Inadequate Funding as the Bane of Tertiary Education in Nigeria

History and growth of the University system started in 1948 with establishment of the University College Ibadan (now University of Ibadan) by the British Colonial Masters. Overtime, this has grown into a three tier of system consisting of Federal, State and Private Universities. Each tier is financing its own established institutions. The last strike by Academic staff of public schools in Nigeria (Federal and State) when they were agitating for government’s positive action on inadequate funding of higher Institutions is a reference point. These kinds of strikes had adversely affected the standard of education in Nigeria to the extent that none of Nigeria’s higher institution is ranked among the first seven institutions in Africa. Based on past experience in this country, several efforts of the Federal Government to address this issue have not yielded any progressive result. It is certain that our tertiary Institutions need to raise funds to supplement government funding, and not only this, there is need for proper monitoring of how such funds are being used judiciously because of the corrupt nature of some of our officials in the African continent, most especially Nigeria. It is in doing this that our Tertiary Institutions, especially Universities will be able to conduct relevant and quality researches, improve the quality of graduates being produced and make sustainable contributions to the National development of the country. Consequent upon this, the paper critically examines sources of funding higher education, problems and prospects and posits that one way out of this problem is to focus on internally generated Revenue projects which can be used for research works and other development projects. This I believe will catalyze government‘s role and create an enabling environment for consistency and better standard of education in the Country.