Minister directs federal institutions to publish budgets

All federal government-run tertiary education institutions in Nigeria have been directed to publish their key institutional data, including financial records, on their official websites by 31 May 2025.

Dr Maruf Alausa, the minister of education, instructed institutions to disclose, in detail, their annual budgetary allocations and research grants from the previous year, according to a 5 April statement by Boriowo Folasade, the spokesperson for the ministry.

The minister, in the statement, called on all heads of tertiary institutions to treat the directive with the “urgency and seriousness it demands, as it represents a critical step in collectively uplifting the integrity and global competitiveness of Nigeria’s education sector”.

The ministerial directive comes a few weeks after a new study rated Nigerian universities the least transparent globally because they did not make their financial and administrative records accessible to the public, University World News reported.

The study by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership revealed that none of the 64 universities surveyed across Nigeria published their budgets, audited accounts, internally generated revenue and visitation panel reports on their websites, while about 80% of them failed to publicly disclose their audited financial reports, expenditure breakdowns, or grant utilisation statements.

Aliyu Jalal, communication officer at the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, commended the government’s “decisive action” weeks after the centre’s research exposed how Nigerian universities failed to disclose their funding sources and institutional data online.

“This policy shift is commendable. It reaffirms the power of rigorous, evidence-based policy advocacy. It shows that, when think tanks like Athena Centre speak, the government listens. Nigeria’s initiative to enhance transparency in tertiary institutions through mandated data publication represents a positive step towards accountability.

“Countries like the United Kingdom and Canada have long implemented similar policies, ensuring institutions regularly disclose financial information, research grants and student statistics. These efforts not only foster public trust but also facilitate informed funding decisions and elevate global academic standards.

“However, achieving comparable effectiveness will depend on Nigeria’s enforcement mechanisms and the accessibility of the published data [that is] crucial for ensuring transparency that leads to tangible improvements in educational quality and governance,” he said.

Several other analysts agreed, saying the government’s directive speaks to issues raised in the report and they urged the government to ensure compliance.

A bold move

According to the ministerial statement, all federal vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts have to publish institutions’ annual budgetary allocation in full detail, including the breakdown of expenditure across three core areas: personnel cost, overhead costs and capital expenditure. In addition, institutions are to disclose their research grant revenue from the previous year.

“This data should be separated into two distinct sources: grants obtained from domestic bodies such as local industries, government agencies, or foundations; and those received from international sources, including foreign institutions, multilateral organisations, and development partners,” the statement said.

The institutions are also required to clearly disclose financial supports received from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for academic and infrastructural development in the present calendar year and publish their endowment fund as recorded at the end of the previous year.

The information should be presented in a “clear, accessible, and user-friendly format” for the public, including parents, students and other stakeholders.

“To ensure adherence, the Federal Ministry of Education will conduct periodic reviews of institutional websites and take appropriate administrative actions against non-compliant institutions. These reviews will be used to gauge compliance and drive policy decisions that promote transparency,” according to the statement.

Accountability on the horizon?

Hassan Soweto, the national coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, told University World News the directive “fully addressed the issues raised in the report” and would enhance greater transparency and accountability in Nigerian higher education if implemented.

“Right now, no one knows details of the finances of our public tertiary institutions, despite the taxpayers’ resources being used to fund them, as well as the huge fees they are charging students.

“A system that allows this information to be out and available can greatly empower students to be able to demand quality services – equal to the huge fees they are paying, while cases of wrong financial expenditure, inflated budgeting and fraud which plague public tertiary institutions can also be easily detected.”