Fynestboi: Whao i love this what else can we say when malpractise is now as easy as chewing gum...

Erelu_Y: The depth to which education standards in Nigeria has sunk is, arguably, quite alarming. I work in the City (London), where some time last year, my colleagues and I decided to carry out a research which compares financial regulations in UK and Nigeria. To facilitate this study, we needed journal papers addressing financial regulations in both countries (Nigeria and the UK). So, we searched databases, and realised that there was a vast amount of published materials from both countries which could be used for the literature review. In the case of Nigeria, many of these were written by lecturers, associate professors, and professors in the so-called “TOP NIGERIAN” universities: UNILAG, UNN, UNIBEN, ILORIN, etc.

To our consternation, however, over 95% of the papers published by Nigerian academics were of an extremely low standard both in terms of contents and grammar. In fact, we (5 of us on the team) all felt that if these published papers were to be graded as undergraduate coursework submissions in a typical UK university, none would score Grade A (70–100%). One of us further mooted that we clandestinely submit the best of these papers (especially those locally published in Nigeria) to top journals in Europe and North America for blind peer review. We did! Out of 25 papers (sent to 25 different academic journals in Europe, USA and Canada), 22 did not go through the initial editorial reading. For those in the know, this implies that the respective journal editors considered the papers absolute waste of precious times to send them for academic peer reviews. That is to say these 22 papers were deemed NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE! The remaining three papers went through peer review. Each was reviewed by three anonymous reviewers; each reviewer REJECTED each of the three reviewed papers. In other words, these journal articles were not of international standards and could never find their ways into prestigious journals published by Routledge’s Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, Sage, etc.

Now, these are the type of ‘papers’ which form the basis of academic staff appointments and promotions in Nigerian universities. It also, largely, forms the basis upon which undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships (i.e. citations) are based. In one case, an author (based at UNILAG) published 15 journal articles in one single year (2011). I do not know of any professor at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial, etc, who is capable of publishing 10 peer review academic articles in one single year—search Google to prove me wrong (I know this as MBA and PhD holder from one of these ivory towers)! This reckless and fraudulent faux pass is, however, possible in Nigerian universities. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few scholars of international repute in Nigeria whose works have been published in top notch academic journals. Many of these (who can only publish modestly) must be struggling (one can only imagine) to survive amidst the majority who publish sham articles in bogus journals.

Most concerning for the team is the standard of education which undergraduate and postgraduate students studying under these cheats—who shouldn't be anywhere near pedagogy and research in Nigeria’s ivory towers—are receiving. Most disheartening is the impact these fraud authors are making on future generations of Nigerians. Two biggest questions which our adventure posed are as follows. First, if Nigerians at home continue to receive substandard education in the hands of rogue academics, how could they successfully compete and excel in the global markets? Second (and if this ugly situation is not arrested), would Nigerians not continue, even in their own country, to remain inferior to, and short-changed by, Asians (Indians and Chinese) and Caucasians who are continuing to invade its technology, engineering, oil and gas, construction, and other sectors?

corruptst: The deplorable state of Education in Nigeria calls for serious concern among the government and the stakeholders (parents, teachers, students and employers of labour). Going down the memory lane is essential for us to know where we are coming from, where we are today and where we are heading to. Gone are those days when just having 5 credits in your O' level (Maths and English included) gave the alluring impression of an above average student, and having 8 distinctions and 1 credit were results reserved for the genuis (exceptionally brilliant ones). Even as the best graduating student and best English Language student in the government owned secondary school I attended, I could still remember looking into my O' level result and wondering how I got a C6 in English. Tough luck, I must confess. That's how education was then. I do not claim to have enjoyed the best that Nigeria education offered in its prime but looking back, I think it's far better than what suffice now.

What do we have now? Any Tom, Dick and Harry flash O'level results for all to see with outright incredible grades yet they could hardly say/write a complete sentence in English. Same applies to other subjects, or how else can someone who had B3 in Mathematics have problems with solving factorization. If you are one of those saying, "It's not everyone that's good in Maths", then count yourself among those I am pointing accusing fingers at.

During my preclinical years in the university, I once tried organizing WAEC and JAMB preparatory tutorials for students in my area but got the surprise of my life when one of the chaps asked me about the arrangements I have made for "Special Centres". Not that I'm hearing that for the 1st time but coming from a boy that had not even attempted any of such exams and the level of details he gave was so disheartening. All efforts to prove that the tutorials will be enough proved abortive. JAMB exams are not left spared as well, even with numerous strategies devised to curtail exam malpractices, it's still the same old story. A handbill for a tutorial class was like, "Embarrass UTME by scoring above 280". I jus smiled and walked away thinking about "our time". Was it that JAMB exams have gotten simpler or this same students have become more brilliant than we were? These were questions begging for answers but I guess we all know now.

To be continued...

C_JAY: Our schools haven't been the same since our colonial masters left, after they had established decent school systems and left them in our care
It's been a downward trend since.
From the evidence on ground, we are trully inept at managing complex systems.

corruptst: The deplorable state of Education in Nigeria calls for serious concern among the government and the stakeholders (parents, teachers, students and employers of labour). Going down the memory lane is essential for us to know where we are coming from, where we are today and where we are heading to. Gone are those days when just having 5 credits in your O' level (Maths and English included) gave the alluring impression of an above average student, and having 8 distinctions and 1 credit were results reserved for the genuis (exceptionally brilliant ones). Even as the best graduating student and best English Language student in the government owned secondary school I attended, I could still remember looking into my O' level result and wondering how I got a C6 in English. Tough luck, I must confess. That's how education was then. I do not claim to have enjoyed the best that Nigeria education offered in its prime but looking back, I think it's far better than what suffice now.

What do we have now? Any Tom, Dick and Harry flash O'level results for all to see with outright incredible grades yet they could hardly say/write a complete sentence in English. Same applies to other subjects, or how else can someone who had B3 in Mathematics have problems with solving factorization. If you are one of those saying, "It's not everyone that's good in Maths", then count yourself among those I am pointing accusing fingers at.

During my preclinical years in the university, I once tried organizing WAEC and JAMB preparatory tutorials for students in my area but got the surprise of my life when one of the chaps asked me about the arrangements I have made for "Special Centres". Not that I'm hearing that for the 1st time but coming from a boy that had not even attempted any of such exams and the level of details he gave was so disheartening. All efforts to prove that the tutorials will be enough proved abortive. JAMB exams are not left spared as well, even with numerous strategies devised to curtail exam malpractices, it's still the same old story. A handbill for a tutorial class was like, "Embarrass UTME by scoring above 280". I jus smiled and walked away thinking about "our time". Was it that JAMB exams have gotten simpler or this same students have become more brilliant than we were? These were questions begging for answers but I guess we all know now.

To be continued...

nneh1: This is very pathetic. I had to warn my little cousin who is 18yrs not to send any text message to me if the grammar is not correct. All they know is abbreviation,wizkid,davido,p square,mikel obi,toyota camry etc. God have mercy on our educational system because it makes me weep.