Many private universities are not profit-oriented — Caleb VC

NAN-H-76
Profit
By Abdulfatah Babatunde
Lagos, July 24, 2017 (NAN) Contrary to views that private universities are profit-oriented, Prof. Ayandiji Aina, Vice Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, says many private universities are not recording profit.
Aina said at a Forum organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that what many private universities generated from school fees could not cover their overhead costs.
“I cannot imagine any private university that can talk about profit.
“The idea is that with all the collections, even the highest-paying school fee university you can find around among the private universities, cannot fund beyond their overheads.
“So I do not know what they mean by profit orientation.
“For instance, some of the capital projects are in the region of almost N10 billion.
He gave an analogy of Caleb University, saying that for instance, “hostel and tuition is about N500, 000 and we have 2,000 students, you can multiply what you have, if everybody pays’’.
According to him, if everybody pays, it means you have less than N2 billion that you are expecting.
“The projects on campus are almost in the neighbourhood of about N20 billion. So, where is the profit?’’
Aina said that “people with the notion that private universities are making huge profits are either ill-informed or simply mischievous’’.
“I think those who have that notion are either not well-informed or they are just simply mischievous, like we have in some of the labour unions,’’ Aina said.
The vice chancellor, however, said that the category of people who could legitimately feel pained that tuition fees in private universities were unaffordable were civil servants, whose salaries, he described as `meagre’.
“If I work as a civil servant and my salary is N55, 000 I have a legitimate reason to feel bad that I cannot afford private university fees,’’ he noted. (NAN)
AIB/AJA/PIO
=============
(Edited by Adeleye Ajayi/Idonije Obakhedo)