Senate committee queries UNILAG on IGR
The Chairman, Senate Committee on
Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, on Monday faulted the low
internally generated revenue of the University of Lagos, saying the
institution should make three times the amount it claimed it generated
through IGR in 2011.
The committee was at the university to
carry out its mandatory oversight function on agencies and institutions
under the Federal Ministry of Education.
The committee, which was obviously not
impressed with the N2.6bn that accrued to the institution through IGR in
2011, wondered why the major source of IGR of the university only came
from students’ fees. The IGR that came from the students’ fee, he said,
was N1.36bn.
“My first question is on IGR. Many believe
that given the tremendous entrepreneurial opportunities being offered by
the megacity of Lagos, UNILAG should be doing at least three times
better than it is doing presently in IGR. Why is it not doing this?
Please we need your IGR profile from 2005 to 2011
“In each year, is the IGR a part of the
budget expectation and clarified as such in the budget? Why is the major
source of your IGR generated from students’ fees instead of creative
entrepreneurial engagement with your urban industrialised host
environment?
“For instance, the 2011 budget performance
report indicates, ‘out of about N2.6bn from IGR, tuition accounted for
almost N1.36bn while business operatives and other incomes contributed
the other half,” Chukwumerije noted.
The Committee Chairman also directed the
university authorities to give the committee the report on the mode of
selection of contractors and vendors for project on the utilisation of
the 2011-2012 IGR.
On how to tackle the perennial problem of
underfunding, the committee urged the university to channel more efforts
at exploiting opportunities in programmes such as repair of Third
Mainland Bridge, the traffic challenge in Lagos, development of canal
for tourism and reclamation of Lagos marshlands.
On the renaming of UNILAG, the committee
asked the university authorities the extent to which they were consulted
before the name change became a public knowledge.
The committee also asked the university to
produce an estimated cost of change of name to the institution’s budget;
if the policy announcement was enacted into law.
“What was the extent of consultations
between the Federal Government and the university authorities before
this policy decision?”
The senator said that the name-change issue would determine the level of peace in the university.
Responding to the name change question, the
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rahman Bello, said that the institution would
provide the committee with the financial, social and emotional cost.
Other senators in the committee include the
Vice-Chairman, Prof. Olusola Adeleye, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. The
committee also paid a short oversight visit to the Federal College of
Education, Akoka, Lagos.
The provost, Dr. Sijibomi Olusanya,
lamented poor electricity supply in the institution. He said the
institution spends over N1m monthly on diesel.
He said, “Electricity has been a major problem for us. If we have steady supply of electricity, this college would thrive.
Speaking with journalists, the provost said
that the college was also battling with paying its un-skilled members
of staff. “Another challenge we have, three years ago, the Federal
Government asked us to outsource workers- cleaners, security staff, on
an agreement that it would pay the contractors. We went ahead to get a
contractor. But up till date, the contractor has not been paid. We have
been paying the contractor,” he said.
