[size=14pt]Jonathan’s village gets federal varsity[/size]
By Ifedayo Adebayo
November 25, 2010 12:49AM


The Bayelsa State government will donate 200 hectare of land at Otuoke, President Goodluck Jonathan’s village, for the commencement of the new federal university to be sited in the state, Timipre Sylva, the state governor has said.

The site allocation was unveiled on Wednesday, when the minister of state for education, Kenneth Gbagi, paid a visit to the governor in Yenagoa, requesting for allocation of space for the university, which is one of the six which was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council.

Mr. Sylva also promised to relocate every structure around the site at Otuoke to pave way for the immediate take-off of the university. The governor expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for siting one of the six new federal universities in Bayelsa, describing it as a quick response to the educational needs of the people.

The minister had earlier told the governor that the new federal university, which was allocated to Bayelsa State, would be located at Otuoke, in Ogbia local government area of the state.

With a little more than 20,000 people, Otuoke and Oloibiri, the communities where crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in Nigeria, belong to Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5646235-146/jonathans_village_gets_federal_varsity_.csp

The usual Nigerian mentality, take every pork project to my hometown whether it is viable there or not. Buharo did the same etc. Why not locate this university at Yenogoa where there is more accessible electricity, roads and water, instead of his village?

Apart from this project being in jonathan's village, is there anything thing else wrong with it?

There is nothing wrong with him having a university in his village. The one wrong I see here is that we are, yet again, diverting funds that ought to be used to improve quality and capacity at already existing schools to build brand new structures. Standards of our education system are at an all time low and our government is more interested in building more schools, rather than improving on the ones we already have?


If what we want is to increase available seats for students, we can always revamp what we already have to provide for the increase. But what we need now, and not later is for much of what we have to be poured into improving quality since our future depends on it.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-556817.32.html

^^^ no matter how much is spent on existing universities unfortunate they still wont be able to take on enough students- I dont think the money is being diverted from the existing education budget it is from excess crude oil account or supplementary budget

there are 1 millions students missing out on university places each year, i cant see how these people can be absolved into existing institutions

and you think those who contributed to the excess crude account don't have a village to site universities?

^^ they have universities already, where he cites them is not my problem, why we need more is what i'm on about

1million students miss out every year with no alternatives. . . what do we do with them?

I hope Department of Militancy will be the first to be accredited - it will be a hot cake

Dis Guy:

^^^ no matter how much is spent on existing universities unfortunate they still wont be able to take on enough students- I dont think the money is being diverted from the existing education budget it is from excess crude oil account or supplementary budget

there are 1 millions students missing out on university places each year, i cant see how these people can be absolved into existing institutions

Of course you are going to get told that there is a valid reason for why we need more universities. The existing education funds have been inadequate (According to the FME) in helping build up most of our schools, many already in state of dilapidation. So, I didn’t expect the money to be sourced from that to build the new schools. Getting the money from our LIMITED reserves to fix the school however does not in any way make it a great idea either. First I wonder why the government is not working with private sector in this. I mean most of these politicians are already in the business of building for themselves an institution? So, why is the government not looking into the creation of more privately managed institutions?

Fact is our government has PROVEN BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that it is incapable of handling our education system. Are we making a good decision then committing this claimed 1 million students into the same hands? We already learnt our lesson, I would like to believe, in the power sector by moving more to having the private sector handle things, we ought to be doing same in the area of educating our FUTURE. The last thing we need is more universities/institutions under the care of an incompetent government.

Don't you wonder where the 1 million figure comes from, by the way? Nigerian government should focus on upping quality of already existing schools, many of which are still unable to operate at capacity due to one silly reason or another, while the private industry handles providing solution to the problem of demand.

Peeps that does not understand d meaning of primary education that are bothering with Universities.They forgot that d foundation of man begins at childhood and neglect d children.And they want a better 2morow'

Kobojunkie:


If what we want is to increase available seats for students, we can always revamp what we already have to provide for the increase. But what we need now, and not later is for much of what we have to be poured into improving quality since our future depends on it.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-556817.32.html

It is true that we need to revamp the unis we currently have. Bear in mind that the ones we have were built to cater to a certain number of students. They can't  be stretched any further.

