₦airaland Forum

aceman: The report said that she evaded quarantine. We don't need to blame the FG as a habit, even when facts show that they are making a very good effort . If you must play the blame game, you MAY blame the nurse, but she is only human and irrational like many.

Playing the blame game won't solve this problem . All the "likes" you got for your statement doesn't solve the problem too

babyosisi: They are not chained are they?

735i: In terms of roads, Akwa Ibom is millions of miles ahead of Lagos…. there is really no basis for comparison…
What i however noticed in Akwa Ibom is that there is a strong maintenance culture…. so i don't even see the roads deteriorating anytime soon. That governor sure deserves commendation.

maclatunji: Yes we can condemn but that by itself will not fix the roads.

VolvoS60: I would like it if they could answer me. They cannot plug the leaks and waste in their porous, inefficient bureaucracies but they consider university education to be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy.



"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Helder Camara

VolvoS60: ^^^
You bet I was preparing a missile for her. We have to keep those who shape public opinion honest or we are all in trouble.

bushdoc9919: Sorry to but in....apologies if I seem too persistent.

Well....back when Fashola graduated from Uniben in 1987...there were just slightly over 100,000 Nigerian university students.(When GEJ was a student in the 70's there were 80,000 students nationwide).

Just to show you how numbers have risen...in 2004 at my alma mater...there were 70,000 students.

The problem with subsidizing education in Nigeria is that there are too many students for the subsidies to work.

VolvoS60: ^^^
You bet I was preparing a missile for her. We have to keep those who shape public opinion honest or we are all in trouble.

Pardon me for sounding cynical but I believe there is a long term view agenda behind the push towards the privatization (and that is what it is) of university education in Nigeria. Let me explain.

Many moons ago, when the earth was still flat, I was a secondary school student in form 2 (before it was changed to JSS 2) and civics was part of the school curriculum. I took a few classes and then for reasons which were never fully explained, the subject was removed from the school curriculum. To this day, I am not aware of civics being taught in any of our schools at that level. Correct me if I am wrong. Was it a coincidence that this took place under a military dictatorship in the mid-1980s? I leave you to be the judge.

In the first half of the last century, there were strong demonstrations against the involvement of the US in Vietnam. The epicentre of these demonstrations were public universities (although it must be said there were also strong demonstrations against in the war in private US universities). Nigerian university students have long followed this 'tradition' of taking a position on social issues, both local (SAP, fuel subsidy etc) and international (SA's policy of apartheid). Is any one in any doubt about the outcome for social justice and activism when Nigeria's universities become free market outposts? Again I leave you to be the judge.

I agree with you that university education cannot be free. (although one part of me bristles that Babatunde Fashola, Ebele Jonathan who are all products of public universities, have decided to pull up the ladder after climbing to the top. I have not been able to get details of Ijeoma's education but I would be surprised if she was not educated in a Nigerian public university). The question is: how come so many of those who say university education is NOT a public good ARE graduates of Nigerian public universities?

I would like it if they could answer me. They cannot plug the leaks and waste in their porous, inefficient bureaucracies but they consider university education to be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy.



"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Helder Camara

bushdoc9919: But let's be honest.....facilities are bad....and facilities need money. Which govt does not have. (If they did...then the N3trillion promised universities in 2009 would have been no problem).

VolvoS60: Ijeoma writes persuasively. The problem is that most of her pieces are amoral, pro-free market treatises that are deafeningly silent about tackling the institutional failures which breed (and sustain) the life blighting systemic corruption Nigeria is (in)famous for.

A long time ago she took a position firmly in favour of the removal of the so-called subsidy on fuel, a position she articulated at will in her weekly journal with a mainstream paper. What she and the other subsidy removal proponents failed to answer convincingly is why Nigeria's refineries are not working and we need to import expensive foreign fuel in the first place. Without importation there would be no need for a subsidy! And this country has no business importing refined fuel since she has the raw material under her soil and the technology to refine is also available. Till this moment, Nigerians have not been told the whole truth about how much it costs to produce and refine a litre of fuel locally versus how much it costs to import a litre of refined fuel. And I think we all know the reason why.

In this piece above she has also declared her stand in favour of the removal of the subsidy on university education. She has made some convincing useful points especially about Nigeria's inexplicable institutionalized discrimination against technical education. Other points such as her linking excessive salt consumption in Jos to the crisis in higher education simply do not have merit.

