Nkemakonam62:
Former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Peter Okebukola, has attributed the poor rating of Nigerian universities globally to lack of adequate funding.He urged the Federal and state governments, as well as the private sector to dedicate more resources to the funding of education to remove those challenges that make the nation’s universities to attract less global recognition.



Okebukola stated this in a paper titled: Can The Bones Rise Again? A Peep Into The Revitalisation Of The Nigerian University Reform, which he delivered at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti during the institution’s 23rd convocation ceremony.He added that the university system would continue to fail in Nigeria until poor staffing and insecurity, among others were resolved before the country could rise to stardom in its higher education reforms and global rating.

He said it was pathetic that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) established by the Federal Government to fund tertiary institutions, could only give financial support to a few universities, while others were made to develop at slow pace.

Describing the development as a serious impediment to the growth of Nigerian universities, Okebukola advocated radical curricula reforms by the NUC to promote the new ideal of entrepreneurial education that would make students self-employable and relevant in the labour market.“Nigerian universities are having a lot of challenges, but funding is the major denominator. It has caused poor power supply, poor information and communication technology (ICT) network, low students’ enrollment and poor infrastructure in our universities.

“50 per cent of the institutions in Nigeria complained about epileptic power supply. Many of them rely on alternative power supply such as generators. This has resulted in increased cost of running the institutions.“About 37.5 per cent of the institutions perceived lack of support from the government through TETFund as a major setback in financing the development of infrastructure and they also complained of multiple-taxation.”

“Surveyed also showed that about 50 percent of the universities complained that the universities have low enrollments, because many of the students could not afford the cost,” he said.He said the country must tackle terrorism in the Northeast to make the institutions in the area safe for Nigerians.Speaking on the need for curricula reforms, Okebukola said: “There is an ongoing higher education reform under the auspices of the NUC, NBTE, NCCE. One of the drivers of this effort is the realisation that in the next 10 years, the jobs that will be available for graduates at the national level and globally will be different from what we have today”.

http://www.akelicious.net/2018/06/why-nigerian-universities-rank-poorly.html

That's my piece published in the Guardian

Much Ado About the Education Sector

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian education industry has fared abysmally low on the global scale, yet the policy makers hitherto pay lip service to the sector. The Minister of Education recently announced the government’s resolve to declare emergency on the sector but failed to avail the public with the aim of such decision and the resultant effect expected at the end of the day. At the tertiary level, a Nigerian University has hardly ranked among the first one thousand in the various global rankings. It is a hard fact that lack of facilities in especially the public educational institutions has stalled research oriented innovations and hence, a big hindrance to necessary developments to measure up with the realities of the modern world.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) that is supposed to be used for revitalization of the public higher education sector has not yielded the expected result. Yet, despite the funds being appropriated for the sector, over dependence on the government funding still hangs like the Sword of Damocles leading to incessant strike actions in a quest to better the lots of the institutions and the general welfare of staff which is nothing compared to robust benefits enjoyed by the political office holders with far less educational heights and achievements. Several promises made amidst negotiations with the government are always hard to fulfil. Courses that are supposed to be completed in a number of years get unduly elongated as a result, with some schools “crashing the programmes” to bridge the strike gap- a very big risk for a developing country not just because of the quality of education under discuss but because the active population of the country is in school; the value system has hinged survival and economic sustenance solely on “education” thereby increasing dependency ratio in a country where sixty per cent (60%) of the citizens are said to be living below poverty line despite huge national resources.

