The Fate Of Nigeria’s Tertiary Education System

By Fred Nwaozor

The last time I checked, the Nigeria’s education system, particularly the tertiary aspect, was really bleeding that only a candid and drastic measure is required towards addressing the anomaly. For decades now, acquiring higher education on the African continent – particularly Nigeria – has remained synonymous with cat and dog life owing to the unwholesome state of the various tertiary institutions of learning situated therein. The said challenge, which is very glaring, might not be unconnected with the national and local issues affecting the way the Nigerian government plans for the country’s future relevance and sustainability.

Higher education is being reshaped by globalization and digital revolution, that, every institution of learning that knows its onions wants to find itself in the world map regardless of what it would cost. Prospective students are fast becoming academically aware and making decisions about education accordingly, contrary to what it used to be. University rankings among other yardsticks of measuring greatness will increasingly have greater influence on positioning institutions in the international market, and graduate career-readiness is a growing student concern. Students are indeed looking for access to services and education across new technologies and more flexible delivery options. Towards being competitive as well as meeting these expectations, higher institutions would need to invest in expensive facilities and infrastructure. Higher citadels of learning, such as universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, are like manufacturing industries, hence, require adequate funding towards sustenance. Commencement of such business alone is strictly capital intensive, and its day-to-day running is sustained by thorough vigilance on the part of the management. Since schools are not profit-making industries unlike other capitalist firms, their functionality mainly depends on funds coming from outside rather than the students’ tuition fees.

Ironically, Nigeria’s learning citadels, precisely the higher ones, have been wearing pathetic physiognomy thus far, thereby making them produce half-baked products unabated, in the name of ‘graduates’. This set of unemployed, or perhaps unemployable, youths is littered all over the country, searching for white-collar jobs that cannot be properly handled if given to them. Since the jobs are not forthcoming, they would resort to such various social vices that would generate quick money as armed robbery, kidnapping, abduction, cultism, ritual killing, internet fraud, gambling, and so on, just to mention but a few. Considering the aforementioned phenomenon, there’s no need to say that about eighty per cent (80%) reason Nigeria is currently awash with all kinds of dubious acts is the ongoing plight of unemployment, which is on the rampage. But if the so called job-seekers were well equipped/tutored while in school, they would have rather considered becoming employers of labour. They can only become self-reliant if the necessary teachings and trainings were given to them during their school days. Take a walk to any university across the federation and see things for yourself. Facilities including laboratories, libraries, workshops, and even lecture classes/halls are nothing to write home about. Most of the institutions are, to assert the least, like glorified primary schools. What about the lecturers’ offices coupled with their wages? An average politician would go home with millions of naira on a weekly basis whereas a lecturer, on the average, cannot even boast of a hundred and fifty thousand naira (#150,000) monthly. It would interest, probably shock, you to note that the basic salary of a ward councillor in Nigeria is about five times greater than the overall monthly wage of a professor who is reckoned to be the most learned in any society. A lot has really gone wrong, and it is high time we made amends toward attaining the anticipated greatness. Each year, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), among other labour unions in higher learning citadels, embark on industrial action for a particular cause, yet the demon ravaging the Nigerian schools remains seemingly unbeatable.

The pertinent and inevitable question now is: how do we unravel this lingering mystery, or should we continue folding our arms and watch it deteriorate into a more forbidden scene? First, governments at all levels must ensure that heads of the institutions in question, to include vice-chancellor, rector, and provost for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, respectively, are strictly appointed via merit instead of mere favouritism which is usually the case. Astute administrators, or individuals of note, ought to be appointed to serve in such capacities rather than engaging a mere benchwarmer. Sometimes, the poor state of these schools is partly attributed to the kind of person piloting their affairs. In most cases you would observe that a vice-chancellor, for instance, would spend several years on seat, but end up not implementing any consequential project throughout his/her five-year tenure. This aspect of misappropriation of funds is, for quite some time now, being harboured as a culture in most existing higher citadels of learning across the federation. Similarly, the concerned quarters must ensure that only qualified individuals are employed as lecturers; engaging unqualified teachers in the institutions have succeeded in causing untold harm to the future of the teeming students, particularly the undergraduates. The wages of the lecturers must also be taken as priority by the governments and other concerned bodies, and those in privately-owned institutions should equally be treated as such. Universities, being research-oriented institutions, cannot thrive under the ongoing Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime of the present administration in Nigeria. The education sector – especially higher institutions – deserves unalloyed financial autonomy, thus they ought to be exempted from such mechanism. Since the initiative is targeted to curb corruption, the government can set up a formidable and reliable agency that would continually monitor how the schools are faring. If anyone is found culpable in the process, he/she ought to be brought to book without much ado.