How much does it cost to train and graduate a LASU student in each discipline? Ijeoma talks about investigative journalism possibly revealing uncomfortable truths about the state of UI, Unilag and UNN facilities. Fine. What is revealing is that she did not have anything to say about a probing searchlight being beamed on the finances of the federal government or the LASG. There will also be very uncomfortable and inconvenient truths there, the kind that propelled the LASG governor to say the FOI does not apply to states. The kind that propelled the president to say he doesn't give a 'damn' on national TV.

You can't private the gains and socialize the losses.

AjanleKoko: Everything is always handed out or handed down in Nigeria according to Nyesom Wike someone's discretion. This is what has happened with the polytechnics. They have been classified as 'inferior'. Opportunities for academic staff, certificates issued, institutional funding, everything has been streamlined accordingly.

naijababe: I'd argue that this is only true in Nigeria

AjanleKoko: Really?
The differences are so 'glaring'?
I don't think so. Engineering education in Nigeria is actually just four years. The first year is a glorified A-Level. After all, I went through the same university system.

I am not exactly sure what extra value is added by going to university, especially when I look at it from an employer POV. Back then, we could argue about how many additional fourier series classes we took, bla bla bla, but now that I have to hire people, I really cannot see the difference. A uni grad is just as badly-educated, and can't couple two ICs together to save their lives. At least some of the poly grads can do that.

naijababe: Yep. Nigeria is the only place i know where HND is consistetly compared with Bachelors despite the glaring difference in learning and skill sets.

AjanleKoko: The Indian problem has arrived in Naija

Big population persistently demanding oshofree. Which is not a problem, but everything cannot be oshofree ke

AjanleKoko: I don't agree. The system has been very unkind to the polytechnics. Starved of funding, classified by the so-called regulatory bodies as inferior, that has not helped the situation at all.
The lopsided hierarchical system that was entrenched into the civil service has to be formally addressed by the government. The so-called HATISS has even placed polytechnic staff at a disadvantage.

AjanleKoko: Who wan go technical colleges?

Come to think of it, aren't the polytechnics still on strike?

AZeD1: In my first post, i mentioned that the LASU problem was a chicken-egg problem and that there are underlying issues that must first be dealt with.

One of those underlying issues is the fact that artisans are looked down today in the country. Until they get the respect they truly deserve, the only people that would go through that route are those that have absolutely no choice.


Can you imagine a the child of a middle class Nigerian telling his parents he doesn't want to go to the uni but to a technical college in the Nigeria of today?

AZeD1: Who is going to employ the graduates of technical colleges when university graduates can't even get a job?


One of the underlying problems i talked about is that Nigeria is a 'certificate based country'. People would rather just get a degree(any degree) than not go to school.

naijababe: Right behind you once you come up with a plan to accomplish the bolded, the student loan was just an example, I wanted the pali, the only other option available to me at the time was to join the army and i never ready to become suya for her majesty's, so i chose to take a loan. Moral of the story, you want an education, be ready to pay for it.

Nobleval: My people perish cos of lack of knowledge. So the writer want the fees to be left where it was? The 66million dollar question is:Will it change anything?

naijababe: I completely agree with you but LASG has not made it easy for herself. Open your books so the electorate can see for themselves how and where their taxes are spent but na lie o, they went to court arguing that the FOI bill does not apply to states. Besides, where are their initiatives so people can feel like they are not being duly denied an education just because they can't afford it now? I know how much loan I got from the Student Loans Company to pay for my university education, my kids will probably have to do the same if i don't have enough stashed under mattress if/when they ready for Uni.

cirmuell: i think it's trust issue, people get robbed tryna help....especially that particular spot. That one is just sad though

dasparrow: @Post

Ha! So some of you actually thought that USA will share her ebola-curing serum with Nigeria? I remember when I saw a thread on the homepage talking about Nigeria requesting serum from USA, I was like sigh! When will our leaders get it? These people called westerners don't like you, never have and never will. They are historical enemies who only pretend to be your friends for as long as you have something they want. If I talk now, some frustrated self-hating american-wannabe Nigerian heifers will call me anti-western. But these same maggots see nothing wrong being anti-African and coming on Nairaland - a forum created by a Nigerian in Nigeria - to spew vitriol typing from their leprosy infested fingers while rejoicing whenever anything bad happens in Nigeria or in other parts of Africa. They forget that misfortune and calamities can happen anywhere and those that rejoice at other people's misfortune will get a double portion of it anywhere they a.