However, the libraries still look like archives of some sort. It is surprising that most books being used in the tertiary institutions have been there since decades and neither have they been revised at least twice since ten years of publication. Some lecturers still copy verbatim from these books, type or publish and sell to students as “textbooks or hand-outs”. Some of them also pay private journals in the Europe and America to publish their articles got from such materials which they count as "publication in international journals" and use them for promotion. Talking of effective internet facilities or virtual library is like asking for too much. Some of the students have never seen or heard of some academic materials that are common among their mates even in an average academic institution in South Africa. I once visited the state library in Owerri, Imo State and the place was fantastic. There were enough books and the environment was very conducive, with staff ready to attend to requests from readers. But, how up-to-date are the materials in the library is a big question looking everyone in the face including the library staff who would wave their hands in despair at such requests for current books. In an internet age, there is no access to e library where books and articles published even today are stacked in some online stores at some good price. Though a final year university student surfing the internet on her phone for her dissertations seemed so confident; she had got enough free materials on google! How about privatising such fantastic library in a state hosting about seven different institutions of higher learning which move will give it a great heave to measure up with the realities of the times? This is one example out of numerous public libraries in the country.

Just as we are talking of deregulating the oil downstream sector, can we liberalise the higher education institutions, with some degree of autonomy given to the universities and other tertiary institutions. This will bolster research activities and engender academic innovations to a great extent. Education is increasingly being globalised and the developed countries are already running with the tide. Those that never bothered about English language as a medium of teaching are dropping the old idea due to the strategic position the language is rapidly occupying in the global scheme of things. Virtual classrooms are gaining grounds and nations running to bridge the internet gap (electricity has long been conquered). Duplexes for resident professors are disappearing for momentary hotel bills to lodge a visiting Harvard professor whose academic prowess has gained him a retainership to lecture Economics in a Nigerian university. He finishes his lectures, (an opportunity to bring down a near Harvard standard and still save some “change” for a prolific academic research) and leaves for US after fixing a date for his examination. He flies in again to conduct his examination, goes back to mark scripts and send result by email. Webinars and other social platforms are there for students’ continued interaction with the professor. If a survey taken at the end of the session among his students does not favour his style of lecture, it is time for another egg head. This time a guru from University of Cape Town could be invited. The Nigerian professor also jostles for recognition out there, in a way that he does not wait for government subvention to attain academic excellence. This trend is rapidly gaining ground in some places in Europe.

At the primary and secondary levels, sound educational laws and policies will standardise the private institutions and give proper funding to the public schools. The world stood still, astounded when a public school teacher could not read out a passage handed to her by Adams Oshiomhole, the then Governor of Edo State. Apart from revitalising the public schools, those educational inspectors that would take the classroom teacher unawares participating in his class disguised as students should be reconstituted. They will secretly check the notebooks of the pupils accompanied with necessary questions about the teacher- a criterion for the teacher’s promotion in addition to proper and thorough scrutiny of the educational qualifications of such teacher. The floating of private schools by all and sundry who could afford some capital to rent an apartment anywhere and take off should be strictly regulated.

I recall with nostalgia, the playgrounds that used to be as large as the whole Michael Okpara Square in Enugu where we performed different sporting activities and marched with pride during the morning assembly, singing heroic songs in the beautiful rhythms of bands and trumpets and feeling like patriots who are ready to die for the cause of the nation. Those are the days of non-proliferation of private schools with government conducting schools debate competitions and broadcasting it on national media, the days of dedicated teachers who will not spare the rods lest the child spoils, teachers who will not sacrifice discipline for fear of parents.

https://guardian.ng/opinion/much-ado-about-the-education-sector/

As usual for the black man, everything is about money. More and more money is symptomatic of failed vision, failed creativity and failed application. They behave like the typical lazy prospector that blames his inability to set up enterprise on 'lack of fund(s)ing', while the world is teeming with free cash seeking fertile investment ideas.

The truth of the matter is that universities in Nigeria are not and have not positioned themselves at the centre of national development.They have offered nothing to Nigeria and so remain nothing. They want to compete with higher institutions in the world that have put their custodian countries up there at the pinnacle of science, technology, humanities, the arts and even sports.

Universities in America were at the fore front of the war efforts in the United States and Britain with advanced technology developments from the high precision artillery pieces to the A-bomb without which victory will have been impossible. The academia in India, Pakistan and Iran are doing same today, why will their governments not fund them massively.

