The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, CON, has challenged Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian public universities to urgently diversify their institutions’ funding sources, strengthen Advancement Offices and take advantage of opportunities created by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to mobilise resources beyond government allocations.

Alausa, who spoke at the National Advancement Forum 2026, expressed concern that only four of the 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding opportunities such as research grants, endowments, alumni giving, philanthropy and industry partnerships.

He described the situation as unacceptable, urging Vice-Chancellors to make resource mobilisation a central responsibility of university leadership.

«“Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding.”»

The Minister said university leaders must move beyond simply administering government allocations and actively build relationships with alumni, businesses, philanthropists, research funders and other strategic partners capable of supporting institutional development.

According to him, universities in advanced systems leverage their intellectual capital and institutional networks to attract funding for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other priority projects.

Alausa stressed that the call for diversified funding did not amount to a withdrawal of government support, noting that the Tinubu administration had demonstrated commitment to the education sector through budgetary allocations, tertiary infrastructure investment and other interventions.

He said the Federal Government currently bears personnel costs in full, while universities retain 75 per cent of their internally generated revenue and continue to benefit from interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

He urged institutions to build on these government interventions by developing sustainable and resilient alternative funding mechanisms.

To strengthen institutional resource mobilisation, the Minister directed that Advancement Offices in universities should report directly to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor rather than the Registrar.

He instructed Vice-Chancellors attending the forum to communicate the directive to their respective institutions immediately.

Alausa also directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to establish and sustain relationships with donors, alumni, industry and other funding partners.

“Advancement Office operation is a professional job,” he said, describing advancement officers as professional fundraisers who require institutional support, stability and the confidence of university management to succeed.

The Minister further called on universities to prioritise alumni engagement by developing functional databases and deploying technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and abroad.

He said effective alumni systems would help institutions identify, engage and mobilise their graduates as long-term partners in university development.

Alausa also recalled that before the current administration, some research and endowment funds had been moved into the Treasury Single Account (TSA), creating challenges around access and affecting confidence in the management of such resources.

He said President Tinubu subsequently directed the development of a framework allowing research and endowment accounts to be moved out of the TSA to commercial banks of choice, providing greater flexibility in managing the funds.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you beyond halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it,” Alausa told the Vice-Chancellors.

He expressed disappointment that many institutions had yet to fully exploit the opportunities created by the administration, warning that universities that fail to diversify their funding sources could struggle to sustain growth, research and academic excellence.

The Minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation (NHF), would move beyond training and capacity building to develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.

He said the framework would address endowment governance, accountability, research grants, Advancement Office structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management and transparency.

According to him, public universities would be progressively onboarded into the framework, with each institution expected to build an endowment, establish an effective advancement structure, maintain a functional alumni database, strengthen its research funding capacity and develop productive relationships with industry, philanthropists and other strategic partners.

Alausa emphasised that transparency and accountability must remain at the heart of university advancement, noting that donors, alumni, businesses and research funders would only sustain support for institutions they can trust.

He clarified that the objective was not to replace government funding or rely solely on internally generated revenue, but to create diversified financing systems capable of complementing government support and sustaining academic excellence over the long term.

The Minister assured that the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to provide policy direction and an enabling environment for stronger university financing, while expecting university leaders to assume greater responsibility for mobilising resources.

He said the ultimate objective was to build Nigerian universities capable of attracting competitive research funding, engaging their alumni, developing productive industry partnerships and mobilising philanthropic support to sustain academic excellence for generations.