Adequacy Assessment of Government’s Budgetary Allocations for the Provision of Lecture Halls in Nigeria’s Federal Universities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of federal government’s budgetary allocations on the provision of lecture halls for undergraduate students in federal universities in North-Central Zone of Nigeria. Apart from extracting relevant Documents relating to budgetary allocations from the sampled universities, a descriptive research design was employed and data was collected from university Vice-Chancellors, bursary staff, lecturers and students from the five sampled federal universities. While all the 5 Vice-Chancellors were considered, a sample of 101 out of 254 bursary staff was sampled. In addition, 437 lecturers out of 2,912 were also sampled, 50 students were purposively sampled. The research instruments employed for data collection were questionnaires for bursary staff and lecturers, interview guide for university Vice-Chancellors, and Focus Group Discussion Guide for university students. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the data. The findings from the field and documents showed that universities budgetary allocations for the provision of lecture halls were only 25 percent of their capital allocation in 2014. In addition, a simple regression model showed that budgetary allocations to universities influence the provisions of lecture halls. Furthermore, findings from the study also showed that even with inadequate lecture halls, the number of applicants and students’ enrolment was on the increase thereby putting more pressure on existing lecture halls. The study recommended among others that government should facilitate policies that will develop universities infrastructure so that adequate lecture halls can be constructed, and Vice-Chancellors should apart from investing in profitable ventures, mobilize Alumni and other stakeholders to be involved in the development of universities through the construction of lecture halls.