The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has challenged Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian public universities to urgently diversify their institutions’ funding sources, strengthen Advancement Offices and leverage opportunities created by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to mobilise resources beyond government allocations.
Speaking at the National Advancement Forum 2026, Alausa disclosed that only four of Nigeria’s 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding opportunities, including research grants, endowments, alumni giving, philanthropy and industry partnerships.
The Minister described the situation as unacceptable and urged Vice-Chancellors to make resource mobilisation a core responsibility of university leadership.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Mr. Ikharo Attah, quoted him as saying that “Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding.”
He stressed that Vice-Chancellors must move beyond managing government allocations to actively building relationships capable of attracting additional resources for institutional development.
Aluasa noted that universities in advanced systems do not rely solely on allocated funds, stating that Vice-Chancellors actively engage prominent individuals, alumni, businesses, philanthropists and research funders to secure resources for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other strategic priorities.
He stressed that the push for greater resource mobilisation did not amount to a withdrawal of government support, noting that the Tinubu administration had demonstrated strong commitment to education through significant budgetary allocations, tertiary infrastructure investment and other interventions.
According to him, the Federal Government currently bears 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.
He said these interventions provide a strong foundation which universities must complement with diversified, sustainable and resilient funding sources.
To strengthen institutional resource mobilisation, the Minister directed all university Advancement Offices to report directly to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor rather than the Registrar.
He directed Vice-Chancellors attending the forum to communicate the directive to their respective institutions immediately.
Alausa also directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to build enduring relationships with donors, alumni, industry and other funding partners.
“Advancement Office operation is a professional job,” he said, describing advancement officers as professional fundraisers who require institutional support, stability and the confidence of university management to deliver results.
The Minister further urged universities to take alumni engagement more seriously by developing functional databases and deploying technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and across the world.
He said effective alumni systems were essential for identifying, engaging and mobilising graduates as long-term institutional partners, adding that alumni engagement should be treated as a strategic component of institutional advancement rather than an occasional activity.
Alausa recalled that before the present administration, some research and endowment funds had been moved into the Treasury Single Account, TSA, creating challenges around access and affecting confidence in the management and utilisation of such funds.
He said President Tinubu subsequently directed the development of a framework allowing research and endowment accounts to be moved out of the TSA to commercial banks of choice, providing greater flexibility and confidence in the management of 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,” the Minister told the Vice-Chancellors.
He expressed disappointment that many institutions had yet to fully exploit the opportunities created by the administration, challenging university leaders to take advantage of the policy environment to strengthen their institutions.
Alausa warned that universities that fail to diversify their funding base risk limiting their capacity for sustained growth, research and academic excellence.
He said the Ministry of Education, working with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation, NHF, would move beyond training and capacity building to develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.
The framework, he explained, 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 onboarded 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, philanthropists and other strategic partners.
The Minister emphasised that accountability and transparency must remain central to university advancement, stressing that donors, alumni, businesses and research funders would only sustain their support for institutions they can trust.
He clarified that the objective was not to replace government funding or rely solely on internally generated revenue, but to establish diversified and resilient financing systems that complement government support and sustain academic excellence over the long term.
Alausa assured that the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to provide policy direction and an enabling environment for stronger university financing, while expecting university leaders to take greater responsibility for mobilising resources.
He said the ultimate goal was to build Nigerian universities capable of attracting competitive research funding, engaging alumni, developing productive industry partnerships and mobilising philanthropic support to sustain academic excellence for generations.
