
To accredit a programme for study in any
university in Nigeria, there are minimum
acceptable standards required by the
NUC. They include availability of adequate
facilities to run the programme as well as
minimum number of staff both academic
and non-academic.
[/media-credit] Delta State University
A former Executive Secretary of the NUC,
Prof Peter Okebukola, said, ‘’The
requirements are essentially facilities and
staff. Both need money to put in place.
However, in the case of staff, a long-term
investment is needed to procure quality
staff.’’
Depending on the number of programmes
to be accredited, accreditation of courses,
according to him, could gulp between
N1.8bn and N2.7bn with science-based
courses gulping more money than non-
science based courses.
But Saturday PUNCH investigations
showed that some states that could hardly
afford to spend as low as N800m on
accreditation in their universities, spent
billions of naira to build state houses for
their families.
New Bayelsa governor’s
office
New Bayelsa governor’s office
In Bayelsa State for instance, a
Government House Complex named “The
Glory Land Castle” gulped at least N24bn.
The edifice, located in the heart of
Yenagoa, the state capital, was initiated by
former governors Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha and Timipre Sylva.
The same state has begun the construction
of a new Governor’s Office project at
Government House, Yenagoa, at a cost of
N3.8bn according to the state
Commissioner for Works and
Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence
Ewhrudjakpo.
Justifying the cost of the project, he
described the impressive edifice as one of
the best in Nigeria and West Africa with a
captivating aesthetic ambience.
Paradoxically, there is high level of
infrastructural decay at the Niger Delta
University being run by the state
government.
The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of
Universities, Niger Delta University
branch, Dr. Tuboukiye Sese, told one of
our correspondents on the telephone
during the week that lack of infrastructure
had been the major problem of the
university.
Sese said, “Honestly, the state of
infrastructure at NDU is nothing to write
home about. Successive administrations in
the state have been neglecting the school.
“When the incumbent governor, Seriake
Dickson, paid a visit to the university
recently, he saw things for himself. The
structures in the permanent site of the
institution are those provided by
TETFUND (Tertiary Education Trust
Fund). The governor then awarded
contract worth N1.2bn. Unfortunately, up
till now, nothing has been done.
[/media-credit] A lecture room in
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
“In the university, internal roads are non-
existent, office space is a sad development
and student hostels are in poor state.”
He lamented that due to absence of staff
quarters, academic and non-academic
workers alike operate from Yenagoa, the
state capital, a journey of close to one
hour.
Though he could not be specific on the
number of programmes in the university
that are yet to be accredited, he recalled
that many of the university’s programmes
were not accredited during the last
accreditation exercise.
He said, “We lost quite a number of our
programmes during accreditation. This
development is giving us cause for
concern. As it is, many lecturers risk
losing their jobs because of the
development as students will not want to
go to a school where most of their
programmes are not accredited.
“The state government should help us in
this direction. The university’s
management is running round the clock
and using its initiative to ensure the de-
accredited courses are accredited.”
In the same vein, the Kaduna State
Government has just completed a N9.6bn
new Kaduna Government House/ Office
Complex that was recently inaugurated by
President Goodluck Jonathan. The state
Governor, Alhaji mukhtar Ramalan Yero,
said the project was executed in six
phases.
But shortly after the inauguration,
medical students of Kaduna State
University stormed the street to protest
the non-accreditation of the institution’s
medical courses by the NUC. They also
protested poor conditions at the Barau
Dikko Specialist Hospital, which is
supposed to be the university’s teaching
hospital.
Akwa Ibom State
Governor’s office
Akwa Ibom State Governor’s office
The protesting students lamented that the
Faculty of Medicine started since
2008/09 academic session and none of
the students had gone beyond 300 levels.
According to them, the hospital’s ICU/
dialysis centre has been abandoned; the
pathology laboratory is not supplied with
equipment; and all other works in various
departments are moving at a very slow
pace.
The spokesperson for the Medical
Students Association, Hassan Abu, who
called on the state government to address
the problem urgently, said a set of medical
students had been transferred to Uganda
to complete their studies due to
inadequate facility at the Barau Dikko
Specialist Hospital.
The story is similar in Akwa Ibom State
where the government constructed a State
House with a sum of N16bn and a Banquet
Hall with 500 seating capacity with the
sum of N18bn. In other words, N34bn was
spent on constructing a state house and
banquet hall, according to the state
Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr.
Enobong Idem.
Saturday PUNCH investigations showed
that the state government had not been
funding the Akwa Ibom State University
adequately.
Akwa Ibom Govt House, Uyo
It was learnt that the state government
only released N1.5bn for construction
projects, expansion and renovation of
academic blocks, including the acquisition
of laboratory equipment in the university.
The government was said to have set up a
task force headed by the Commissioner
for Education, Prof Atim Antai, to execute
the projects and guarantee their timely
completion.
The NUC between July and August
accredited only 11 courses in the
institution’s Faculty of Natural and
Applied Sciences. Some of the courses are
Physics, Mathematics, Statistics,
Chemistry, Computer Science, and
Geology. Others are Marine Biology,
Biotechnology, Microbiology, Botany and
Zoology.
Apart from the Faculty of Natural and
Applied Sciences, the university also runs
courses in other faculties like Business
Administration, Arts, and Education,
among others. But none of these other
courses which are over 40 have been
accredited.