In peace time the academia are the guatantors of democracy, keeping the nation's eye on the ball the politicians kick around. Here in Nigeria our academia and learned fellows have joined in the mudpit of sectionalism, religious bigotry and crass politicking. Who will sponsor that nonsense.

We have heard of various think tanks in the States, affiliates of various educational institutions and independent bodies like the Rand Corporation who fund university research responsible for putting the country ahead of its rivals and ensuring the stability and prosperity of those nations. We have the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies in Nigeria. Tell me for heavens sake what they have been strategizing and what policies they have churned out that Nigeria remains an ideological mess with recurrent failed leadership and totally bereft of functional institutions. Apart from awarding nonsencical MNI's, what exactly does that place do.

The question is simple, if Nigerian universities will not make themselves available to this nation and p,ay the roles they are supposed tothen tjd future will be even harder for them with Nigeria galloping population growth. They may feel that their job is to produce graduates. But I tell you, secondary schools can do that with minimal additional resources. The bulk of university activity in all sane societies is the trade in ideas and expertise. That is how the best of the best get funded.

If I were a leader of this country I will divide up all the issues, challenges, prospects and visions this country faces and needs amongst all the universities we have and give them a set time to deliver concrete, workable solutions. Funding will then gravitate towards those who care to get off their butts to deliver because to whom much 'will' be given, a whole lot is expected.

Because the Nigerian academia has reduced itself to the status of classroom teachers, it is not surprising universities have become, in tne words of late dictator Sani Abacha, 'glorified secondary schools'.

pimper24:



That's my piece published in the Guardian

Much Ado About the Education Sector

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian education industry has fared abysmally low on the global scale, yet the policy makers hitherto pay lip service to the sector. The Minister of Education recently announced the government’s resolve to declare emergency on the sector but failed to avail the public with the aim of such decision and the resultant effect expected at the end of the day. At the tertiary level, a Nigerian University has hardly ranked among the first one thousand in the various global rankings. It is a hard fact that lack of facilities in especially the public educational institutions has stalled research oriented innovations and hence, a big hindrance to necessary developments to measure up with the realities of the modern world.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) that is supposed to be used for revitalization of the public higher education sector has not yielded the expected result. Yet, despite the funds being appropriated for the sector, over dependence on the government funding still hangs like the Sword of Damocles leading to incessant strike actions in a quest to better the lots of the institutions and the general welfare of staff which is nothing compared to robust benefits enjoyed by the political office holders with far less educational heights and achievements. Several promises made amidst negotiations with the government are always hard to fulfil. Courses that are supposed to be completed in a number of years get unduly elongated as a result, with some schools “crashing the programmes” to bridge the strike gap- a very big risk for a developing country not just because of the quality of education under discuss but because the active population of the country is in school; the value system has hinged survival and economic sustenance solely on “education” thereby increasing dependency ratio in a country where sixty per cent (60%) of the citizens are said to be living below poverty line despite huge national resources.

However, the libraries still look like archives of some sort. It is surprising that most books being used in the tertiary institutions have been there since decades and neither have they been revised at least twice since ten years of publication. Some lecturers still copy verbatim from these books, type or publish and sell to students as “textbooks or hand-outs”. Some of them also pay private journals in the Europe and America to publish their articles got from such materials which they count as "publication in international journals" and use them for promotion. Talking of effective internet facilities or virtual library is like asking for too much. Some of the students have never seen or heard of some academic materials that are common among their mates even in an average academic institution in South Africa. I once visited the state library in Owerri, Imo State and the place was fantastic. There were enough books and the environment was very conducive, with staff ready to attend to requests from readers. But, how up-to-date are the materials in the library is a big question looking everyone in the face including the library staff who would wave their hands in despair at such requests for current books. In an internet age, there is no access to e library where books and articles published even today are stacked in some online stores at some good price. Though a final year university student surfing the internet on her phone for her dissertations seemed so confident; she had got enough free materials on google! How about privatising such fantastic library in a state hosting about seven different institutions of higher learning which move will give it a great heave to measure up with the realities of the times? This is one example out of numerous public libraries in the country.