It’s very pathetic and an eyesore that our universities are yet to commercialize their patents in an era where the society is expected to mainly depend on higher institutions as regards research works, tech-driven innovations and development. The fact is, adequate funding of higher education, which has been taken aback for decades now, is the only way the government can make the affected institutions compete globally. There are absolutely no two ways about it. Though the ongoing Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) scheme is trying, a lot still needs to be done. Most times these funds are utilized on laboratory equipment that cannot be calibrated, or library materials such as books that are outdated, thereby making them serve as mere monuments or decorative materials as long as they last in the various benefiting institutions. Taking into cognizance that funding shouldn’t be left for the government alone, the head of these institutions must be prepared to reach out to the relevant bodies in a bid for collaboration and endowment initiatives. This is why a well cerebral and smart individual is meant to be appointed to pilot the affairs of the citadels in question. The Labour unions such as ASUU and NAAT, among others, on their part must endeavour to run an independent unionism at all times, rather than barely indulging in tokenism. The handwriting should invariably be clearly written on the wall for the concerned government regardless of the circumstance. Hence, they mustn’t spare the rot and spoil the child. They ought to acknowledge that any foul play they engage in is to the detriment of their students’ future, and that of Nigeria at large. If you have a cause you are fighting for, concentrate on how to drive to the end instead of succumbing to baseless and unfounded threats in the long run. This recessionary era is obviously the ripe time to get the funding of the Nigeria’s higher education right, because any procrastination would surely be at the expense of the anticipated economic turnaround. Think about it!

PROMOTING TEACHING PROFESSION AMID TEACHERS’ CELEBRATION

by Fred Nwaozor

The last time I checked, October 5 annually remained World Teacher's Day. This implies that the 2021 edition of the lofty event was celebrated yesterday, meaning literally that the teachers are still in the mood of celebration. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”. This is targeted to highlight the support teachers need to fully contribute to the recovery process as the Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) crisis lingers after one and half years of emergence. In view of the unavoidable impact of teachers on any society, in 1994, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reached a unanimous resolution that October 5 of every year should be observed by all the UN Member States as World Teachers’ Day. The annual World Teachers’ Day, which is aimed at mobilizing support for teachers as well as ensuring that the needs of future generations would continue to be met by teachers, was first commemorated in the year 1994. According to UNESCO, World Teachers’ Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and global development. On its part, Education International (EI), which is the global union federation that represents education professionals worldwide, strongly solicits that World Teachers’ Day ought to be internationally recognized and celebrated around the world. No doubt, every right thinking person eagerly wishes to know what he/she does not or is yet to know. Such attribute can be referred to as man’s quest for knowledge. In the same vein, for anyone to acquire any form of knowledge, he must be taught by someone or something.

In a situation whereby the knowledge recipient is being taught by a non-human such as book, internet, or as the case may be, it is worthy to note that that material or avenue through which he/she acquired the knowledge was invented by someone or a human. In other words, teaching cannot be possible without the effort of a person. Someone who imparts knowledge on other person(s), directly or indirectly, is generally referred to as a teacher. In a concise term, a teacher is someone who teaches others better ways of doing something or a better way of living. He can also be described as someone who helps or contributes meaningfully in the uplift of someone else’s educational status or level. Hence, teaching is simply the act of impacting knowledge. On the other hand, education, in a general sense, is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to another.

Sure, anyone can be identified as a teacher, considering the relationship that exists between the persons involved. It would equally interest us to acknowledge that, there are those or group of persons who embrace teaching as a profession; this set of people could be regarded as institutional teachers. The latter are the people the World Teachers’ Day is targeted to celebrate. The institutional teachers are the ones that are often recognized as ‘teachers’ owing to the fact that they are the only persons that bring out their time, energy, resources, and what have you, to the fullness, to ensure that knowledge is fully and duly obtained by its seekers. Among all, anyone who practises teaching or who takes teaching as a profession, must had passed through a certain professional training in a higher citadel of learning, particularly an education institute. In most nations, it is disheartening to note that this set of people known as teachers, who had contributed immensely and relentlessly to the socio-economic development of the nation, are treated poorly as regards payment of salaries among other incentives.