Imagine, out of 1.3 million JAMB candidates, only 300,00 can be admitted.  We need more universities in that country.

I don't see anything wrong in this.

Tonim:

It is true that we need to revamp the unis we currently have. Bear in mind that the ones we have were built to cater to a certain number of students. They can't  be stretched any further.

Imagine, out of 1.3 million JAMB candidates, only 300,00 can be admitted.  We need more universities in that country.  

Ever stopped to ask how we got to the 1.3 million number? Years of strikes and neglect from the government, mind you. Many in school today ought to have graduated long ago, but have had to stay on due to delays caused mostly by strikes many of which the governments continue to ignore for as long as it can. Essentially taking up spots that should have been opened up to newcomers. So, instead of using that number as reason to build more without considering what we are really doing in attempting such, I suggest we get a better understanding of what the true problems with our system really are so we can come to find better solutions that will better us now and the coming generation.

I am not against building of new schools, and I believe I made this clear in my last post

RECAP
 

– why do we have to have the same Government that has allowed hundreds of our schools decay to point that students in many areas study under trees to handle this? Why are we having the same government that has failed in improving the standards and quality of already existing schools, work on this?

Education is life,your ability to understand and to manipulate life is education.U got to have common sense to be educated,if not,u will just be like a robot,programmed.

Kobojunkie:


I am not against building of new schools, and I believe I made this clear in my last post

Good. I am glad we are on the same page on this

Kobojunkie:


why do we have to have the same Government that has allowed hundreds of our schools decay to point that students in many areas study under trees to handle this? Why are we having the same government that has failed in improving the standards and quality of already existing schools, work on this?

It is all about leadership. If we have the right leadership in place, it can be done.

If a Nigerian govt can build schools like Nsukka, Ife, Ibadan etc that have produced a nobel prize
laureate, then why can't they do this?

Tonim:

It is all about leadership. If we have the right leadership in place, it can be done.

If a Nigerian govt can build schools like Nsukka, Ife, Ibadan etc that have produced a nobel prize
laureate, then why can't they do this?

Correction – it has ALWAYS been about leadership so NO, it is no excuse to try again what we have IRON CLAD evidence is not a good idea.

The standards and infrastructure at those schools have been left to decay for the past 20 or more years. What year did the nobel laureates graduate? Why are you singing songs of PAST glories when the house is burning today? Are you suggesting that we ignore what has become the reality of those schools, and the dire needs of today because some students who graduated over 30 years ago went on to earn nobel prizes? What is this?

We can live on Ifs for the rest of our lives or we can from now, start doing things right for our own selves. Mind you, the Nigeria people, children are the ones who continue to get the short end of the stick in all this.

Have we ever wonder who teaches a spider to make a web and how complex a web is?,the motives,efforts and skills put in by a spider to make wed,oh,some will say god.

Kobojunkie:

Correction – it has ALWAYS been about leadership so NO, it is no excuse to try again what we have IRON CLAD evidence is not a good idea.

The standards and infrastructure at those schools have been left to decay for the past 20 or more years. Why are you singing songs of PAST glories when your house is burning? What year did the nobel laureates graduates? Are you now telling us that we should ignore what has become the reality of those schools today because some students who graduated over 30 years ago went on to earn nobel prizes? What is this?

We can live on Ifs for the rest of our lives or we can from now, start doing things right for our own selves. Mind you, the Nigeria people, children are the ones who continue to get the short end of the stick in all this.

What you fail to understand is, no matter how much the current decayed infrastructure is upgraded, it cannot
cater to the demand for higher university education.

These schools you are referring to, what was Nigeria's population when they were built ?  What is Nigeria's
population now ?

You can't use the same number of universities to cater to when Nigeria had 60 million people
and expect to use them now that the country has around 130 million people.

No matter how well the universities are kept, more schools just have to be built.

And again, it boils down to the leadership. If GEJ has the will, he can build these 6 new
schools successfully.

redsun:

Have we ever wonder who teaches a spider to make a web and how complex a web is?,the motives,efforts and skills put in by a spider to make wed,oh,some will say god.

