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• Stakeholders lament falling standards, graduates without skills
• FG regrets some institutions not getting UTM applicants
By Cosmas Omegoh
The proliferation of universities in the country has sparked more conversation, with greater concerns now about falling standards, a development stakeholders fear has become injurious.
Those spoken to were unanimous that standards have fallen based on new-found penchant by the governments and private individuals to establish universities – just for ego sake – without the requisite personnel and infrastructure. Thereafter, the institutions which remain grossly underfunded go ahead to churn out graduates who do not know their onions and are not good enough for industries either.
Statistics of varsities in Nigeria
The Nigerian University Commission (NUC) established in 1974, says the country currently has 310 registered universities.
According to the NUC, the Federal Government owns 74 universities across the country, state governments 68, while private individuals and organisations have 168.
Reason for growth
According to a social commentator and policy analyst, Chief Akinwumi Akinfenwa, the rising number of universities started in 1990 following the liberalisation of the university system because the existing universities then were not able to absorb as many aspiring students.
He recalled how some policy makers at that time opened up the sector so that private investors who had experience could come in in view of the telling pressure on the existing structures in various universities.
Reflecting on the trend right now, he said: “But I think the problem mainly was because there wasn’t good enough supervision to ensure that the institutions that were coming up were well positioned.
“Soon after the guidelines were set up by the NUC, they were politicised; they didn’t allow that commission to function as it should. Political considerations were being brought in. Those things shouldn’t be in there in the first place. So they messed up things.
“The NUC idea was brilliant if it had been appreciated in a good way without any bias. But that was not followed; the usual accreditation process was not followed.”
He lamented how “the typical Nigerian factor was brought in. People started looking for who to help them set up universities. The basic purpose of establishing a university which was to contribute to the educational system and society gradually was lost.
“Some people started founding universities because of their ego; they wanted to be known as university owners, not because they were committed to giving a good education to society.”
The ASUU red flag
As varsities in the country began to experience exponential numbers, the Academic State Union of Universities (ASUU) began raising the alarm, warning that the country was seemingly missing the point.
ASUU had variously contended that basic infrastructure were not existing even as existing ones in the universities were decaying, just as the quality of manpower in institutions was waning. It feared that standards were being compromised, warning about the declining quality of graduates too.
ASUU president in 2020, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi had warned that: “Federal and state governments are establishing universities without adequately funding them.
“Why do we need a university of Transportation, or that of Information and Communication technology (ICT)? All these can be taken care of by the existing public universities.”
His successor, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, had asked a similar question, insisting that: “Our position on that had been that the Federal Government is toying with the future of the society. They are turning universities into constituency projects, where every village must have a higher institution; the purpose is not to have good universities and a good environment for academic excellence.
“Every politician wants to have a university in his village. This is not how a system is run. They are establishing a university of Medical Sciences and other specialised institutions; why not go and fund those old universities so that you can upgrade the Faculty of Medical Sciences to professional standards so that the Nigerian politician, including the President, who usually goes outside the country for medical attention, will have their medical issues solved here. But we will not do that; rather, the Federal and state governments are busy establishing mushroom universities. It is very unfortunate.”
To underline the seriousness with which ASUU viewed the issue, it pushed the National Assembly to issue legislation against it.
For instance, the then coordinator of the ASUU Kano Zone, Prof. Abdulkadir Muhammad said: “We are calling on the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, consider and pass the bill. Due to bad governance and underfunding, our state-owned universities may soon collapse beyond redemption.”
ASUU’s push to restrict the proliferation of varsities did even receive the blessings of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities (COPSUN ) who called on both the federal and state governments to improve on funding and enhance the welfare of the university staffers.
It said: “To maintain international best practices and be recognised among first rated universities, the governments at Federal and State levels should improve on the funding of their universities and enhance the welfare of the workforce. State governments should exercise restraint in establishing new universities but invest heavily on the existing ones to improve on the quality of their infrastructure.”
