The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Mr Sonny Echono, on Saturday urged both Federal and State governments to grant full autonomy to universities.
Echono gave the advice in a convocation lecture titled “University Autonomy and the Challenge of Quality Tertiary Education in Nigeria” held at Federal University, Oye-Ekiti.
He said universities, as ivory towers, have three core mandates, which are teaching, research, and community service.
The TETFUND secretary said for the universities to carry out their functions, full autonomy should be given to both the federal and state-owned tertiary institutions.
He explained that university autonomy and academic freedom can not be separated from each other because they are clearly fundamental to university operations.
Echono said the subsisting government policy on autonomy for universities in Nigeria does not guarantee freedom because the government retains the ultimate power of control through the governing councils.
The TETFUND secretary urged the Federal government to grant universities autonomy to enhance their infrastructure and network using collaboration with industries, alumni, and educational and research institutions.
He said some of the importance of autonomy was the provision of opportunities for global collaboration between many universities to share ideas and experiences.
“Autonomy enables universities to enhance their infrastructure network using collaboration with industries, alumni, and other educational and research institutions.
“University autonomy also provides opportunities for global collaboration between many universities to share ideas and experiences, pedagogy used for effective teaching and learning processes,” he said.
Echono added that university autonomy would enhance operational efficiency and effective performance, especially creating room for substantial improvement of quality education for national development.
Reacting, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Abayomi Fasina commended the guest speaker for the 9th convocation ceremony of the university.
Fasina thanked TETFUND for its unconditional support to promote the development of the university despite the economic challenges.
He assured the university stakeholders of the commitment of his administration to continue to improve and promote quality education.
