Closing the funding gap in social infrastructure

Making the case for adoption of endowment funds

Nigeria's GDP is growing below its population growth rate of 2.6%. The country is expected to become the third-most populous country in the world by 2050. This has serious implications for economic and human development in the absence of adequate funding. According to an Oxfam report in 2017, Nigeria was ranked 41st out of 41 countries in Africa for spending on healthcare, education and social security compared to South Africa that was ranked 2nd with a score of 0.512

Seeking alternative sources of funding to boost social infrastructure

While Nigeria's allocation to tertiary education has declined over the years, other countries have actively taken steps to increase their spending commitments in these sectors. Relying solely on the government to fund tertiary education is no longer adequate because of the growing government budget deficit and a need to focus on hard infrastructure such as transport network and power.

The world over, the cost of providing tertiary education is expensive, however multiple avenues of funding are available, exclusive of government allocation and out-of-pocket payments. Nigeria needs to find sustainable ways to fund tertiary education. One of such sustainable strategies is through the adoption endowment funds, which have successfully established in the West and will take little or nothing to implement in Nigeria.