Experts in the education sector have described President Goodluck Jonathan’s optimism that Nigerian universities would be ranked among the best in the world in the next four years, as a result of the ongoing transformation of the education system, as an empty political statement meant to win votes as Nigeria still lacks real programmes aimed at revamping public education beyond the same old and disastrous capitalist neo-liberal agenda of putting the private sector in the driving seat of investment in education.
The President had, during the Presidential Debate organised by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG), expressed optimism that Nigerian varsities have been equipped to compete with their foreign counterparts and would rank among the best in the world in the next four years due to the ongoing transformation of the education system.
He said: “Education is the responsibility of both federal and state governments and the present administration supports the states through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). We all feel bad that no Nigerian varsity is ranked but we are working seriously to change the trend.
“We have equipped most of our varsities through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). We are talking about infrastructure that has failed over the years but with the way we are going, in the next four years, our varsities will compete with other varsities across the world.”
Deplorable state of Nigerian varsities: The Nigerian varsity system is in a difficult situation, and from the assessment of public varsities embarked upon by the Federal Government, these institutions have not been able to compete with their counterparts in the world due to manpower and infrastructure problems.
Deplorable state of Nigerian varsities: The Nigerian varsity system is in a difficult situation, and from the assessment of public varsities embarked upon by the Federal Government, these institutions have not been able to compete with their counterparts in the world due to manpower and infrastructure problems.
There is a steady decline in the quality of infrastructures like lecture rooms, laboratories, libraries, hostels, staff and non teaching staff quarters. Due to the deficit in quality lecturers, many varsities rely on the services of visiting professors.
Statement is politically motivated- Experts
Pointing out that none of the presidential aspirants is offering any real solution to moving the education sector forward, the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, ERC, Mr. Hassan Soweto, said the state of public education worsened under President Jonathan’s first term in office.
“From 7.3 million, the number of out-of-school children has gone up to 10.5 million. It is because of the struggles of ASUU, staff unions, students and groups like the ERC that public varsities have not completely collapsed.
“We need to ask how serious this government is. It has refused to follow up in good faith its own target, agreed with varsity lecturers after a 6-month strike, of revitalising public varsities by the year 2018 and now expects us to believe it can perform miracles if re-elected. Presently, only about N53m is voted for capital projects in the federal varsities this year, so without the little that TETFund is doing, these varsities would have collapsed by now.”
Continuing, the ERC boss said: “If government really wants federal varsities to be in the league of Harvard and the likes, not only would government invest massively in them but also demonstrate faith in them as none of the ex-Niger Delta militants whose education is being sponsored under the Amnesty programme is in a public varsity in Nigeria.
“Many of them were sent abroad to study courses that our varsities offer while the rest were enrolled in private varsities here in Nigeria. It is shameful that a government is sponsoring its citizens’ education in private varsities when its public varsities are there lying fallow.”
Describing the statement as a political one that should not be taken seriously, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, said the President needs to tell Nigerians the position of any Nigerian varsity in Africa, the facilities in these varsities and whether they can match what is available in Harvard and the likes.
“Remember that one of the promises of government to appease ASUU during its last strike action was the release of over N3 trillion to refurbish Nigerian public varsities, but as we speak, only a fraction of that amount has been released and I am reliably informed that ASUU is warming up to embark on another strike.
“Is that how he intends to march Harvard’s standard? The President is just confused and lacks the technical know-how on running the tertiary education sector and it is part of the cluelessness of his administration.”
Noting that President Jonathan made the statement as the President/C-in-C of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a presidential candidate, the former Registrar, University of Lagos, Mr. Oluwarotimi Shodimu, said the feasibility of the ranking of Nigerian varsities can be looked at our ranking globally and within the African continent.
“Part of what is questionable is the parameters for the ranking, two of which are the number of foreign students in our varsities and the number of foreign lecturers teaching in our varsities. These are difficult parameters to achieve because we hardly have foreign students in our schools and I don’t think any foreign lecturer would leave the certainty of his country and come and teach here.
“But I want to believe the President made that statement because he is privy to certain information that we don’t have access to. Be that as it may, with all the resources in Nigeria, we can achieve that feat.”
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