6 hours ago
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• Warns against proliferation of higher institutions without funding
• Laments varsities now admit candidates with 120 JAMB score
By Cosmas Omegoh
At every turn, new universities are springing up. The Federal Government is planting new ones. The state governments too are creating fresh varsities and joining the Federal Government in converting existing polytechnics, colleges of technology and colleges of educations to universities. Amid the rush, vast numbers of privately-owned varsities are on a steady rise.
But the National President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, wants nobody to be deceived by this new rave.
In an encounter with Sunday Sun, Prof Osodeke said the development represented a systematic destruction of the university system in Nigeria, warning against the danger that holds for the country. Excerpts:
What’s your take on the continuous establishment of varsities and conversion of polytechnics and colleges of education in the country to varsities; are these the way to go?
What we are now noticing in the country with regard to establishment of new universities and conversion of polytechnics and colleges of education to varsities is an aberration. And there seems to be no laid out plans in doing that. In those days, the government planned for finance, location, staff recruitment and all that. But today, the politicians are going about founding new universities without any form of deep thinking. That is the impression I have. I give you an example: let’s start with the latest move to convert Yaba College of Technology to university. Yaba Tech to University of Lagos is about 500 meters away. So, if you want to upgrade the institution, why not make it a campus of University of Lagos? Why create a new university when they are close to each other? Go to Zaria now, the town has two federal universities. Why? Ahmadu Bello University can accommodate the new university if you want to do that. To politicians, establishment of universities has become constituency project. They will take pride in saying ‘in my tenure I established 400 universities’ without thinking of funding? Without thinking of where the staff will come from! Without thinking of other implications!
We have to recall that Yaba Tech is a foremost higher institution in Nigeria. It is a landmark institution; and you just want to rubbish it? That is the impression I have. But thank God that the polytechnic community is saying no to the conversion. You don’t phase out your polytechnics. But that is what the politicians are currently doing. They see it as constituency project. That is what they have turned the founding of universities to; that is very unfortunate.
Right now, you see University of ICT, University of Transportation etc. Where else do you have such things other than in Nigeria? To be honest with you, the number of universities that has so far been established by this current administration within two years has surpassed the number of universities established between Independence in 1960 and 1990. They have been increasing the number of universities to surpasse what we had over the past 30 years for whatever reason I don’t know. Meanwhile they have not increased funding; the lecturers are leaving the country. Who will lecture in those universities? It is a terrible thing that is happening to this country. The current regime needs to sit down and think again.
Some persons argue that Nigeria needs more of her citizens in school. Isn’t that valid argument?
When some people put up such argument with regard to what is going on, I tell them that it doesn’t make sense. Just go to Egypt, there is a university there that has a student population of almost 500,000. One university alone! Here, the biggest university we have has a student population of 50,000. Egypt has expanded her capacity. But here, we are creating bureaucracy. Politicians spend loads of money on governing council members, chancellors, vice chancellors, registrars, bursars and so on; that is bureaucracy. We will get more value if those monies are spent on upgrading facilities. We need to upgrade our lecture theatres, laboratories and offices and leave out the bureaucracy of recruiting new vice chancellors, new this and that. By doing so, we will save money and add real value to the system. That is the best way to go and not the proliferation we are just seeing now. The politicians are merely creating bureaucracy in the manner we are seeing it. Now, look at the implication of what is going on. Our standard is being reduced because state governments are abandoning their primary responsibilities to education. The number of people who can pass JAMB exams is reducing. The cut off marks into universities are reducing because state governments are abandoning their duty of taking care of primary education. In those days when we were students, before you were admitted into universities you must score at least 50 per cent in JAMB examination. The minimum mark for admission then was 200. That should be all time the absolute minimum. But now that is no longer the case. Universities are admitting candidates who scored 120 marks which is 30 per cent. That is complete failure, yet we are admitting them. The standard the politicians have killed at the primary and secondary schools’ level they are now cascading to the universities. In those days, you couldn’t score 160 marks in JAMB and be admitted in a university. Which university? A score of 120 over 400 is complete failure, yet we are admitting students with such scores. Instead of politicians concentrating on how to upgrade standard, they are busy establishing more universities and reducing entry requirements. Now, we are no more interested in quality; we are now concentrating on quantity and that is a terrible thing for a country called Nigeria.
