The Vice Chancellor of University Of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT), Prof. Joseph Ajienka, has warned that except public universities are allowed to increase school fees, they may soon collapse due to poor funding.
Prof. Ajienka who made the assertion while briefing newsmen on activities lined up to mark the university’s 30th convocation ceremony, said that universities in Nigeria today were bugged down by a combination of factors.
He noted that critically needed funding was dwindling by the day, in the face of failing oil prices, while the average cost of running each university is correspondingly escalating by the day.
Ajienka lamented the present scenario where the university system continues to strain under the weight of underfunding from statutory sources, and indifference from society at large no longer makes sense.
The VC said it remains inexplicable that some Nigerians were prepared to pay huge sums to sustain quality education in other countries, and yet treat the ones here with utter contempt.
He emphasised that parents should pay a little more to sustain the Nigerian university system if they still hope to see public universities in the next 10 years.
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