Urges FG to extend subventions to private institutions
The Vice Chancellor of Dominican University (DU), Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Jacinta Opara, has said that despite their lower tuition, public educational institutions are not cheaper than their private counterparts.
According to the VC, fees in public universities are subsidised by government agencies, such as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), to make them more affordable, which is not the case with the private.
In a chat with The Guardian, the professor of Environmental Health, Ecology and Biodiversity appealed to TETFund and other government interventionist agencies to extend subventions to private educational institutions so that their fees could be reduced.
The VC said that the university, formerly Dominican Institute, established by Dominicans to give young men and women values-based education, especially those aspiring to religious life, had recently held a dinner in Lagos where it raised funds for scholarships to help youths who could not afford university education and infrastructure, as well as awarded past benefactors.
According to her, in a documentary screened at the dinner, students of DU, who were enjoying scholarships from philanthropists and other public-spirited individuals, attested to how they benefitted from the scholarships.
Opara said: “The Federal Government should include us in TETFund and NELFUND. We are excluded even as we help in training the children of Nigerian citizens. Our members of staff too are excluded in research grants; they don’t even receive good salaries.”
Corroborating the VC, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of DU, Dr Anthony Idigbe, asserted that “running a university is not cheap”, hence, the board had to look for a way to sustain the institution, which gave birth to the event.
He said that Dominican friars make amazing sacrifices, taking stipends as wages, to keep the institution going.
“DU has a religious community behind it, which is its major strength. They pursue certain values consistent with Catholic beliefs,” he said.
Idigbe, who donated N55 million to support the scholarship and infrastructure drive of the institution, said he decided to contribute towards the running of the institution to protect his interest in the country, which had invested in him.
“If your investment must be protected, the whole system must work to produce quality human resources. You cannot be rich if you are surrounded by poor neighbours,” he said.
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