Hahaha dude you are too much

Tonim:


What you fail to understand is, no matter how much the current decayed infrastructure is upgraded, it cannot
cater to the demand for higher education.

These schools you are referring to, what was Nigeria's population when they were built ?  What is Nigeria's
population now ?

You can't use the same number of universities to cater to when Nigeria had 60 million people
and expect to use them now that the country has around 130 million people.

No matter how well the universities are kept, more schools just have to be built.

And again, it boils down to the leadership. If GEJ has the will, he can build these 6 new
schools successfully.


That is why i have been saying we need more schools.

Are you sure you have actually read any of my responses on this? Cause I believe I addressed these same earlier. Please go back, read my posts to understand why what you are doing is simply causing me to repeat the same points I have made over and over in this now. I remember making sure to explain that I was not anti-new schools . .   I ain’t sure why you are now addressing me in the way you are doing now

a) Many of our universities were built in the last decade, many of them with a capacity of at least 5000 – please go find out how many new universities we got since 2000(both public and private).
b) The suggestion is not to use just those but to upgrade the existing schools and at the same time look more into having more private universities than our government embarking on building more of the same traps it has shown itself incapable of maintaining in the past.
c) Even in other countries where government functions a bit more than ours, there has been a push to move away from having government handle what we now know the private sector can do a better job of.

How can you educate a child that is brought up to see lack and helplessness as a way of life?Petty things like cleaning the streets and keeping the roads tarred are rocket science in nigeria.We are overcome by common squalors and filth yet,we are educating.

Teacher taught me nonsense.

Kobojunkie:


b) The suggestion is not to use just those but to upgrade the existing schools [/b]and at the same time look more into having more private universities than our government embarking on building more of the same traps it has shown itself incapable of maintaining in the past.

I get your point.

What I am trying to make you understand is that, [b]the upgrading of our existing schools will
not address the yearnings of 1 million candidates that can't get admitted yearly.

In addition to having more private universities, building 6 more federal universities will
not hurt. With the right leadership in place, the issue of univs becoming traps will
be a thing of the past.

We should not have a situation where most universities are going to be strictly privately
owned, else, the prices will shoot sky to the roof beyond the reach of many Nigerians

I think we should have both public and private univs co-exist as it obtains like countries
as the U.S.

Sound Public universities = Check and balances for private universities

hope you get my point  

Tonim:

I get your point.

What I am trying to make you understand is that, the upgrading of our existing schools will
not address the yearnings of 1 million candidates that can't get admitted yearly.

In addition to having more private universities, building 6 more federal universities will
not hurt. With the right leadership in place, the issue of univs becoming traps will
be a thing of the past.

What right leadership? We said the same thing the last time we added more schools, and guess what? We are today watching those very schools go to the dogs while we are still waiting for the “RIGHT LEADERSHIP”. In my opinion, we are likely not to get that anytime soon so it is best we start now accepting the fact that we need to start taking our own future more seriously rather than continuing to put it in the hands of the same old lunatics.

Building of 6 schools will not put a dent in the problem -- so, it is now a good idea to get the private involved. We are working on this to help solve the power sector. I believe we should pursue similar strategy in solving the problems we have in the education sector.

Tonim:

We should not have a situation where universities are going to be strictly privately
owned, else, the prices will shoot sky to the roof beyond the reach of many Nigerians
I think we should have both public and private univs as it obtains like countries as the U.S.
Sound Public universities = check and balances for private universities
hope you get my point 

How many federal universities do you know of in the US, that you are comparing us to? We have so many more federal schools than the US can consider to (with a population over 2 times ours) have(referring more to the military academies since they are the closest I know to federal schools here in the US).  Seriously, how many Federal universities do you know of in the united states?

Again, what we need is our government working with private entities to create more private institutions so as to carry much of the load. We have tried having sound public universities but in the last 30 years, we have watched our government allow them decay and the standard of education plummet significantly. I don’t know why we are still preaching in vanity when the signs are all around us that it is likely best for us now to start looking for alternative ways of tackling this problem which is right now working against our nations future at an alarming rate.