Just as we are talking of deregulating the oil downstream sector, can we liberalise the higher education institutions, with some degree of autonomy given to the universities and other tertiary institutions. This will bolster research activities and engender academic innovations to a great extent. Education is increasingly being globalised and the developed countries are already running with the tide. Those that never bothered about English language as a medium of teaching are dropping the old idea due to the strategic position the language is rapidly occupying in the global scheme of things. Virtual classrooms are gaining grounds and nations running to bridge the internet gap (electricity has long been conquered). Duplexes for resident professors are disappearing for momentary hotel bills to lodge a visiting Harvard professor whose academic prowess has gained him a retainership to lecture Economics in a Nigerian university. He finishes his lectures, (an opportunity to bring down a near Harvard standard and still save some “change” for a prolific academic research) and leaves for US after fixing a date for his examination. He flies in again to conduct his examination, goes back to mark scripts and send result by email. Webinars and other social platforms are there for students’ continued interaction with the professor. If a survey taken at the end of the session among his students does not favour his style of lecture, it is time for another egg head. This time a guru from University of Cape Town could be invited. The Nigerian professor also jostles for recognition out there, in a way that he does not wait for government subvention to attain academic excellence. This trend is rapidly gaining ground in some places in Europe.

At the primary and secondary levels, sound educational laws and policies will standardise the private institutions and give proper funding to the public schools. The world stood still, astounded when a public school teacher could not read out a passage handed to her by Adams Oshiomhole, the then Governor of Edo State. Apart from revitalising the public schools, those educational inspectors that would take the classroom teacher unawares participating in his class disguised as students should be reconstituted. They will secretly check the notebooks of the pupils accompanied with necessary questions about the teacher- a criterion for the teacher’s promotion in addition to proper and thorough scrutiny of the educational qualifications of such teacher. The floating of private schools by all and sundry who could afford some capital to rent an apartment anywhere and take off should be strictly regulated.

I recall with nostalgia, the playgrounds that used to be as large as the whole Michael Okpara Square in Enugu where we performed different sporting activities and marched with pride during the morning assembly, singing heroic songs in the beautiful rhythms of bands and trumpets and feeling like patriots who are ready to die for the cause of the nation. Those are the days of non-proliferation of private schools with government conducting schools debate competitions and broadcasting it on national media, the days of dedicated teachers who will not spare the rods lest the child spoils, teachers who will not sacrifice discipline for fear of parents.

https://guardian.ng/opinion/much-ado-about-the-education-sector/

Oga, it is still the same thing. Nigerian universities are not selling anything, so how do you expect them to have money to develop. If you donot 'work', how do you expect to feed. Look at the teeming challenges facing Nigeria, how many have they managed to solve to attract funding, none. Yesterday a university was lamenting they spent two-thirds of their budget on power and they must have the mental resources under their employ to find solutions but are too lazy to think.

Their counterparts abroad attract billions from industry for solutions based research. And so can even afford to give out scholarships to the best and brightest thoughtless of being able to afford their bills.

University of Maiduguri has been hit several times by Boko haram. Are they doing any research to come up with viable solutions to helping the hapless Federal government bring the conflict to a logical end, no. If they did, they and not the Nigeria Army will get the 1 billion dollars meant for that theatre. Nigeria severely lacks ideas of governance, solutions to everyday life. Universities should be at the forefront in solution provision. They should be our national think tanks.

Itis not about moaning about how things were better in the year19 Lord Luggard when we know our rampant population i crease coupled with a retarded polity has put us here. Let them be the mental face of any change agenda.

Do you know why those innovators like Bill Gates and other internet and cybernetic gurus would always acknowledge their lack of formal education? It is because they always want to prove innovation can exist outside the academia. That is because normally innovation is domiciled there. We need to wake up in this country.