While Delta State Governor, Dr.
Emmanuel Uduaghan, in 2012 said his
administration would spend N6bn on the
building of a new Government House,
Ekiti State former governor Kayode
Fayemi borrowed N3.3bn to build a state
house.
Both governors justified the huge
investment in building the state houses on
the need to build befitting edifices for
their states. Uduaghan had said, “The
current Government House in Asaba has
always been a temporary arrangement,
not a permanent feature. But we cannot
continue to live in a temporary
accommodation. We have to do the right
thing and do it well.’’
But it was learnt that as of the time
Fayemi spent N3.3bn on the state house,
the state university was in terrible
condition.
According to the Student Union
Government President of Ekiti State
University, Babatope Ibitola, the
institution lacks basic laboratory
equipment. He said, “We still lack lecture
theatres because the available ones are
not sufficient. Our core sciences lack
laboratory apparatus except the College of
Medicine which is well equipped.” He
appealed to the state government to
hasten the accreditation process of the
college of medicine.
New Kaduna Govt house
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH also
showed that while it was convenient for
states to budget billions of naira to build
state houses, governments did not make
such bogus budgetary allocations towards
establishment of new universities.
For instance, the Federal Government
provided just N2bn, about a quarter of
what should ordinarily be needed, for the
take-off of each of the nine universities it
established three years ago.
President Goodluck Jonathan approved
N18bn for the nine universities. The sum
was among others to assist them in
developing their campuses as well as
providing administrative blocks, libraries
and Information Communications
Technology centres. The nine federal
universities are located in Jigawa, Katsina,
Gombe, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ebonyi, Bayelsa,
Ekiti and Taraba states.
Providing insight into what it would cost
to establish a new university, the
Registrar, Elizade University, Ilara-
Mokin, Mr. Omololu Adegbenro, said a
minimum of N7bn is required to establish
a standard university in Nigeria.
According to him, one of the NUC’s
demands from promoters of private
universities is that they must have 102
hectares of land. Adegbenro said, “This
alone is expensive to acquire. Even if you
are starting with two faculties, you will
need to construct the faculty buildings.
You need at least two halls of residence
for the students; one for female and one
for male.
“You will also need to build a cafeteria, a
library, administrative complex, banking
halls, road networks and provide
Information Technology facilities, among
others. These are huge projects and that is
why you need a minimum of N7bn to set
up a good private university in Nigeria.
New Ekiti Govt house
“You will also need to start with at least
four professors; the principal officers and
other personnel are also there. The NUC
also requires that you must have at least
N500m in your account before takeoff.”
A former NUC Executive Secretary, Prof.
Peter Okebukola, said though there was
no minimum amount specified in the
commission’s guidelines for setting up a
standard university, there are minimum
facilities and human resources that should
be available before a university is
licensed.
According to him, the minimum amount
to set up a university can be estimated
from the cost of such facilities and
resources. He said the amount was N3bn
in 2003, but it is about N5.5bn now.
He, however, said Covenant University,
Ota, Ogun State; Landmark University,
Omu-Aran, Kwara State; American
University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa
State; and Afe Babalola University had a
cost range of between N7bn and N12bn at
take-off.
The former NUC executive secretary,
however, said it would cost more to
accredit science-based courses than non-
science courses.
He said, “If we have an admixture of the
two which is the typical scenario in most
universities, the cost can range between
N1.8bn and N2.7bn if the programmes are
to be elevated from the denied status.
“In 2004, Kogi State University spent
about N900m to get about 20 of its
programmes re-accredited. In 2014, a
number of universities seeking re-
accreditation for about 20 courses are
asking their proprietors for about
N1.5bn.”
Okebukola, however, blamed the
governors’ preference for luxury at the
expense of investment in education on
members of their state Houses of
Assembly who approved money for giant
Government Houses.
He said, “Education is a potent tool for
fast-paced development and investment in
the sector should never be made
secondary to luxury. No governor will
start using tax payers’ money to build a
giant Government House without
approval by members of his state House
of Assembly who are the representatives
of the people.
“The greater concern is not the governor
who spends the people’s money on a
structure in his state, but those who steal
the money to build giant structures in
Dubai, the United Kingdom, the United
States and South Africa, among others.’’
The Dean, Faculty of Education,
University of Lagos, Prof. (Mrs.) Mopelola
Omoegun, said, “According to the NUC, it
will cost a minimum of N9bn to build a
standard university in the country and I
think it is not fair for governors to spend
almost same amount to build their lodges.
“The state of education in this country will
continue to fall if there is no adequate
funding. We have been talking about this
all the time. What is the root of the falling
standard of education? It is inadequate
funding. There is need for adequate
funding. If our governors will play their
politics right, they have to fund this sector
well even if they have to sacrifice their
comfort for the benefit of all. They should
make it viable.
“Some of the state institutions are the
direct victims of this menace. That is why
it may be difficult to even establish new
higher institutions in such states. To all
the governors, provide facilities and funds,
and we will get the results we want,” she
added.
Also, an Abuja-based lawyer and social
commentator, Mr. Jide Oluyemi, said it
was still unacceptable for a state
government to spend billions of naira on
building one Government House when the
Federal Government gave each of the nine
newly established universities N2bn as
take-off grant.
Additional reports by Kamarudeen
Ogundele, Simon Utebor and Etim
Ekpimah
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