28012020

42— Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020
SMS only: 08088693107
Email: ebellistic@yahoo.co.uk
Poor funding of education damages national
devt —Prof Okhuoya
By Ebele Orakpo
Deterioration
I had a very sound scientific
training with standard
laboratories, sound academic
lecturers (Nigerians and
foreigners), good hostel
facilities and excellent
catering services.
At first, the British lecturers
and supervisors were very
skeptical about my
undergraduate background,
coming from Africa, but by the
time they saw I was feeling
very much at home, they gave
me the position of a
demonstrator for the
undergraduate classes. All
these were because our
university education was at
par with foreign systems. Can
that be said today? The
answer is No. The wall of
Nigerian University system
has been broken to pieces!
Over the years, the system has
gradually deteriorated.
Problem with the system
Many articles have been
published by eminent
scholars and concerned
Nigerians on the matter. The
slide was gradual but has now
been so rapid that we have
arrived at our ground zero.
Decay and Neglect
The decay started when
government stopped
adequate funding of
universities. Funding is so
crucial for the survival of the
university system. Federal
allocation to education has
been on the decline for years.
Government has over the
years placed less value on
education and yet, expects
products of the system to
service the economy.
This neglect has led to very
obsolete equipment,
dilapidated infrastructure and
very
unsightly
environment. Other nations
place high premium on
education, in line with
UNESCO’s recommendation
of 26% of annual budget to
education.
Nigeria is far from the
minimum,(averagely 7% of
national budget) and no
nation can develop as long as
it keeps paying lip-service to
education. Denying the
citizens good and quality
education is a complete denial
of great future for the
children.
Infrastructure
We all know that the
environment is far from being
conducive
for
learning: Crowded
classrooms, inadequate
accommodation, lack of pipeborne
water, lack of good
intra-campus roads
etc. Products from this
system have gradually lost a
sense of decent environment
hence, their indecent
behaviours.
We have made vicechancellors
to become semi
governors; providing light,
water, security, roads, etc.,
•Professor John Okhuoya...Some courses are no more relevant
to our needs
Prof. John Okhuoya is Director, African Centre for
Mushroom Research and Technology Innovation,
University of Benin and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Administration) of the university. At the 49th Founder’s
Day of the University of Benin, he presented a paper titled:
Rebuilding the Broken Walls of Nigerian University
Educational System
Excerpts:
instead of concentrating on
providing academic and
a d m i n i s t r a t i v e
leadership. However, there is
increased funding through
TETFUND but still far from
sufficient.
Moral Bankruptcy
Nigerian universities are
expected to produce
graduates worthy in
character and learning; the
current educational system
produces graduates with
education without learning,
so our graduates to a large
extent, can be said to be
unworthy of our certificates
because they are morally
deficient.
Academic indolence
Many in the system have
become academically lazy.
Students have very poor
reading culture. They are
either whatsapping or video
viewing instead of studying.
Same with some lecturers who
have refused to upgrade and
update themselves.
Consequences of the decay
Just imagine the quality of
our graduates today on a
global scale. Can we say our
products can measure up with
their counterparts in Europe
and America?
I listened to a quiz exercise
recently and our graduates
were asked to explain tet-atet,
and the answers were
very shocking. ‘One or two
people’, another said ‘we are
together!’ Would a graduate
of the 70’s and 80’s answer
this way? Many can’t speak
good English.
Many that are employed in
the civil service find it difficult
to take minutes of
meetings. The overall effect
on the national economy is
huge. Policymakers don’t
Government has
over the years
placed less value
on education and
yet, expects
products of the
system to service
the economy
know that the less you fund
education, the more damage
to our national development
thereby shooting ourselves in
the foot.
Labour ward
The universities can be
regarded as the labour ward
of delivering the drivers of
national development.
In the current world ranking
of universities, only UI, UNN
and Covenant, made it to the
first 2000 while Egypt and
South Africa were ahead of
Nigeria. This should disturb
us as a nation.
