Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has said that poor management of funds has remain a major operational constraint in the country’s Education sector.
Adamu stated this during the inauguration of the governing council of eight federal polytechnics and six colleges of Education in Abuja.
The Minister called on the Councils of the institutions to think outside the box to generate more revenues and enlist the support of philanthropic organisations.
According to him, “Poor management of funds remains major operational constraint in the sector. It is expected that the limited funds allocated by government should be judiciously utilised.“
He also stated that the limited funds allocated by government should be judiciously utilised as it was evident that government cannot provide all the funds required to run the Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
“So it is evident that government cannot provide all the funds required to run federal polytechnics and colleges of education, councils should think out of the box and endeavour to generate more revenue, outside government allocations.
“In this regard, councils should enlist the support of philanthropic organisations, individuals and other sources of revenue through endowment for additional funding of their institutions. It is expected that Councils will respect the Principle of Federal Character in the appointment of members of staff.“
Adamu further stated that it was imperative that the governing councils know the limits of their powers and how best to avoid situations of conflict in discharging their duties.
” I want to, particularly, draw your attention to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007.
”Prior to the enactment of this Act, the Governing Councils of Tertiary institutions were responsible for procurement matters, through the Council’s Tenders Board”. However, with PPA 2007, the Chief Executives of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) took over the responsibility for procurement matters.
”Thus, in the Polytechnics, the Rectors and his/her management are responsible for procurement, while in the Colleges of Education, the Provosts and his/her management teams are in charge of procurement,” he added.
The minister said it was however important for the Chief Executive to brief the Governing Councils regularly on all procurement, as it was done on all financial and other matters.
According to him, all Chairmen and members of the Governing Councils need to take due cognisance of this, as it had, in the past, led to unnecessary frictions between the Councils and Managements of some Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