But are 310 varsities enough?
Now, an academic, Prof Joseph Olagunju, of Lagos State University, Ojo, has provided a balance to the growing number of varsities in the country, describing the development as “a double edged sword.”
“The whole exercise is a double-edged sword in the sense that if you look at the Nigerian population and the need for people to access higher education, the number of universities we have, you won’t say they are too many.
“In smaller nations with smaller populations, you can count the number of universities they have.”
However, he admitted that “we are failing seriously in the area of quality and purpose-directed education policies.
“In some countries, a university will offer programmes in its area of specialisation to the extent that if you meet a student, you can easily tell the programme they are pursuing.
“But in a situation where every university wants to be a conventional university and runs all the programmes there are, then, there will be a problem of quality.
“If some of these universities ply their trade in their areas of strength, then we will not have anything to worry about. But in a situation where a university does not have capacity and goes ahead, for instance, to mount a programme like Nursing Science, that is where the problem is.
“And that is the reason why the government should place emphasis on quality control. If a university doesn’t have the facility don’t license it or license it as per the facilities you are sure it has.
“So, when you talk about our population and the number of universities we have, of course, we don’t have enough universities.
“But if you have so many universities with poor quality in terms of infrastructure and manpower, then you don’t have universities. It is better to have few universities you can boast of their quality – infrastructure and personnel.
“And if we want to widen access, then we should make it a policy that for every university to be in existence, it must be of quality.”
FG’s moratorium on new varsities
In apparent recognition of the growing dangers, the Federal Government in August last year declared that it would no longer issue licences to new applicants until seven years, adding that it was a waste of resources to do so. This came on the heels of nine new private universities licences granted that period.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said “the challenge in Nigeria’s tertiary education system was no longer access but inefficient duplication, poor infrastructure, inadequate staffing, and dwindling enrolment in many existing institutions.”
Dr. Alausa disclosed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were subjected to stricter approval guidelines.
He therefore added: “The moratorium will allow the government to refocus resources on improving existing institutions by upgrading facilities, recruiting qualified staff, and expanding their carrying capacity,” noting that “several federal universities operate far below capacity, with some having fewer than 2,000 students.
“In one northern university, there are 1,200 staff serving fewer than 800 students. This is a waste of government resources.”
He informed that 199 universities received fewer than 100 applications through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) last year, with 34 recording zero applications.
While welcoming the moratorium, ASUU President, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, commended the Federal Government.
“For over a decade, we’ve raised concerns about the establishment of mushroom universities with no development plans. We’ve watched universities become tools of political patronage. The moratorium is not only welcome but necessary,” he said.
ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Abubakar Sabo said the move was in line with its long-standing argument.
“For over a decade, our union has warned about the harmful effects of establishing ‘mushroom’ universities without concrete plans for their development.
“We were therefore not surprised when the Minister of Education revealed that over 30 universities had zero subscription for admission.”
However, Prof Olagunju described the move as lip service.
“Was it not after that was given that an announcement of a Federal University in Epe, Lagos State was made?
“Secondly, that was restricted to federal varsities. That didn’t apply to states or private individuals. So, if the government wants to do so, let it be for the entire university system in the country. If you don’t want universities to be established in the next seven years, let it be that the states and private universities too would not be established.
“But that is not the solution to the problem. You can have a moratorium not to establish new universities yet not pay attention to the existing ones. By the time the moratorium has expired, we come back to square one.”
Let varsities be what they are
Speaking on the issues, a development economist, Dr Lawrence Nwaodu, recalled that a university is not supposed to be just an institution that awards diplomas and degrees; the major factor is its faculty – lecturers – the quality and their numbers.
“In developed climes, you talk about the laureates, the numbers, the quality of research work and the learning tools available to them
“Sadly, here, the growing number of universities doesn’t match the available faculty.
“How would anyone double the number of professors and other teaching staff overnight to complement the growth rate?
