Alausa Tasks Varsities on Funding Diversification, Orders Advancement Offices to Report to VCs

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has directed Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian public universities to urgently diversify their institutions’ funding sources and strengthen Advancement Offices to attract resources beyond government allocations.

Alausa gave the directive at the National Advancement Forum 2026, where he expressed concern that only four of the 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding opportunities, including research grants, endowments, alumni contributions, philanthropy and industry partnerships.

He described the situation as unacceptable, urging Vice-Chancellors to make resource mobilisation a core responsibility of university leadership.

“Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,” the minister said.

He noted that university leaders in advanced education systems actively network with alumni, businesses, philanthropists, prominent individuals and research funders to secure additional resources for institutional development.

Alausa urged Nigerian universities to adopt a similar approach and leverage their intellectual capital to attract funding for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other strategic priorities.

The minister stressed that the call for funding diversification did not amount to a withdrawal of government support, noting that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had demonstrated commitment to education through budgetary allocations, tertiary infrastructure investment and other interventions.

He said the Federal Government currently funds personnel costs in full, while universities retain 75 per cent of their internally generated revenue and continue to benefit from direct and special interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund.

According to him, these provisions offer a strong foundation for universities to develop additional sustainable and resilient funding sources.

To strengthen institutional fundraising, Alausa directed that all university Advancement Offices should report directly to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor rather than the Registrar.

He also directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to build lasting relationships with donors, alumni, industry and other funding partners.

“Advancement Office operation is a professional job,” the minister said, describing advancement officers as professional fundraisers who require institutional support, stability and the confidence of university management.

He further urged universities to strengthen alumni engagement by developing functional databases and deploying technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and abroad.

Alausa said effective alumni systems were critical to identifying and mobilising graduates as long-term institutional partners, adding that alumni engagement should be treated as a strategic component of university advancement.

The minister recalled that before the current administration, some research and endowment funds had been moved into the Treasury Single Account, TSA, creating challenges in accessing the funds and affecting confidence in their management.

He said President Tinubu subsequently directed the development of a framework allowing research and endowment accounts to be moved from the TSA to commercial banks of choice, providing greater flexibility in managing such resources.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you beyond halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it,” Alausa told the Vice-Chancellors.

He challenged university leaders to take advantage of the policy environment, warning that institutions that fail to diversify their funding base could limit their capacity for sustained growth, research and academic excellence.

The minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation, NHF, would develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.

The framework, he said, would cover endowment governance, accountability, research grants, Advancement Office structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management and transparency.

He added that all public universities would be progressively brought into the framework, with each institution expected to build an endowment, establish an effective advancement structure, maintain a functional alumni database, strengthen research funding capacity and develop productive relationships with industry and philanthropic partners.

Alausa emphasised that accountability and transparency must remain central to university advancement, stressing that donors, alumni, businesses and research funders would only sustain support for institutions they could trust.

He said the objective was not to replace government funding or rely solely on internally generated revenue, but to establish diversified financing systems capable of complementing government support and sustaining academic excellence over the long term.