CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Public funds are those funds meant for the public use (Corbally, 1962, Osuntokun, 2003). It involves the financial activities of the government like borrowing, lending, taxing, etc as well as the expenditure involved in staff salaries, equipment and maintenance of educational institutions (Adesua, 1981, Charles, 2002). Financing of education is a sub of public finance dealing with the sources of finance, the amount allocated for material and human resources and the proper utilization of those funds. Financing of education is an important aspect of Economics of education and its importance cannot be over emphasized (Akangbou, 1986, Adeyemi, 1998). Finance is the life-blood of any organization. Adequate financing helps in the purchase of equipment and paying of staff’s salaries; and to a very large extent it contributes to the productivity of an organization. Education is very vital for the mental, social, political and economic development of an individual. It provides a person with the knowledge and skills needed to fit and contribute meaningfully to the society (Olaniyi and Adams, 2003). Education enhances the quality of life of an individual and the development of the society.
Considering how important education is to national growth and development of a nation, it is very imperative that the government provides adequate financial and competent human resources to aid the quality of education of its citizens. This is the more reason United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) placed a standard of 26% of any nation’s budget should be allocated to the education sector, and it considers anything below it as being inadequate for education funding. Education in Nigeria is deteriorating on a daily basis due to inadequate funding. This problem increases even as the number of students at different levels of education increases; and this could be tied to the fact that the government is the main source of revenue for the funding of education at all levels and so because of that it tries to subsidize it. According to Babalola (1995), he asserted that funding of education in Nigeria is carried out by the government based on the fact that private individuals may not contribute meaningfully and also that the poor may not enjoy education if financed by private individuals, therefore the government decided to take it on its shoulders to do that. In addition, the government believes that financing higher education (tertiary education) will help drive the economy based on its output. Inadequate funding of higher education is eating deep into the system and it is affecting the management of higher education, the lecturers, and even the students. Due to inadequate funding, lecturers keep embarking on strikes (ASUU), the increase in unemployable graduates and indiscipline among students.