With the announcement, last Tuesday of the states where the proposed six federal universities would be located, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufai, may have succeeded in dousing the initial apprehensions surrounding where the institutions would be sited. Jigawa in the North West zone, her state of origin as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s Bayelsa representing the South-South zone, were favoured. Others were Nasarawa, Ekiti, Taraba, and Ebonyi.
The proposal had seen various politicians lobbying for the institutions to be sited in their states of origin apparently to enhance their electoral value. Professionals within and outside the academia were not left out in the scramble. There were similar agitations along ethnic and geographical divides.
Aside the proposed six, Nigeria has a total of 104 universities spread across the six geo-political zones. This comprises 27 federal universities, 36 state universities and 41 private universities. They are under the supervision of National Universities Commission (NUC) whose vision and mandate include: to serve as regulatory agency acting as a catalyst for positive change and innovation for the delivery of quality university education in Nigeria; ensuring the orderly development of a well coordinated and productive university system that will guarantee quality and relevant education for national development and global competitiveness.
The Minister of state for Education, Mr. Kenneth Gbagi, while inaugurating an 11-member committee on the six universities, named the Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Julius Okoji,e as chairman. Part of the mandate of the committee is to bring out modalities on how to run the institutions, including where they would be located. In apparent determination to forge ahead with the FEC decision on the proposed varsities, the government, unmindful of public reactions over derelict condition of existing federal universities, went ahead to release N1.5billion for logistics and gave September 2011 as possible take off date of the institutions.
Opponents of the move had expressed doubt over the low quality of graduates from the university system. They argued that the fact that no Nigerian university ranked among the first 50 in the world is a clear pointer to the state of neglect of federal universities in the country. Observers further note that the existing universities are bedeviled by obsolete equipment and inadequate infrastructures, which has led to exodus of Nigerians seeking university education in neighbouring countries of West Africa and beyond.
Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos and Council member of Crawford University, Prof. Oye Ibidapo Obe, had in a chat with our reporter, described the proposed federal universities as a welcome development. He was however quick to note that the news came to him as a surprise judging from the government’s abandonment of establishment of universities in the hands of private entrepreneurs, religious organisations and individuals. He argued that the onus of providing education for public good rests on the shoulders of the federal government while the role of the private sector is basically supplementary.
Much as Obe supported the idea, he appealed to the government to execute the idea with genuineness of purpose backed with adequate funding, adding that benefiting regions should be given the type of institutions that meet the peculiarities of their needs. Expressing ominous fear over the issue of abandonment and poor funding, the former VC suggested as an alternative, a monitored nurture and upgrade of polytechnics and colleges of education to degree awarding institutions not necessarily full-fledged universities.
Speaking against the backdrop of contributions by private universities to the development, Obe advocated special grant under strict criteria as palliative to further encourage private institutions to do more for the sector. The grant, he added, should not necessarily be in form of direct monetary reward but a system of offsetting about 20 to 25 per cent of lecturers’ salary and allowances. He noted that government’s position of locating the university in the six geo-political zones and in states currently without federal universities amounted to speaking from both sides of the mouth. The establishment of the schools, he insisted, should transcend political and religious considerations, but to provide access to qualitative education for the teeming millions of Nigerian children who cannot afford private university education.
In similar vein, Prof. Peter Okebukola, Pro-Chancellor, Crawford University remarked that both opponents and proponents of the establishment of the proposed six universities were right in their respective submissions for the good of the nation’s education sector. He made a case for an annual grant of N2million to be available to the existing universities for quality enhancement, provision of the state-of-the-art learning facilities, construction of new academic buildings and provision of other infrastructure and mandate to enroll a minimum of 2000 candidates per university per session for a 10-year period.
As additional palliatives for staff welfare and to ensure right learning environment devoid of strikes and disruptions in academic programmes, Okebukola suggested that an additional N1billion should equally be made available to each of the existing universities for the recruitment of new staff and implementation of staff development programmes. Among other reasons advanced by the don on the need for the new universities are that they will open up more university spaces for more candidates who otherwise will have to make time for another year, provide equity for states not yet served by federal university to host one, and afford the government the opportunity to set up centres of academic learning that can be called 21st century university to serve as model for those on the ground that are more or less glorified secondary schools when compared with universities in Europe, North America, South Africa and even Bostwana.
He suggested an eight-point agenda for the operation of the proposed universities, stressing that the law setting up the new universities be reviewed to take care of all identified weaknesses, especially in the area of governance and financial management, just as the programmes to be offered should reflect 21st century challenges to address national, regional and global problems and not run-of-the-mill courses currently offered by existing universities.
He also suggested that the use of technology in teaching, learning and research should be accorded priority, adding that parochialism should not be a feature of the new schools as it currently obtains in most existing universities where non-indigenes cannot aspire to be vice-chancellors, deans or heads of departments.
“Fair enrolment for the academically able and in the right proportion to match available human and material resources, transparency, accountability and efficiency should be the hallmark of such universities. They should be citadel of learning where the environment is friendly and attractive to international students and staff from all regions of the world,” he said. According to Okebukola, a five yearly appraisal system of the universities should be conducted by an independent panel, adding “In the next ten years some of the universities should be among the first 10 in Africa: in learning, teaching, research and community service.”
With the addition of six federal universities to the existing 27 controlled by the federal government, the new distribution of federal universities across the six geo-political zones, from available records still lack equity in distribution across political divide, many have argued. The current distribution is as follows: North-East 4, North-West 3, North-Central 7, South-South 6, South East 5, South-West 7 and Abuja 1.
The lessons of the entire argument for and against establishment of additional federal universities, have no doubt, afforded the federal government, stakeholders in the education sector and Nigerians in general, first hand information on the derelict state and poor rating of existing federal and state universities among committee of nations due to: poor funding, in-fighting over ownership and control, controversial policies, obsolete learning facilities, inadequate infrastructure, poor remunerations and unpaid wages, parochialism and insensitivity on the part of government as problem facing learning.