It is even more pathetic and disgusting to acknowledge that in some quarters, these persons whom are meant to be the leading professionals are regarded as second class, if not third class citizens. If the truth must be told, then we all must agree that it is only an insane man that is yet to comprehend that teachers are the building block of any nation or society. Needless to say; they remain the rudiments or foundation on which any nation is built. As the popular saying goes "No teacher, no nation." So, when realized that same set of individuals are invariably relegated to the background, it becomes a thing of worry to anyone who truly means well for his country, or immediate society. As Nigeria joins the world to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the World Teachers’ Day, all relevant stakeholders and authorities are expected to encourage the teaching profession by ensuring that the following conditions are reached by employers of labour:  Good and enticing employment conditions including appropriate contracts, salaries, and prospects for career progression and promotion.  Effective management to include a teacher’s recruitment and deployment.  Conducive and charming work environment as well as high quality pre- and in-service training.

The international community and various governments need to stand firm and united to support teachers as well as quality learning worldwide, especially in those countries where the highest number of out-of-school children exists. In this regard, they are meant to acknowledge that an education system is only as good as its teachers. More so, the various existing teachers’ unions are equally expected to support their respective governments in the area of maintenance of sanity in our schools. By so doing, anomalies to include mediocrity, laxity, apathy, truancy, and other nonchalant attitudes found among most present days’ teachers would be totally eradicated. The above measures, if properly implemented in Nigeria, would enable every teacher in the country to proudly identify him/herself as a ‘teacher’ regardless of the circumstance, which would definitely help to uplift the country’s educational standard. We are, therefore, expected to support this remarkable crusade with utmost passion, especially at this era when the physiognomy of our education sector seems pitiable and epileptic. A teacher needs to be fully rewarded here on earth as he or she strives for excellence. Hence, the usual obnoxious belief that a teacher's reward lies in heaven must be delisted from our collective mindset. Think about it!

BREAKING: ASUP Commences Indefinite Strike December 12

AS the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of Nigeria lingers, her polytechnic counterpart, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) says it would be commencing its own indefinite strike from December 12, 2018.

The National President of ASUP, Usman Dutse disclosed this on Wednesday, 5th December 2018, explaining that the decision was informed by the failure of the Federal Government (FG) to meet the demands of the polytechnic lecturers.

Mr. Dutse said the resolution to commence the strike was reached at the union’s 93rd National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos last week.

He noted that the 21-day ultimatum issued by the union on October 2, has since elapsed and an extension of the ultimatum to November has also elapsed, yet the union did not go on industrial action. It suffices to say that the union has been pushed to the wall.

“Government has failed to implement and fulfill agreements it reached with the union as contained in the memorandum of understanding signed,” Mr. Dutse lamented.

Among other things, Dutse said that “the issue of the funding of the institutions has always been a major concern”.

“The institutions are not funded. The states are even worse because state governments just establish schools without actually funding those schools. So, no infrastructure is in place,” Dutse said.

Also, the bill to review the Act on the establishment of polytechnics in Nigeria, according to Dutse, has not been passed by the National Assembly despite several efforts by ASUP to get the lawmakers to pass the bill. Dutse said perhaps the strike would help in fast-tracking the passage of the bill.

Another cause of agitation for the polytechnic lecturers is the issue of owed salary and allowance arrears, which in some states had risen up to 14 months.

“We have states that are owing about 14-month salaries. Some owe eight months. Benue, Ogun, Osun, Edo, Kogi are owing up to as long as 14 months,” Dutse said.

The last industrial action by ASUP was in November 2017, but following prompt action by the federal government and the agreement to implement the recommendations of the 2014 NEEDS assessment, the strike was suspended 15 days after.

The proposed strike by ASUP will, no doubt, do further damage on the Nigerian education sector. The ministry of Labour and Employment led by Dr. Chris Ngige and its Education counterpart under the watch of Mr. Adamu Adamu have so far reportedly not been able to get the university lecturers to suspend their own strike.

It's noteworthy that the latest meeting between the FG and ASUU representatives on Tuesday, 4th December 2018 ended in another deadlock.

BREAKING: ASUU Embarks on Indefinite Industrial Action

As the Nigeria's organized labour's strike looms, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced the commencement of an indefinite nationwide industrial action with immediate effect, starting from Monday, 5th November 2018.

The decision was announced at the end of an emergency meeting on the night of Sunday, 4th November 2018.

This came just as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is also preparing to commence a nationwide strike on Tuesday, 6th November 2018 over a disagreement between the organised labour union and the governments on the N30,000 minimum wage.

 

Briefing newsmen after the closed-door meeting, the ASUU president, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi disclosed the strike would be total and with immediate effect.

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The boss listed the reasons for their action to include: Failure on the side of the government to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the union and the federal government in 2017.

He also mentioned that renegotiation with ASUU, which the government intentionally ignored with impunity, was part of the reasons for the strike.

Professor Ogunyemi, therefore, directed all the state chapters to ensure full compliance until their demands are met.

JUST IN: As Strike Looms, ASUU, SSANU Get Ready