Someone suggested in this thread that schools should have been located in Yenagoa. I completely disagree. Locating it outside the state headquarters, would bring development to the area in which it is located.

It would also help to redress to some extent the bitterness felt by the people of Oloibiri and Ogbia LGA; the area from which crude oil was first drilled in Nigeria. It would give them a sense of belonging and remembrance by the Federal Government.

Let them go ahead and build the universities because it's either they build the universities or the money still wouldn't be used to upgrade existing ones if they don't build them. It's better they "waste" the money building the universities than the money being looted while resting in the treasury.

What I am trying to make you understand is that, the upgrading of our existing schools will
not address the yearnings of 1 million candidates that can't get admitted yearly.

What do you understand by ''upgrading''? Upgrading also means increase in capacity. If the money is used to upgrade the existing schools, that will make the finished upgraded product bigger in capacity to accommodate twice the number of students it admits yearly.

Kobojunkie:

Ever stopped to ask how we got to the 1.3 million number? Years of strikes and neglect from the government, mind you. Many in school today ought to have graduated long ago, but have had to stay on due to delays caused mostly by strikes many of which the governments continue to ignore for as long as it can. Essentially taking up spots that should have been opened up to newcomers. So, instead of using that number as reason to build more without considering what we are really doing in attempting such, I suggest we get a better understanding of what the true problems with our system really are so we can come to find better solutions that will better us now and the coming generation.

I am not against building of new schools, and I believe I made this clear in my last post

RECAP
 

Increasing population. Strikes in tertiary schools has nothing to do the number jambites.

Kobojunkie:

What right leadership? We said the same thing the last time we added more schools, and guess what? We are today watching those very schools go to the dogs while we are still waiting for the “RIGHT LEADERSHIP”. In my opinion, we are likely not to get that anytime soon [/b]so it is best we start now accepting the fact that we need to start taking our own future more seriously rather than continuing to put it in the hands of the same old lunatics.

So what you are proposing is that we should do away with govt building more universities and leave
it completely in the hands of the private sector.

I disagree with you; I think we should have both co-exist. The private and govt schools
can compete with each other and private schools will be put in check with their exorbitant
fees.

Kobojunkie:


[b]Building of 6 schools will not put a dent in the problem -- so, it is now a good idea to get the private involved. We are working on this to help solve the power sector. I believe we should pursue similar strategy in solving the problems we have in the education sector.

Haba! how can the building of 6 new schools not put a dent in the problem  Come on now

it will not completely solve the problem, no doubt, but more students will gain admission.

Kobojunkie:


How many federal universities do you know of in the US, that you are comparing us to? We have so many more federal schools than the US can consider to (with a population over 2 times ours) have(referring more to the military academies since they are the closest I know to federal schools here in the US).  Seriously, how many Federal universities do you know of in the united states?

Govt universities in the U.S. operate at the state level, not federal level and some of the
great univs in the U.S. are govt owned (e.g. UC Berkeley, U Wisconsin-Madison, Penn State).

Kobojunkie:


Again, what we need is our government working with private entities to create more private institutions so as to carry much of the load. We have tried having sound public universities but in the last 30 years, we have watched our government allow them decay and the standard of education plummet significantly. I don’t know why we are still preaching in vanity when the signs are all around us that it is likely best for us now to start looking for alternative ways of tackling this problem which is right now working against our nations future at an alarming rate.

The problem is bad, no doubt, but there are still good students coming out of the system.

Please see this link :

http://www.ajfand.net/Issue33/Issue33profile.htm#Kabir

It profiles a Ph.D holder from University of Ibadan (received in 2007) being highly recognized by
an international organization.

There are also tons of students coming from these schools with baccalaureate degrees going on
to pursue graduate studies in the UK, US, Canada etc and excel. Some of them are here on
this Nairaland as I type sef.

Tonim:


[/b]
Please see this link :

http://www.ajfand.net/Issue33/Issue33profile.htm#Kabir

It profiles a Ph.D holder from University of Ibadan (received in 2007) being highly recognized by
an international organization.

