PLANNING, RESOURCE MOBILISATION UNIT (DEVELOPMENT OFFICE)

Challenges and Mission

(a) Challenges

• Dwindling Government funds & support.
  
  
• Growth & expansion of the University brought about by population increase & demand pressure.
  
  
• Depreciation of infrastructures caused by wear & tear, inadequacies, obsolesces, etc.
  
  
• Unsustainable revenue generating capacity of the University occasioned by poor & unstable economic condition, such as low per capita income, inflation, volatile foreign exchange, and occasional industrial action by Staff & Student.
  
  
• Relevance to the 21st century challenges and the emerging fiercely competitive higher education market place.
  

    ABU was established in 1962, became a Federal Institution in 1975 and depends totally on Government for its operating expenses. However, since 1986, ABU has consistently received fewer funds from Government than it requires in fulfilling its mission which is the dissemination of knowledge of the highest quality.

    The aftermath of the inadequate or irregular funds not flowing into University from whatever source and the difficulties it created included slashing expenditure on critical items such as operating expenses for faculties, departments and units, non-payment of research grants, non-provision of laboratory equipments and non-purchase of new books and journals, etc, have been crisis of relevance, dilapidated structures, outmoded facilities, lack of state of the art equipments and much more. The tremendous growth in the university’s enrolment, staff recruitment and academic programs, was not accompanied by commensurate physical and structural expansion.

    In addition, the University’s potential for resource mobilization was hampered by Government ownership and policy and the general down-turn in the Nigerian economy. Consequently, it became increasingly incapacitated in meeting expectations.

    These challenges clearly convinced the University’s Management of the urgent need to established a Planning and Resource Mobilization Unit (alias Development Office) in line with happenings across the Globe, under the tutelage of the Vice Chancellor to “create capacity of expanding the resource base of the University by building requisite skills for identifying and accessing strategic resources geared to promote the development in the University”. Thus, developments at National and Global levels pose new challenges, which necessitated the University to seek support from Donor-Agencies across the Globe.

(b) Mission