Sources of funding Education in Nigeria

Basically there are two broad sources of funding educational programs in Nigeria. They are:

• Government sources
• Non-Governmental sources

Government sources:

These are the sources of fund that comes through the government through budgeting allocation. Government provides allocation and funds for education through grants. Grants can be categorized into 3 groups which are:

• Capital Grants: This is the bulk of payments to educational institutions for the construction of new buildings and major repair of old ones.

• Recurrent Grant: These are for expenditure which occurs every year in the budget. They include salaries, allowance, maintenance, traveling and transport expenses, and expenditure on student meals and so on.

• Special Grant: This is like an aid by the federal or state local government to the service school. Some government special grant enable schools improve the quality of education, structure special programs and much more. It should be noted that the grant is not meant for every school as it is only given after certain considerations. Grants for tertiary schools are usually received and disbursed by regulatory institutions such as NCCE, UBE,NBTE and so on.

Non-Governmental sources:

Non-governmental sources of funding for educational programs in Nigeria include:

• School fees: This is a source of financing education in Nigeria. Though tuition is free in all federal colleges and institutions, but for full time students in state and private institutions tuition is paid. Other components of school fees known as sundry & service charges include medical fees, examination fees, sport fees, and id card fees.

• Proceed from school activities: A large portion of economic activities which are internally generated activities, for example farming, large scale activities, baking, etc help finance school activities. For example in the university of lagos, there is a dedicated bottled water producer within the school premises, affiliated with the University of lagos called Unilag water. Also, there is a bread manufacturer affiliated with the university of lagos known as Unilag bread. Also, institutions run part time programs to generate funds. This is referred to as an alternative source of educational funding.

• Community effort & Donations: This includes PTA activities. Donations of buildings, donation of infrastructural facilities, donations in cash and kind, recruitment of teachers, building of halls, hotels, etc.

• External aids: External aids are assistance given to educational institutions from outside the country. It may be in the form of equipment and manpower through bilateral and multilateral relations. External aids could come from organizations such as the world bank, UNESCO, USAID, Ford Foundation, PTF etc.

• Tet fund: Tertiary education tax fund. It was formally known as ETF (Education tax fund). It was introduced in 1993 to raise fund for the education sector. Tet Fund was established as an intervention agency under the TETFund ACT – Tertiary Education Trust Fund(Establishment, etc) Act, 2011; charged with the responsibility for managing, disbursing and monitoring the education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The Tet fund act requires all registered companies in Nigeria to pay a tax of 2% on their assessable profit. The money is shared in the ratio 50:25:25, with Universities getting 50% and colleges and polytechnics each getting 25% apiece.