Excessive oversight and bureaucratic delays
Universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics, have been facing a severe problem that the management of these institutions is finding increasingly difficult to accommodate. The problem is excessive oversight by
Universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics, have been facing a severe problem that the management of these institutions is finding increasingly difficult to accommodate. The problem is excessive oversight by the National Assembly and by ministries, departments, and agencies of the federal government.
The oversight functions of these institutions are different from the statutory functions of the four institutions authorised to supervise the activities of higher institutions one way or the other. These are: the National Universities Commission; the National Commission for Colleges of Education; and the National Board of Technical Education; and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board charged with conducting and overseeing admissions into these institutions.
Superimposed on these statutory bodies are over a dozen committees claiming to do oversight over federal universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics. All the committees are resident in Abuja. They include various committees of the National Assembly, many of which are duplicated between the Senate and the House of Representatives; the Federal Ministry of Education; the Office of the Auditor-General; the Office of the Accountant General; the Procurement Office; TETFund; NELFund, and many others.
The result is that hardly a week passes before each institution gets a notice to prepare for an oversight visit. At such times, a group of 4, 6, 8, or more oversight managers could show up, demanding hotel accommodation, feeding, and other perquisites for the duration of their stay. At other times, the VC, Provost, or Rector could be invited to Abuja to answer questions from oversight committees. At other times, the entire management of the institution could be invited to Abuja to answer various questions about different aspects of their duties. As a result, there are times when the one or more members of an institution’s management team is away for two weeks, attending to oversight managers!
It would have been helpful if the oversight functions lead to improvement in service delivery in the institutions. The problem is that most oversight visitations lead to depletion of the institution’s meagre resources. For example, many oversight committees demand as many as 40 copies of the documents they wish to inspect even after being given a soft copy of the same documents.
For example, the House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics invited all polytechnic Rectors to Abuja this week to answer questions on their activities in various areas of polytechnic administration and financial dealings. Most Rectors are in Abuja as I write to perform this duty. In addition to soft copies of the various documents requested, the Committee also asked for 40 copies of over 300 pages of documents. It would cost each institution about N2 million Naira to make as many photocopies.
You would have thought that the oversight on polytechnic activities would end with the omnibus House of Representatives Committee on polytechnics. But no. Various committees from the National Assembly and various ministries would still seek to examine each and every document that omnibus committee has examined or pretended to have examined. And 40 copes of each document would still have to be made afresh!
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What is worse, many oversight visitations are accompanied by demands for brown envelopes. Sometimes, if the institution complies, the envelope may be all that is needed, and the oversight is taken as done. The bottomline is that cooperation is needed to have a good report. Non-cooperating rectors are bullied or harassed into submission. But that’s not all. It is typical for committee members from the chairperson to members to ask for employment slots.
Getting an institution credited with government approved funds is another major problem. You may have a letter of approval in your hands but getting the money out of the Accountant-General’s Office is another matter. The bureaucratic process, involving a web of officials, may take months, if not forever. Worse still, there are significant discontinuities between approved budget and released funds. As a result, many institutions are behind in the payment of staff salaries and contractors, not to speak of limited or no funds for overhead expenses.
In order for higher education to serve its purpose in Nigeria, serious steps should be taken to tackle several urgent problems. One is to increase funding for the institutions and make the funds available as and when due. Admittedly, at no time since independence has higher education been adequately funded in the country. The funding problems increased with the establishment of more and more higher institutions. In the last few years, only a meagre 5 to 7 percent of the total budget was allocated to education, a far cry from UNESCO’s recommendation of 15-20 percent. Either the government increases the allocation substantially or allows higher institutions to charge more money for tuition and other fees.
The other is to streamline the oversight functions of the National Assembly and various ministries, by reducing their interference in the affairs of higher institutions. Whatever autonomy these institutions had before has been wiped out by undue interference and superfluous oversight functions.
The oversight duties have three major implications for higher education. One, they come with serious financial implications for the institutions. Just think of flight tickets, hotel accommodation, feeding, local transport, duty tour allowances, for rectors and other members of his team on their Abuja trips. And the envelopes for oversight managers. Such expenses are a financial burden on institutions with scarce resources.
Second, the Abuja trips divert management’s attention from their duties, thereby weakening governance quality, especially when three or more such trips are made in just one month. takes
Third, the incessant oversight duties erode the autonomy of the institutions, and call into serious question the role of Governing Councils.