Is the African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) what you call a reputable international organization? Have you read any of the papers from that journal? What is the impact factor (the standard for rating journals) of the journal? Such journals are where 4th rate Nigerian university lecturers dump the work rejected by real journals.

Tonim:

So what you are proposing is that we should do away with govt building more universities and leave it completely in the hands of the private sector.

I disagree with you; I think we should have both co-exist. The private and govt schools
can compete with each other and private schools will be put in check with their exorbitant
fees.

Up until today, why haven’t the public schools been able to compete with the private schools? What has stopped that from happening in over 30 years? Please learn to live in the now!
Both Government and private schools can still co-exist. Government can focus its energy on learning to manage what it already has, while the private industry can build more and help drive improvement and innovation.

Tonim:

Haba! how can the building of 6 new schools not put a dent in the problem  Come on now
it will not completely solve the problem, no doubt, but more students will gain admission.

You claim there are currently 1.3 million students out there. Many of our existing schools are operating below capacity, with many currently occupied by 5000 students at a time. By the time these schools are finally completed (lawsuits, thievery, controversies etc.)  --- Probably in 3 years’ time, the number would probably have risen to about 1.7 million.   So, yes, it is likely not going to put a dent in the problem.

Tonim:

Govt universities in the U.S. operate at the state level, not federal level and some of the
great univs in the U.S. are govt owned (e.g. UC Berkeley, U Wisconsin-Madison, Penn State).


The problem is bad, no doubt, but there are still good students coming out of the system.

Please see this link :

http://www.ajfand.net/Issue33/Issue33profile.htm#Kabir

It profiles a Ph.D holder from University of Ibadan (received in 2007) being highly recognized by
an international organization.

*** I think the post on the Ibadan PHD holder useless to this topic.

Yes, government universities in the US are not run at the federal level, that also does not mean much to this discussion because Nigeria’s government has never really been able to show itself capable of accomplishing half of what the State Governments in US have shown they can do though. So, it still stands that our federal government remains incapable of of our education system.

Tonim:

There are also tons of students coming from these schools with baccalaureate degrees going on  to pursue graduate studies in the UK, US, Canada etc and excel. Some of them are here on this Nairaland as I type sef.

I happen to have attended one of the universities in Nigeria myself and I can tell you for a fact that being able to go abroad and still cope does not in any way change the facts of the deplorable state of the Nigerian education system. Even the Federal ministry of Education does not deny this.

My understanding of you at this point is you want so much to deny the facts of the state of our education system in Nigeria, and honestly, I am used to people giving me such fluffy arguments on this. But please understand that this is really not about you but about the future of a whole nation.

This same government, some months ago, chose to blame it’s problems on the 6-3-3-4 system, now it wants to embark on building more universities. We will probably get those and probably find ourselves right here again next year(I started monitoring these things back in 2007 and I have come to believe that we seem to accept the cycle), so , it does not really remove much from me in the end. I just hope we stop this horrible treatment soon and maybe start actually moving forward.

At least Jonathan was not like Obasanjo.

I think Jonathan read what I wrote.  He is been smart. If not it is the polluted creek of bayelsa state they would name after.


I think where they site it, does not matter. At least he was not like Obasanjo.
All he did was he did not want to be silly. I am telling you Obasanjo would be regretting now where ever he is. Obasanjo was not very smart about it.
I congratulate the people of Otu eke for the university.

  It only show you jonathan is wise. It is like a foolish woman, whose  husband start a business or let say a church. She now says no, she does not want to go there, that she came to this world to come and been slave to other people. You know that woman is a foolish woman.

And fools believe they are wise.   If that woman does not build for her children and, she is building for someelse children. You know that woman is a fool. a big fool.
Some are born wise in this world  and some came to fools.
I congratulate the people of Otu eke for the university.

Bankole wa di bankota. Iyabo mu kunu . Olorun ko ni so , omo wa ni didire, e se amin jesus.

Bankole ko joko si abuja, ko ma wa ti. Ko ma se the boy is good ni be O.

@ Topic, and so what?