A development sociologist in the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Dr. Busari Dauda, has said Nigeria’s development cannot be more than the level of its education development.
Dr. Dauda stated this Wednesday while presenting the 27th Faculty Lecture of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan with the topic: “How much is enough?, a random walk in the marketplace of social research.”
He stated that there is need for educational development in the country and in doing this, President Bola Tinubu should halt the anti-intellectual education policy under his watch and not allow education to degenerate further if he cannot improve what he met on ground.
He said it was surprising that a government who has not increased funding of public universities will ever thought of getting 40 percent from whatever these underfunded universities generate before withdrawing the directive.
“If this government cannot improve on the standard it met on, it should at least strive to maintain the status quo. We have imagined that this government will tackle the inherent challenges confronting the public universities head-on, but the signals we are getting is indicative of a measured attempt to further put the university education in jeopardy,” he said.
The UI don added: “Today, there is the habit of anti-intellectualism that permeates the policies of the government and directed at the public universities has assumed a pitiable reality.
“One of the most distinct marks of this descent into philistinism is the deliberate pauperisation of the universities to the detriment of quality education. The infrastructural decays in Nigeria public universities are appalling.”
