Jacksonites’ seminar on fundraising for Nigeria’s educational institutions

The Jacksonites Worldwide Forum, an alumni association and professional development network of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), says it will be holding the third edition of its Jacksonites Professional Development Series (JPDS), this time focusing on examining the principles, strategies, and tactics for planning and executing effective strategic communication campaigns to raise funds for educational institutions in Nigeria.

The third JPDS lecture series, themed: “Fundraising for Educational Institutions”, will feature Bartholomew Okolo, former vice-chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who will join an expert panel including, Charles Okigbo, professor emeritus of strategic communication analytics at North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA; John Klocke, CFRE, advancement director at St. John Paul II Catholic Schools, Fargo, North Dakota; Betsy Birmingham, dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and Ladi Sandra Adamu, professor of broadcasting at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

According to Chinedu Mba, the JPDS chairman, the seminar is focused on  providing relevant stakeholders in Nigeria’s higher education the opportunity to learn effective and efficient fundraising methods to address funding gaps faced by Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

“It is no secret that higher education in Nigeria is underfunded and this unfortunate state is threatening its survival.

“Now, the government appears to have forbidden the use of the 26 percent funding formula for education recommended by UNESCO. Otherwise, how does it explain the non implementation?” she queried,

Mba noted that the domino effect of this “failure” is that Nigerian tertiary institutions are unable to provide effective teaching, research and development (R&D), as well as critical wide-ranging services to their students and respective stakeholders.

She also cited poor funding as one of the reasons for the recent one month warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

To provide a good-natured atmosphere for effective teaching, Mba said Nigerian tertiary institutions require funds for capital and recurrent needs that would include but not limited to having the right lecturer to student ratio, research and development funding and provision of critical infrastructural amenities, which are areas of focus to be addressed at the seminar.

The target audience for the free event scheduled for March 23 at 3 p.m. GMT+1 through the Zoom platform, includes administrators in the education sector, alumni groups, fundraising volunteers and coordinators, and other public personalities, while Yakubu Ochefu, secretary general to the committee of vice chancellors of Nigerian Universities will serve as the event respondent.

Registration for the seminar opens on February 23rd. Interested participants can contact the organisers at jacksonitiespdseries@gmail.com for more enquiries.