APPRAISAL OF THE MANAGEMENT OF FINANCIAL AIDS TO STUDENTS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

There are serious concerns being expressed by the government, parents, the educated elite and the general public over the way scholarship and bursary funds are being managed by the State Financial Aids Management team which includes the Ministry of Education and the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board. There are also fears that the scholarship Board is not living up to expectations as bursary and scholarships have not been paid to beneficiaries (students since 2009). There appears to be dearth of information on the strengths and weaknesses of the Board to help make appropriate decision on the future of the Board. These worries necessitated the study. This study appraised the performance of the management of financial aid scheme in terms of how far the financial aid management has been complying with the provisions of the Scholarship Board Law 2003. To achieve this, seven research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated and addressed. The survey involved a sample of 1150 (5%) students (beneficiaries) from 10 tertiary institutions in the Federation, all senior staff of the State Scholarship Board (20) and 80% of senior staff of the Ministry of Education in Bayelsa State. Disproportionate sampling technique was used. Structured questionnaire were designed by the researcher and validated. The reliability coefficient of value was 0.7, 0.7, 0.8, 0.8, 0.9, 0.9 and 0.9 respectively for the seven research questions for financial management team.The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistic. The result revealed that the management of students’ aids scheme is moderately adhere to the guidelines for awards, fund sourcing, disbursement of funds, budgeting, auditing, constitution of the Board and administration of the Board/Ministry of Education. The management of the financial aid scheme is inhibited by inadequate and irregular funding, falsification of students’ list and lack of properly constituted Board. Based on this, the researcher recommended the need for the financial Aids management to adhere strictly to guidelines stipulated in the law, immediate reconstitution of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board, upward review of allowances to student and strict adherence to the Financial Regulations and Public Service rules. The Board should also source for scholarship and bursary award from philanthropists, non-governmental organizations etc, and provision of modern equipment to function properly, amongst others.