The Nation Newspaper

Tag: underfunding

  • UI VC: underfunding’ll cripple varsities

    University of Ibadan Vice Chancellor Prof Idowu Olayinka has decried the massive underfunding of the university by the Federal Government.

    The VC asked the National Assembly to allocate special funding to the university to sustain its growing global ranking and not plunge it into unnecessary industrial crisis.

    He noted that with such massive underfunding, the university is becoming very difficult to run.

    Olayinka spoke at the fourth National Public Service Lecture organised by the Alumni Association.

    Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, Prof Emilolorun Aiyelari, the VC said the university had not received anything this year, lamenting that it has to accommodate about 8000 students.

    Olayinka said workers had not got full salaries in the last one year, noting that unpaid salaries could influence commitment to work.

    The VC said the university spent close to N40million on electricity.

    “This is the problem we have. Our tasks are teaching, research and community service and not pursuing internally generated revenue.”

  • Underfunding, Bane of Legislative Oversight Functions – Osun Assembly

    Osun Assembly has identified poor funding of the legislative arm of government as a major factor militating against effective oversight functions by houses of assembly across Nigeria.

    The lawmakers raised the issues in Ijebu-jesaon Tuesday at the second day of the training workshop for members on legislative practice and procedure.

    Leading the discussion, the Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam said oversight function of the state house of assembly would have been more effective, if the legislative arm have been properly funded and given financial autonomy.

    The speaker noted that inspite the paucity of fund; the Osun Assembly was doing a lot to ensure that the activities of the executive are well monitored and checked.

    The statement said the member representing Ede North constituency, Kamadeen Akanbi regretted that all relevant legislative committees in the Assembly were being underfunded.

    He suggested that in the face of economic reality, a resolution should be passed by the assembly that the parliament should be informed on any release of fund beyond N1 million for the Assembly to be aware and monitor same.

    The lawmaker also regretted that the state houses of Assembly were not being involved in the release of fund they appropriated for.

    Oyintiloye, who represents Obokun constituency, who doubles as the Chairman House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye,  said, if the oversight functions of the legislature are allowed to work effectively, it would reduce corruption and inefficiency, encourage, promote service delivery and enables Nigerians get higher  dividend of democracy.

    According to him, if there is an effective oversight function, it will be easier and quicker to track deviation from project specifications, compromises of rules and abuse in the system.

    “In fact energy and dissipations of the funding of anti-graft agencies would be minimised”

    Also, Honourable Wasiu Adebayo (Olorunda); and Babatunde Olatunji among others, according to the statement, said, the oversight functions could only be more effective if fund are made available.

    In his lecture titled “Deepening Legislative Oversight for Social Peace and Democratic Consolidation”, Dr Benjamin Aluko of the University of Ibadan, reportedly said, it has come to a point that legislative arm of government should begin to look for bodies that could give grant to fund legislative oversight functions.

    In seeking the grant, he said the parliament must show seriousness and courage to effectively perform these functions to serve the purpose of their representation.

    According to him, rather than relying on information provided by MDAs, the legislature must establish chart its course, networks and use its independent machinery to get the desire result.

    He also suggested that legislative committees of the house should engage the services of consultants and academia for the provision of technical support required to make law to promote social peace and economic progress.

     

  • Underfunding threatens agric sector’s growth

    Underfunding is threatening attempts to revolutionise  agriculture  and  reach small producers, the Chief Executive,  Centre for Cocoa Initiative, Robo Adhuze,   has said.

    The consequences, according  to him,  is that farmers have so far struggled to increase   productivity, attributing  this  to  underfunding and poor access to finances.

    In order to survive as well as be productive under the trying economic conditions, he said farmers are currently experimenting with various possible options which are mostly self-effort and not yielding maximum results.

    He said reducing   assistance to farmers at any level, could affect food  production.

    Other challenges being faced by farmers, according to him, included   labour shortage, pilferage of products, inadequate irrigation support, poor pricing, transport problems and climate change.

    He called on  governments at various levels to train and empower local small farmers so that in the years to come they can produce enough to supply the domestic market.

    While commending the government, which through the agricultural transformation agenda is providing a strategic leadership needed to create a   better agric sector by leveraging the opportunities in the changing environment, Adhuze   observed that   rural road problems are another hurdle to the development of agriculture.

    According to him, farmers  need  more and better roads to improve their lives, adding that this will  help to  give a much-needed boost to the country’s farming industry.

    He explained that when roads are fixed, living conditions and opportunities will be bolstered in the rural areas, where most of the nation’s agricultural production is concentrated.

     

    The bad state of the roads ,he  noted , is just part of a nationwide problem that  has  taken  its toll on the farming  sector, adding  that  apart  from  posing  safety threat,  the deterioration  is   limiting  investment in agriculture, all of which have stood in the way of the aim of boosting agricultural production.

    Acknowledging the efforts of government to fix the problem, Adhuze said  it will  have  to boost food production to meet internal demand and ease the unsustainable burden of food imports.

  • Medical College bemoans underfunding

    The President, National Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria, (NPGMCN) Prof. Rasheed Arogundade, has lamented the underfunding of the institution by the government and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

    Arogundade, who spoke at the pre-convocation briefing to announce the 32nd convocation of the college which holds today, said 247 graduates  will join other 4,705 Fellows that the institution has produced since inception.

