At a time when the wage bill of the government is very high with poor funding of public educational institutions, the establishment of new universities appears to put more financial burden on the lean purse of the government that is already on a limping mode; SUNNY IDACHABA writes.
In the opinion of key observers, all is not well with Nigeria’s public universities for various reasons ranging from lack of funding to the recent trend of brain drain due to mass exodus of teaching staff from the country in search of greener pastures abroad. In global ranking, Nigeria’s universities generally fall below the UNESCO bench mark of standard reckoning as compared to some universities even on the continent.
These, among others, are chiefly the reasons for the protracted industrial disharmony in the nation’s ivory towers over the years.
It could be recalled that way back in 1992 when then Dr. Attahiru Jega was the national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the union had since then been at loggerheads with every successive administration in the country over the same matter of poor funding, university autonomy, poor welfare and sundry issues. Till date, those issues are yet to be addressed and that is why some stakeholders in the education sector glowingly describe Nigerian universities as glorified secondary schools.
From less than 20 public universities both at the federal and state levels in the early 90s, they have grown to 91 and are still growing because the government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC) has not relented in granting approvals for the establishment of more public universities even when existing ones are suffering in silence.
Additional varsities
This is why the recent approval by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that some new universities approved by the immediate past administration should take off in the next academic session is a course for concern.
Initially, the minister of education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, while explaining the position of the government on those universities had told State House correspondents that due to the paucity of funds, some of those universities created at the twilight of Muhammadu Buhari’s exit from office would not take off. But not long after, a statement from the director of press and public relations in the Ministry of Education, Augustina Okechi, noted that President Bola Tinubu had actually approved a ‘staggered’ establishment and take off of some of those new institutions.
The statement noted that the approval included the conversion of some existing federal colleges of education into conventional universities.
The statement read in details that, “In line with the present administration’s commitment to ensure continuity in governance and policy consistency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the staggered establishment of existing four colleges of education to be converted to federal universities of education, the establishment of two federal universities of agriculture, two federal universities of medical and health sciences and five other colleges of education.
The statement stated further that, “The establishment and conversion of these institutions is a further demonstration of President Tinubu’s education for the Renewed Hope Agenda and would help in improving access to tertiary education in the country.”
Some of those approved institutions slated for immediate take-off include Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences, Kwale to be located in Delta state and the Federal University of Agriculture to be located in Mubi, Adamawa state.
Also approved for conversion is the Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo state and Alvan Ikoku College of Education in Owerri, Imo state, into becoming Federal Universities of Education.
According to the statement, other institutions established are the Federal College of Education, Ilawe Ekiti in Ekiti state, Federal College of Education Ididep- Ibiono in Akwa Ibom state and the Federal College of Education (Technical) Yauri in Kebbi state. Presently in Nigeria, there are a total of 170 universities out of which 79 are privately owned. What is however of deep concern is the state of those institutions, especially public universities.
Reactions
In a reaction to this development, a senior lecturer at Bingham University in Nasarawa state, Prof. Samuel Odoma, noted that there was nothing wrong with what people may call the proliferation of universities as long as they meet the UNESCO standard.
“The more, the merrier for many reasons. Aside from the employment opportunities they can generate, they add to human capital development. My quarrel with the idea, however, is the poor funding especially by the government. It’s rare in other countries to hear of industrial disharmony in tertiary institutions because that is where the human resources needed in the society are trained.
“The situation however seems different here where the government seems to have plan B regarding where top government functionaries are to be trained as against the universities. That is why our universities are poorly funded because they are now seen as where children of the poor in society go to acquire higher education, not where the real human resource personnel needed as backbone for the government are trained.
You are aware of Public Service Institute, Institute for Security Studies, Policy and Strategic Studies Institute, ASCON, War College, etc. These are top-rated public institutions that now attract patronage from the government rather than public universities.
“This is the major reason local public universities are starved of funds. The establishment of more varsities without commensurate funding is just a political arrangement that serves no purpose.”
In the same vein, an educationist, Dr. Balogun Okikeola, told Blueprint Weekend that the proliferation of universities would have been meaningful if they are well funded. He said, “Emphasis should be on quality/standard rather than the numbers we have. In the 60s, when we went through the university, there were not many of them, but the few existing ones were well funded, with expatriates from overseas coming to teach through exchange programmes.
“That was the golden moment of universities in the country, not now that due to poor funding, many of top government officials no longer send their children to our public universities, but private ones while those who can afford overseas expenses carry their children abroad. That is the bane of our educational system at the moment.
“I really don’t support the establishment of many educational institutions as if they are to satisfy federal character principle without considering standard and needs assessment. That is the reason many of them are abandoned and left to source for their own fund for development, but does the economic and business environment support such a move? It’s still a matter of giving education a top priority.”
According to the NaijaTimes editorial of April 25 2021, universities as centres of knowledge production, learning, research and innovation, are time-tested ideals which underpin their foundation.
“These ideals are largely encapsulated in the need to search for solutions to the challenges confronting society. Even in ancient times, the origin of universities would be traced to the evolution of spaces for learning and for building the human resource base needed to creatively respond to social, economic and cultural issues of the day. Anything outside this is a waste of resources.”
The Kogi example
For instance, it could be recalled that in Kogi state where there already existed a state-owned university located in Anyigba, the Eastern senatorial district, but poorly funded, the present administration in the state went ahead to establish two additional universities in the other senatorial zones citing balance and equity as reason for establishing them.
While it is still not clear how properly funded those other two institutions established in Okene and Kabba could be, the criteria cited by the state government seems to be at variance with the core ideals of setting up a university in line with UNESCO standard. This is what Prof Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School, now Pan African University called ‘an attempt to derobe a university of its distinction among other institutions of government’.
Therefore, according to Naija Times, “The norm is that university graduates should demonstrate competence, not only in their chosen fields of study, but also in character. The relevance of the university system in the life of the wider society is the basis of the continuous interaction between ‘town and gown’.
“For individuals who pass through the university system, therefore, it is expected that the practice and learning have enabled them to acquire knowledge, and that they have nurtured their minds to think critically and contribute to the search for solutions to the monumental issues facing society.”
As President Tinubu hinges his development agenda on Renewed Hope, it is hoped that under him, a new lease of life would be injected into the life of the nation’s universities such that the sons and daughters of the common man would compete under the same classroom with the children of ministers, lawmakers and business tycoons in years to come.