The corruption in the general
society is also rampant in the
university system. Students
who pay money to get grades
will continue to buy their way
in the society, thereby
deepening corruption.
The level of moral decadence
is very high on our
campuses–immorality/
prostitution.
Way forward
The situation, bad as it seems
is not hopeless. The walls of
our university system can be
rebuilt. Like in the days of
Nehemiah in the Bible, the
walls of Jerusalem were
broken down and the children
of Israel were in captivity,
scattered all over the world
(Neh. 2: 17). That is the
situation we are in now. It
took a man like Nehemiah to
bring about the reconstruction
of the walls.
Policymakers and university
administrators know what has
gone wrong. Like Nehemiah
said, let us arise and build the
broken walls. I call on us all
to do same; government
leaders, NUC, Labour Unions:
ASUU, SANU, NASU, NAAT,
students, parents, employers
of labour, legislators, etc. Let
us join hands together to
restore the Nigerian
university system.
State of emergency
The government as a matter of
urgency, should declare a state
of emergency in the education
sector, stop paying lip service
to education and pay serious
attention to education, and
completely overhaul it. It will
require a task force, made up
of individuals with good
university experience without
political, religious and ethnic
coloration, to thoroughly
examine the rot and come up
with the way forward.
It will require the political will
by government. The entire
governance structure must be
overhauled, allowing
competence and experience to
be our watch word. Involving
politicians in the management
of university education has not
given us the desired
results. We can compare notes
with other nations whose
universities have ranked very
high, so as to know how to
tackle our challenges.
Total shift
The mistakes we have made is
to think that our universities are
meant for our local
environment. Universities no
matter where they are sited, are
for global service and
relevance.
There must be a total shift,
reawakening
and
understanding of the true
meaning
of
university. Universitas –
universe. The root word here
is universe – global.
‘A community of global
intellectuals.’ We must all take
responsibility for our failures
and seek to address them now.
National embarrassment
Nigeria's educational system is
becoming a national
embarrassment. Today,
Nigerian students are
migrating to other African
countries, especially
Ghana. All labour unions in
Nigerian Universities must go
back to the drawing board and
re-examine our ways and
attitude to the issues at
stake. Old ways of thinking
and doing things that have led
us to where we are now must
give way to the new
progressive and problemsolving
one. This is not the
time to fight ourselves, but to
see how we can get out of this
quagmire.
Parents/guardians
Parents and guardians cannot
feign ignorance of our failures
in raising up our children with
the right civil and moral
values. We must contribute to
the rebuilding of the system.
Govt/lawmakers
Government and lawmakers
can no longer ignore UNICEF's
recommendation that at least
26% of our national budget be
spent on education like other
developed nations. Some
countries even do more.
Curriculum review
There must be a total review of
our curriculum to make it
relevant globally. Some courses
are no more relevant to our
needs. Much research has
occurred in the last decades
with much increase in
knowledge in all spheres. In
science for example, new
planets have been conquered
with new technology, changing
old concept all
together. Therefore, we need
new courses in line with
contemporary knowledge.
Rebirth
The rebirth must begin from us.
Senior/Junior staff must take
their responsibilities very
serious to bring about the
desired changes: hardworking
staff must be encouraged and
celebrated by giving them some
incentives, while indolent and
lazy staff should be sanctioned
according to our rules and
regulations. All persons found
indulging in vices like
cheating, extortion, grade for
sex, etc., should be fired after
due process is followed. A
system should be in place in
all our programs to ensure that
quality and effective teaching
is done.
Character training
To tackle the challenges of
character training, I suggest
the creation of Character
Assessment Unit, CAU, where
every student can be assessed,
with a goal to developing
refined and decent students
that are useful to themselves
and society at large. Some
critics may say this is taking it
too far. My response is that
they must remember that the
devil has also gone far, so we
must go farther to redeem the
system.