The controversy over commercializing public universities dates back to the mid- 1980s during the General Ibrahim Babangida regime, whose IMF and World Bank-inspired structural adjustment programme (SAP) led to drastic cuts in social welfare spendings and the reduction of subsidies. Consequently, the education sector has been affected by reductions in public spending, causing a decline in teaching and decay in learning facilities, inadequate halls of residence, acute scarcity of research grants, poor learning environment and overcrowded campuses.
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