So, you insist money being invested in creating new varsities ought to be deployed into lifting standard?
That is exactly what we have been fighting for over the past 10 to 15 years. Go to some universities, they are using stove as burner. I’m in a special area; I run my laboratory analysis in South Africa. That is the problem. The universities we already have are lacking essential needs, yet we are establishing more. This current administration has established no less than 15 universities yet we don’t have fund for the existing ones. Just give us N200 billion annually to upgrade standards the government cannot do that. But it is busy creating more. How do you justify that? Now, we are insisting that their children must attend those universities they are creating. The press should join us in this demand. Nigerians should join in too. Politicians should not be sending their children abroad. Why are they sending their children to quality universities abroad when they are busy creating mushroom ones here which their children will never attend?
What do you say about quality of teaching in new universities right now?
In many of the new universities, there is no nothing: no lecture theatres, no laboratories. Nothing – not even quality lecturers! Mind you that a large number of our members are leaving in droves. So what we are having now are third-tier type of lecturers – those with HND, PGD – people with third-class degrees are also teaching; and we have some of our selfish colleagues who are busy teaching here and there. Then I ask: those establishing those universities, do they ever think of where to get quality lecturers in very vital areas? They merely set up such institutions and go home thumping their chests that they have established universities in their villages without considering standards – without looking at the country – without considering the men and women who would later pass through the system. It is a shame!
I’m sure that the whole world is laughing at us. In global ranking, none of our universities has neared the 1,000 mark; yet we are busy creating new ones without upgrading the existing ones. South Africa here yearly has up to five of their universities ranked among the first 1,000 globally. We are not anywhere in that mix. In some states right now, there are up to five universities, yet none of which is funded. I don’t know why the attack has now shifted to public universities? What they are doing with the universities is what they have done with secondary and primary education. When you go around these days you see secondary schools existing in shops. That is what they want to do with the university system. They just want to kill it.
Are you saying that despite your struggles standards have yet not improved?
I want Nigerians to join in this fight. It is not about us. The little standard still existing today is because of our struggle with the government.
Now let me give you these statistics quote the Minister of Education. We have 149 private universities and 129 public universities, including federal and state-owned ones. Now the 149 private universities have less than 10 per cent of the student population.
But when you go to the public universities now, they have about 10 per cent of the population and the private ones have 90. We want the public to join us in reversing this trend because they were the ones who elected these politicians. We want them to stop this proliferation of varsities across the country.
Equally worrisome is the idea of converting polytechnics to varsities. Polytechnics have their programme different from those of universities. Each was established to train specific types of manpower, same for colleges of education. It is wrong to keep converting polytechnics and colleges of education to universities without creating new polytechnics and colleges of education. It is sad. Nigerians should realise that what we are seeing now is an attack on the system.
What’s your take on better way to higher education in Nigeria?
Nigerian people should rise up against these people who are trying to destroy what they have. In this attack, they also want to kill the TETFund which is the source of funding for the universities. The staff training fund for the universities and polytechnics, they now want to convert to loan. That is what they have been told by their masters outside our shores who are enjoying our wealth. In eight months, in 2023 alone, Nigerians paid £600 million to British universities as tuition fees. So, their masters are enjoying our money. They are the ones encouraging them to go and do this and that; they are the ones discouraging them from funding Nigerian universities. We must claim our country; we must regain our universities. No country will develop beyond her educational system; that is where we are today.
How worrisome is it that Nigerian varsities are never in the first 1,000 globally?
We said it in 2013 when the government sent a team to the universities on Need Assessment – that the Federal Government needed to release N200 billion yearly to fund infrastructure, improve laboratories, fund staff training and what have you. We asked them to do it for six years. Then we signed an agreement to that effect for its implementation. That N200 billion is nothing today. So, they must go back to that report and do the needful. Why is the current government investing N13 trillion to construct a road when the universities are dead – a road that might not be used? Yet you cannot put money down to run the country’s universities? That is the problem!
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