“Here, a lot of lecturers are teaching in more than three universities. That goes to watering and lowering the quality of education. So what we have is more quantity and less quality. And that accounts for the kind of knowledge-base we have now.
“We have people with certificates but they are not employable. They are not innovation-driven. They are not deep in research. So it is all about having the name for prestige and profile. And we keep churning out certificate holders.
“It is more worrisome when you see a certain publication in the social media going viral about a 25 per cent pass mark in a certain university up north.
“For the private universities, there is this allegation that some people in the National Assembly get doctorate degrees in three months. So, all that compels education in Nigeria to lose its meaning. It is no longer the stimulant of development; it is no longer the engine of growth.”
Worries over standard
Chief Akinfenwa is unhappy that when the resources in varsities are lacking, there is no way the standard will not be compromised.
“We learn that some universities borrow professors to make up the numbers of staff just to get NUC accreditation, since the NUC says they must have so, so number of PhD holders before they are given accreditation. So they go and fetch people from outside as members of staff. That’s part of the problem. When you have shortages of teachers, how will standards not fall? What about the laboratories and other facilities that are supposed to be in place for teaching and learning, which are prerequisites to approval? If these things are not there, then there is no way the quality and standard will not be watered down. What about staff remuneration? If the teachers are not well paid, they will always be going away. People will always go to where they are appreciated and remunerated.”
Prof Olagunju equally shared his worry which he backed with his recent experience.
“Let me give you my recent experience. I was connected to a newly established university. There, I met a corps member who graduated in my discipline – Biochemistry. She made First Class. In my interaction with her, all the basic questions I put to her, she could not answer a single one.
“I asked her which university she graduated from and she told me. I told her I was disappointed. That is the problem with the standard.
“Assuming that lady graduated in Medicine, what sort of doctor would she be? So, every right-thinking person should worry about standards!”
Worry over graduates
Equally, Chief Akinfenwa is worried over the quality of manpower being graduated.
“We are in this country and we are seeing graduates who cannot even write basic sentences correctly. Some basic concepts they ought to know they don’t know, irrespective of their discipline. There are basic concepts every graduate ought to know; many of them don’t even know them. They cannot even defend the certificates they were holding. That manifests more when they go for interviews; the standards are down. Everybody knows that.
“And what is more? How many Nigerian universities can compete at the world stage?”
Curriculum restructuring imperative
In the light of the foregoing, Prof Olagunju called for a restructuring of university curriculum to make it industry-based.
“Of course, if you are running an MBA programme in Lagos, it does not have to be the same thing at ABU, Zaria. Programmes should be environment-based.
“Where I studied, they produce doctors to deal with their local problems. They are not for export; they are produced to deal with localised problems.
“So the purpose for which you establish a school must take cognizance of the environment the products are going to serve.
“Sadly, in the country at the moment, everyone is running the same programme.”
Way to out
In the face of the challenge, Dr Nwaodu points the way forward.
“Rather than establishing more and more universities doing the same thing, why not have specialised institutions – like health? Students can pay high fees and we use that to hire the faculty wherever we can find them and then build the necessary facilities for teaching and research?
“For now, many people are merely attending the universities and coming out not equipped for the industry. So there is a mismatch between their products and what the industries are looking for. Sadly still, the products are not innovative to stand on their own.
“It is a lot better that students are channelled towards professionalism so that they can match what the industries are looking for so that we go beyond academic knowledge to professional knowledge.”
He lamented that the way the Nigerian system is being run, the average graduate cannot get the right jobs, regretting that “the kind of education sector we run now does not lead to development.
“Education seems to have lost the purpose. Maybe we should say universities should merge or maybe change their curriculum.
“Our education and universities must be built for purpose – for skill acquisition and professional education.
“As for the government, the right thing to do now is to restructure the universities. And what is more, set up joint ventures with various organisations and later divest so that products of our varsities can get jobs.
“In South Korea, that’s how it works. That’s how many companies there started,” he informed.