    Said Arogundade: “The main function of the college is to produce adequate medical and dental specialists of the highest quality, competence and dedication to provide world class services in teaching, research and health care. The most daunting challenge undermining attainment of this function is gross underfunding by the Federal Government.

    The institution’s library, which ought to have been the best reference Medical Library in the country for resident doctors and consultants, according to Arogundade, is merely a shadow of itself.

    “The college pathology museum is also yet to be fully developed. Inadequate funds has hindered the circulation of the college journal, which is one of the few of such journals in Nigeria listed in the world acclaimed Index Medicu,”Arogundade added.

    Paucity of funds, he noted, has resulted in epileptic implementation of the laudable overseas clinical attachments designed to give successful Part 1 candidates the exposure to facilities and practice in more advanced countries, adding that the college is currently using a rented property as its liaison office in Abuja.

    “Last year, the college decided to establish a clinical skill and sanitation laboratory, which will also serve as the Performance and Cognition Skills Examination (PACSE) Centre. This facility is intended to be equipped with mannequins that could be used to teach different clinical skills and competencies.

    “The effort of the college from past administrations to the present in getting TETFUND intervention for this project is yet to achieve positive result in spite of our visit to TETFUND Executive Secretary in May 2014,” he said.

    Today’s convocation will witness a lecture by a professor of Internal Medicine M A Araoye, as well as conferment of honorary fellows.

     

  • Union laments underfunding of judiciary

    The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has expressed concern at what it termed deliberate plot by the executive to cage the judiciary.

    Its President, Comrade Marwan Mustapha, in a press statement, said the cut of about N91 billion in the 2014 Appropriation Bill of the judiciary, compared to that of last year is a plot to starve the judiciary of funds, thereby making it a toothless bulldog in its quest for improved justice system in Nigeria.

    Marwan said underfunding the judiciary as the 2015 general elections approaches, poses a great danger to the administration of justice in the country.

    “We commend the National Assembly, specifically the Joint Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters led by Senator Umar Dahiru for their efforts in seeing that the judiciary gets financial independence.

    “JUSUN calls on Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Nkonjo-Iweala and the Director-General, Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu to listen to the voice of reason by addressing the monumental reduction in the budget of the judiciary from N159.8 billion to N68billion.

    “We also want to state that the continued non-compliance with the recent court order of the Federal High Court, Abuja as delivered on 13th January 2014 regarding sections 81(3), 121(3) and 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), by the relevant institutions, will spell doom and the union would not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony in the sector,” he said.

  • ‘Microfinance underfunding agric’

    ‘Microfinance underfunding agric’

    Securing financial services for agriculture has continued to be a challenge , a consultant to the World Bank, Prof.Abel Babalola Ogunwale, has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunwale, a lecturer in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, LadokeAkintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, said the credit paradigm have failed because local farmers don’t receive credit from microfinance institutions.

    He said microfinance institutions (MFIs) have failed in providing sustainable microfinance services that contribute to resolving the agriculture credit problem by serving some of the rural poor.

    He said MFIs were created to serve poor farmers, but most have focused on urban and semi-urban clients in rural areas with high population densities.

    He said MFIs have limited their operations to areas with high population densities and farm loans usually represent a small share of their loan portfolios.

    Ogunwale urged the MFIs to provide credit to farmer associations if there is fear of default, adding that the associations will collectively guarantee one another’s repayment.

    He urged the government to assist in overcoming barriers to agricultural microcredit. Effectivedemand for credit by small farmers is limited by high transaction costs, risk aversion, and lack ofinformation and education, he added.

    President of the Lagos Apex Fadama Community Association, Abiodun Oyenekan, said microfinance institutions have not bben doing enough to finance small-scale agriculture.

    Many farmers need credit to purchase seeds and other input, as well as to harvest, process, market and transport their crops.

    According to him, the failure of microfinance to provide finance to farmers, has led to dearth of agricultural credit.

    The absence of rural banks or their unwillingness to meet credit needs of rural farmers largely account for the influence of informal lending institutions on agricultural production in the rural areas.

    He noted that here is little evidence that micro-finance has radically transformed the livelihoods of farmers.

    Meanwhile,watchers see this year as very promising to farmers as the N600 billion Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) fund is expected to boost their agricultural produce.Furtherance to measures put in place to enhance financial inclusion in the country, the Central Banks of Nigeria (CBN) has set aside N600 billion for onward lending to smallholders farmers.

    Microfinance banks (MFBs), being a sub-sector that is close to the primary producers, processors and distributors of agricultural products, are recognised to participate in the distribution of the funds.

    In view of this, the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) South West zone has approved six cooperative societies to benefit from the agricultural fund of the Federal Government.

    The approved cooperative societies include Livestock Farmers Association, Tractor-Hiring Farmers Cooperative, Fish Farmers Cooperative, Agro-input Farmers Cooperative, Agro-processing Farmers Cooperative, and Cash Crops FarmersCooperative.chairman, NAMB, South West, OlufemiBabajide, said the six cooperative societies were carefully choosing, taking into consideration the role each of them could perform in agricultural and food production, stressing that NAMB was working with the aforementioned societies under the Support Farmers Initiative of the Federal Government.

    “The approved cooperative societies convince the association that they will be helpful in the disbursement of the fund,” he said, as the association has highlighted modality to disburse the fund, adding that the process of pairing them with MFBs has begun, and that by January, each of them will know which MFB it can go to access it. According to Babajide, the fund is meant to assist farmers to increase food production, as well as provide more jobs and grow the economy.