Our varsities certificating illiterates, awarding degrees to unworthy characters – Jega

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has lamented the drop in the quality of graduates being produced in the Nigerian universities.

Jega said he had observed that, lately, many Nigerian universities were producing graduates not worthy in character and learning, adding that the development was an aberration.

He spoke at the 14th convocation lecture of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) delivered by Dr Akinwummi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank Group (AfDB), in Abuja, on Friday.

He said: “After four or five years of course of study in a tertiary institution, especially in a university, whenever we mention that someone has been found worthy in learning and in character, people tend to wonder whether learning and character necessarily go together. Well, they do not.

“One can have learning and even be considered learned as lawyers are referred to, but with no good character, I’m sorry to say. Also, one can be certificated without learning anything or learning much, and yet have good character.

“But the expectation is that university graduates are positioned for the ideal of having good learning and character. Now, if this ideal has been approximated in Nigerian universities in the past, it now remains a mere aspiration.

“In most cases, regrettably, our universities are certifying illiterates and awarding degrees in many cases to persons with unworthy character. This is an aberration. But the expectation is that university graduates are positioned for the ideal of having good learning and character. Why and how is this so? I can only say that there are complicated reasons and complex explanations, but that will be a subject or a topic for another lecture.”

Prof. Jega described Dr. Adesina as an outstanding Nigerian who has made the country and Africa proud. “And he has done this not just nationally, when he served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria, but also internationally, for especially his accomplishments at the AfDB.

Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, in his remarks, said the convocation lecture has become a routine in the school and has provided the opportunity for the guest lecturer to share knowledge and experience on a particular field.