Professor Florence Obi, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar (UniCal), has stated that Nigerian universities cannot achieve financial autonomy as long as they are not allowed to collect tuition fees from students. She emphasized that university workers’ salaries are still paid by the government, and capital grants for development are also provided. According to her, without appropriate funding from the government and tuition fees from students, universities struggle to generate sufficient Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Professor Obi highlighted the importance of students paying service charges like examination, medical, and ICT levies, as these funds contribute to running the universities.
She expressed skepticism about the feasibility of remitting 40% of IGR to the government, as proposed in the autonomy policy, citing challenges such as providing essential services if such a policy were implemented. Professor Obi commended the decision to discard the autonomy policy and emphasized the importance of government support for public universities in Nigeria.
