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Check this out Nigeria: http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article04/240707

PAYING LIP SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM.

By Ezekiel Ette

THERE are two groups of Nigerian professors in the United States. The first are those Nigerians who were stranded due to the Buhari policies of banning foreign tuition remission from Nigeria in the early 80s; this group became abandoned and with nowhere to go, focused their energies in schools and some even changed courses and graduated. With a political system that was very unstable, this group decided to stay in the United States after graduation rather than return to the uncertain economic conditions back in Nigeria.

The second group is their fellow compatriots with international connections. They are either graduates of foreign universities or have international reputations that allowed them to find work abroad and so they left the uncertain and insecure situations back in Nigeria. Both groups now make up a substantial part of the American university system that should they all leave at the same time the effect of such movement would be felt in these universities.

In the last few decades, third world countries have tended to blame the mass movement of its professionals on what they called "brain drain". This concept has assumed that there is a conspiracy by the advanced and industrialised societies to starve the developing world of much needed labour resources. The concept, when applied, has tended to carry the connotation that there is collusion between the professionals themselves who are greedy and the governments of the industrialised countries who are malicious to sweep clean needed skills from the developing world. The problem with this line of thinking is that it absolves the third world governments of blame and shows them as victims of malicious industrialists who connived with greedy and unpatriotic professionals. Such presentation allows for the easy allocation of blame. However, a close look at the situation reveals something different.

In a globalised age, the fact remains that labour follows capital across international boundaries. The idea of the marketplace has come to stay and policies must be made to recognise this. Individuals move to areas where they can maximise their earnings, and for those who graduated from foreign universities and where jobs are readily available through fellowships and opportunities for further training, the individual is more likely to accept employment abroad. Yet those in government who are responsible for formulating education policies in Nigeria behave as if university professors are expendable. The salaries are low and infrequent such that a colleague from an American university in Nigeria doing research said he felt guilty even eating lunch with his Nigerian counterpart.

Many of those who remain in Nigeria lack equipment and resources to conduct research. At the African Studies Association, a professional organisation of university educators interested in Africa, members are encouraged to help African university lecturers to subscribe to a professional journal. Many Nigerian lecturers cannot afford a membership fee of just $200.00 or N250,000 a year to join an international organisation where ideas and information on the latest innovations and studies are exchanged. Yet such membership fee is paid by my department in the United States as a professional development expense.

This allows me to join several organisations and travel to conferences to listen to other experts. Education has always meant the exchange of ideas, but in Nigeria, the university is starved of money and fulfilling this elementary role has been made difficult. Books are expensive and unavailable, and equipment are rare. A Nigerian trained medical doctor could not operate an ultra sound machine on his first day on the floor of the hospital here in the United States. As we discussed later during a break, he told me that he had heard of the machine but did not know what it looked like.

Money is not the only problem in the Nigerian university. Most lecturers would have managed to conduct studies and fulfill their obligations if they could live free of fear. The universities at home have become dens of armed gangs who roam the academic halls.

Planted by corrupt military leaders in the 1980s and the 90s to silence dissents, armed gangs have taken over the universities and have now been given the dignified term "cults". They fight for turf and territories and no one is safe. Professors live in fear of these hooligans and the university is no longer a safe place to conduct teaching and learning. Many people have died in mysterious circumstances and most of the murders on campus have not been solved. The politicians like the way it is, as the professors stay occupied with their safety and could not be critics of the political system. Self-preservation requires that the professors seek a safe environment to do what they love and so many have left Nigeria for these reason.

Another reason is the tight control that the politicians have over the university system. The politicians make university appointments that should be made by the professionals and the university faculty is treated like members of the government civil service. Who gets admitted into the university is decided by a government appointed board through an examination that has no relevance with what is happening in the classroom.What courses are offered at the university and what is studied are all dictated by political considerations that have no bearing with local needs. In fact, the chancellor of the university is so far removed from the university that distance and geography seem to be considerations of appointment. The university is literally suffocated with outside regulations such that those within its walls are powerless to effect changes as conditions warrant. An American once told me that prisoners receive better treatments than students in Nigeria. The dormitory rooms are crowded, diseases are rampant and it is not unheard of for eight people to sleep in one tiny room.

The problem is that the neglect of our universities has serious implications for our development and our future. As globalisation spreads and as linkages define future relationships, this new world would favour those who have an educated and intelligent workforce. What is happening in India and Ireland today should serve as an example to us. These two countries invested in their university system, the result has been a trained and educated workforce that has attracted industries to re-locate and out-source to their countries. Rather than blame those of us who left to seek a better life for ourselves and our families, the government should improve the university system in the country to bring us home. We can begin this by establishing programmes to attract Nigerians to return home for research during sabbaticals. Government can guarantee at a minimum, air fare and housing for Nigerian researchers conducting research in Nigerian universities if their universities abroad continue to pay their salaries. Such short-term experience could help to prepare these professors to consider returning home. Of course the salaries paid to professors in Nigeria should match international standards. Each state should consider setting up a university board to handle issues and funding affecting university education in the state. Broad discretion and semi-autonomy should be given to these boards. Additionally, past efforts that only considered those in the petroleum field alone should be discouraged and other areas should be encouraged.

University education is too important to be ignored. Where we are 20 years from now may be determined by how we handle the education of those who will lead the nation then. It is good that the ASUU has suspended its strike to let the Yar'Adua administration set its house in order, but the new administration should look at the matter of our university education with the seriousness it requires. We cannot afford to continue to pay lip service to our development while ignoring the elements that promote growth and prosperity.


Ette is a Professor of Social Work and Community Development with Northwest Nazarene University, United States.

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