Don Identifies Challenges Facing Nigeria’s Varsities

The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Prof. Joseph Fuwape has identified insufficiency of funds as the main challenge the university is facing, like many other varsities in the country.

He, however, said FUTA had been taking some measure to manage the situation by involving some ventures that generated revenue for the university.

The don made this known while speaking with news men on the activities lined up to mark 40th anniversary and the unveiling of the anniversary logo, of the institution.

Fuwape said, “Funding has been the major challenge of universities in Nigeria, that is why university system must address the issue of revenue generation for proper running.

“However, in our own case, we have been trying to supplement our subvention for the past 15years . We have FUTA development company, water production company, we have printing press, paint industry , commercial farms among others.

“We have a robust postgraduate school. We are making money from it. We have also been making money from grants for international agencies and we have opportunity to do better .”

According to the VC, the university, which was established in 1981, has also grown rapidly in terms of students’ enrolment with a population of approximately 20,000 undergraduates and 5000 postgraduate students.

“Academic activities commenced in November 1982 with 149 students spread over three schools; School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, School of Earth and Mineral Sciences and School of Pure and Applied Sciences.”