Experts have advocated government funding of education to enhance good research that would enable Nigerian students to compete favourably with their counterparts in the world.
Some professors who spoke at the 60th anniversary of the postgraduate college of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Thursday, maintained that developed countries invest heavily in education and Nigeria can not afford to stay behind.
Speaking on the theme: “Postgraduate Studies in Nigeria: The Past, the Present and the Future,” the Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Iwo, Professor Jonathan Babalola, lamented that postgraduate studies are facing a lot of challenges including lack of funding, positing that government should fund education.
He maintained that Nigerian government is not ready to develop if they keep saying that government can not fund education, noting that all the countries that developed have invested heavily in education.
“The government should fund education and stop proliferation. In other places, there are technical education where people produce manpower which we are not. I think they should just fund education and stop the proliferation of higher education.
“The other solution is this, our policies should be research-driven. In places where things work, there would have been research and there would have been proof that such a thing will work.
“There’s also this issue that many Nigerians are certificate driven. For post graduate education to be successful, it shouldn’t be certificate driven. What you are able to do should be what determines what you have or the type of job you occupy. If you just present a PHD certificate and then they give you the salary of a PHD holder, that is not what we are expecting. What you are able to deliver should be what you actually earn and I’m actually an advocate of “your productivity should determine the amount of money you earn”, Prof. Babalola said.
Similarly, the foundation provost of the college, Prof. Adeyinka Afolayan, also appealed to the government to invest in education, particularly the youths, saying that Nigeria has brilliant people who are capable of competing favourably with their counterparts in the world.
The current provost of the college, Professor Victor Olaleye, disclosed that the college has produced 29,887 graduates in the last 60 years of the establishment of the college.
He said, “over the past 60 years, the college has produced 29,887 graduates who have achieved remarkable success globally, comprising 3,985 postgraduate diplomas; 13,813 professional masters; 8,247 masters with research thesis; 965 master of philosophy; 2,877 Doctor of Philosophy. The current student enrolment is 7,095 including 60 international students.”
The OAU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adebayo Bamire, who was represented by Prof. Bola Babalola, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), said the university has recorded great achievement in research and innovation, noting that efforts are on to address other challenges.