President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the development of a framework to allow research and endowment funds belonging to universities to be moved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to commercial banks of their choice to improve access to the funds and strengthen universities’ capacity to mobilise alternative sources of funding.
Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, said this at the National Advancement Forum 2026, explaining that the move was part of efforts by the Federal Government to give universities greater flexibility in managing funds raised through research grants, endowments and other non-government sources.
He explained that some research and endowment funds were transferred into the TSA before the Tinubu administration, creating difficulties for universities in accessing and utilising the resources.
He said the policy was, therefore, designed to provide universities with greater flexibility and improve confidence in the management and deployment of such funds.
‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it,’ Alausa told vice-chancellors at the forum.
The minister, however, lamented that many universities had yet to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the administration to diversify their funding sources.
He disclosed that only four of the 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding opportunities, including research grants, endowments, alumni donations, philanthropy and partnerships with industries.
Alausa described the situation as unacceptable, urging vice-chancellors to make resource mobilisation a central responsibility of their administrations.
‘Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,’ he said.
The minister said universities globally had developed sustainable funding systems by cultivating relationships with alumni, businesses, philanthropists, research funders and other strategic partners to finance laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other institutional needs.
He urged Nigerian universities to adopt similar approaches, stressing that their intellectual capital could be deployed to attract substantial resources from the private sector and other funding partners.
Alausa also clarified that the Federal Government was not withdrawing financial support from tertiary institutions, noting that the Tinubu administration had demonstrated commitment to the sector through increased budgetary allocations, infrastructure investments 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].
‘These provide a strong foundation,’ he said, adding that universities must build on the foundation by developing diversified, sustainable and resilient financing systems.
As part of the new approach to resource mobilisation, Alausa directed that Advancement Offices in all universities should report directly to Vice-Chancellors rather than Registrars.
He also directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum five-year internal tenure, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to build and sustain long-term relationships with donors, alumni, industries and philanthropic organisations.
‘Advancement Office operation is a professional job,’ the minister said, describing advancement officers as professional fundraisers who require stability, institutional backing and the confidence of university management.
He further challenged universities to overhaul their alumni engagement systems by developing functional databases and deploying technology to maintain lifelong relationships with graduates in Nigeria and abroad.
According to him, properly managed alumni networks could become dependable sources of long-term institutional support.
The minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation [NHF], would develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.
He said the framework would cover endowment governance, accountability, research grants, Advancement Office structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management and transparency.
Alausa warned that universities that failed to broaden their funding base could face difficulties sustaining growth, research and academic excellence.