Reference:


Oga, it is still the same thing. Nigerian universities are not selling anything, so how do you expect them to have money to develop. If you donot 'work', how do you expect to feed. Look at the teeming challenges facing Nigeria, how many have they managed to solve to attract funding, none. Yesterday a university was lamenting they spent two-thirds of their budget on power and they must have the mental resources under their employ to find solutions but are too lazy to think.

Their counterparts abroad attract billions from industry for solutions based research. And so can even afford to give out scholarships to the best and brightest thoughtless of being able to afford their bills.

University of Maiduguri has been hit several times by Boko haram. Are they doing any research to come up with viable solutions to helping the hapless Federal government bring the conflict to a logical end, no. If they did, they and not the Nigeria Army will get the 1 billion dollars meant for that theatre. Nigeria severely lacks ideas of governance, solutions to everyday life. Universities should be at the forefront in solution provision. They should be our national think tanks.

Itis not about moaning about how things were better in the year19 Lord Luggard when we know our rampant population i crease coupled with a retarded polity has put us here. Let them be the mental face of any change agenda.

Do you know why those innovators like Bill Gates and other internet and cybernetic gurus would always acknowledge their lack of formal education? It is because they always want to prove innovation can exist outside the academia. That is because normally innovation is domiciled there. We need to wake up in this country.

Good thought, but how are private universities funded? If funding responsibilities are given to public schools, and the school fees left for them as the bedrock, I think they will strive harder. It may not stand now, but in no time!

Reason is sexual perversion and wickedness. What pride is there when a lecturer would say NO one will pass his or her course? What pride is there when lecturers want to be served like demi gods before you will be considered worthy of getting good grades no matter how hard you try?

Money is important but not the most important. Even with funding embezzlement would still affect things. Ask what happens to the education trust fund given to Nigeria? Shior. Wickedness is the main cause.

Reason is sexual perversion and wickedness. What pride is there when a lecturer would say NO one will pass his or her course? What pride is there when lecturers want to be served like demi gods before you will be considered worthy of getting good grades no matter how hard you try?

Money is important but not the most important. Even with funding embezzlement would still affect things. Ask what heppens to the education trust fund given to Nigeria? Shior. Wickedness is the main cause.

Reason is sexual perversion and wickedness. What pride is there when a lecturer would say NO one will pass his or her course? What pride is there when lecturers want to be served like demi gods before you will be considered worthy of getting good grades no matter how hard you try?

Money is important but not the most important. Even with funding embezzlement would still affect things. Ask what happens to the education trust fund given to Nigeria? Shior. Wickedness is the main cause.

theoldpretender:
The problem is MONEY

He said it was pathetic that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) established by the Federal Government to fund tertiary institutions, could only give financial support to a few universities, while others were made to develop at slow pace.

And there it is....the cash is not there. Meanwhile,we insist on paying N40000 for degrees that should cost N600000 at least yearly. And Govt does not have the trillions...not billions...needed to fund universites.

Also

50 per cent of the institutions in Nigeria complained about epileptic power supply. Many of them rely on alternative power supply such as generators. This has resulted in increased cost of running the institutions.“About 37.5 per cent of the institutions perceived lack of support from the government through TETFund as a major setback in financing the development of infrastructure and they also complained of multiple-taxation.”

And weneed $300bn to fix power. Our reserves are at $40billion. Do the math.

Either we raise taxes, fees and whatnot...or we just close our eyes and take another LOAN....that our grandkids will still be paying.

$300bn to 'fix' power? What are you talking about?

Is there any V.C who is ready to give detailed and unpadded Account of his/her financial stewardship? If not any claim of under-funding may be grossly misunderstood.

Viralkid:
In all modesty, Our Universities are an eye sore the government does not give any attention to education. It's quite pathetic

Pathetic indeed. Even in countries where the universities are tuition free (i.e the government has taken the burden of paying the fees of its citizens), universities are still adequately funded. Not in Nigeria.