The Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership has announced plans to track the compliance of Nigerian tertiary institutions with the recent directive issued by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa.
In a statement signed by the centre’s media adviser, Aliyu Jalal, and shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, the centre said a dedicated countdown for the compliance-tracking initiative would go live in a few weeks.
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“A dedicated countdown webpage will go live in the coming weeks, allowing Nigerians—including students, alumni, parents, researchers, and development partners—to see, in real-time, which institutions are embracing transparency and which are falling short,” parts of the statement reads.
The centre said it is working with stakeholders to establish an annual university transparency index to rate universities by audit compliance, financial disclosure, and governance effectiveness.
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Speaking on the planned university transparency index, the Founder of the Athena Centre, Osita Chidoka, noted: “The University Transparency Index will become both a spotlight and a scoreboard. It will reward credible leadership, stimulate healthy competition, and reposition Nigerian universities for global relevance.”
The centre also said it offers technical assistance to any institutions requiring support in setting up open data platforms and building internal capacity to comply with transparency standards.
It also recommended that the minister directed the publishing of audited financial statements and link institutional transparency to funding and accreditation,
The centre called for the launch of a centralised university transparency portal for budgets, grants, and performance reports.
“Create a University Transparency Index to rank institutions, reward excellence, and highlight best practices; professionalise financial management to certify bursars and financial officers in global standards like IFRS and strengthen the Auditor-General’s oversight to ensure governance reviews are tied to real-time audits and reforms,” it added.
Minister’s directive
The education minister, Mr Alausa, recently directed all public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to publish full breakdown of their annual budgetary allocation on personnel cost, overhead costs and capital expenditures as well as their endowment funds and research grant revenues, including from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The minister also directed the institutions to provide their current total student population, categorised into undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
“The Ministry emphasises that this information must be presented in a clear, accessible, and user-friendly format for public visibility.
“Websites should be structured in a way that allows the public, including parents, students, and stakeholders, to easily locate and understand these data points,” said a statement announcing the minister’s directive as issued by the ministry’s spokesperson, Folasade Boriowo.
Financial secrecy affects Nigerian universities
Last month, an Athena Centre research which surveyed 64 Nigerian universities –both public and private– revealed that none of them publish their budgets.
The research also noted that most public universities ignored Freedom of Information (FOI) request for their allocation
It concluded that the culture of secrecy systematically excludes the institutions from the global research funding ecosystem and diminishes their international credibility.
In Wednesday’s statement, the Athena Centre commended the minister for the directive, noting that it aligned with the centre’s long-standing advocacy for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s higher education system.
“The directive directly and positively responds to the Athena Centre’s recent University Transparency Survey, which revealed systemic gaps in financial openness, governance standards, and stakeholder engagement across Nigeria’s university system,” the centre said.
“The directive validates the findings and recommendations of our study.”
