One week after the Federal Government granted provisional approval to eight private universities, stakeholders are cautioning against the proliferation of tertiary schools without commensurate human and material resources, as the government strives to create access to higher education. ENO-ABASI SUNDAY writes.

Lack of carrying capacity in existing tertiary institutions in the country has remained a heart-rending issue for many parents as it is to their children and wards.

This unfortunate issue, which has defied government prescribed solutions till date, has equally elicited a groundswell of suggestions from stakeholders and non-stakeholders alike.

In most cases, apart from calling for the expansion of existing tertiary institutions, there has also been the call for the establishment of new ones, be they private or government-owned. All these are in bid to ensure that the number of qualified students that earn places in these institutions yearly improves from what currently obtains.

It is in the light of this that last Wednesday’s approval of eight new universities by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), is seen as a step in the right direction.

Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka, who addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, said the approval followed a memo submitted by the Federal Ministry of Education.

He listed the new universities as to include Anchor University, Ayobo, Lagos, (owned by Deeper Life Christian Ministry); Arthur Jarvis University, Akpabuyo, Cross River State (owned by Clitter House Nigeria Limited), and Clifford University, Owerrinta, Abia State, (owned by Seventh Day Adventist Church).

The others are Coal City University, located in Enugu, and owned by African Thinkers Community of Inquiry College of Education. The Crown-Hill University, Eiyenkorin, Kwara, is owned by Modern Morgy and Sons Limited; Dominican University, Ibadan, owned by Order of Preachers, Nigerian Dominican Community; Kola Daisi University, Ibadan, owned by Kola Daisi Foundation, and Legacy University, Okija in Anambra, is owned by Good Idea Education Foundation.

The minister of state, who disclosed that each of the new universities was only handed a three-year provisional license, said some existing universities would mentor them across the country.

Anwuka further explained that the University of Lagos, would serve as mentor to Anchor University, Ayobo; Arthur Jarvis, Clifford and Coal City universities would be mentored by University of Calabar, University of Agriculture, Umudike, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, respectively.

The University of Ilorin would also serve as mentor to Crown-Hill University in Kwara State, while the University of Ibadan would mentor Dominican and Kola Daisi universities.

With the licensing coming barely 21 months after the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government also gave approval for nine new private universities to take-off, many are bothered by the glaring manpower needs and funding challenge besetting most private varsities.

Even though most private universities are over-priced, and nearly made the exclusive preserve of children of the high and mighty, on account of their high-fee regime, its number has been jerked to 68 by the recent approval, just 24 short of the combined number of state and federal-owned varsities.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) thinks is of the opinion that the Federal Government needs to be firm in its resolve not to compromise standards as it strives to democratise tertiary education.

According to its president, Prof. Biodun Akinyemi, “We at ASUU are not against the democratisation of education, but against proliferation of institutions without adequate planning. That is why we are quick to ask, these universities that have been licensed, how much of the resources (human/material) that they require that are available to them, that would facilitate their smooth take-off?

“We are asking this because existing private universities are busy poaching from the older universities. What has happened over the while is that new universities just resort to poaching staff of existing universities because they, in most cases, do not have the required quantum of staff. Even some old universities in the country are not adequately and sufficiently staffed, and these are some of the factors that are affecting the quality of products from these schools. So, we as a country must ensure that each and every university licensed is prepared for the task,” he stated.

Ogunyemi added that, “If these schools are allowed to take-off without adequate human resources, in another few years, they would be having serious capacity problems. This has been the bane of our tertiary education system, where rather than expand and fund existing universities, the government just goes ahead to approve the establishment of new ones, and before you know it, the old ones would degenerate, while the new ones sooner or later, fall into the same trap. That has been our observation over the years.”

He stressed that, “ASUU is not against the provision of opportunities for Nigerian students to have access to tertiary education, because we pray for this, but government must take the lead by funding, staffing and providing the needed facilities in her universities. This remains topmost on the list of our agitations/demands. There is no reason for university teachers to be carrying excess workloads because government is not doing what it ought to do. Excess workload constrains the teacher’s ability to be very productive. So, in expanding the space for education, government should be conscious of the place of erecting appropriate facilities.

Some commentators are of the view that the mentors assigned to these new schools are themselves challenged. ASUU agrees with this, and calls for caution.

“The universities that government is making mentors have their own problems, and are still grappling with these problems, and are likely going to drag their mentees into the problems. If the mentor is deficient, there is obviously a limit to what it can offer the mentee in the course of mentoring. In this case, the mentors are deficient, their facilities are not adequate, their number of staff insufficient. That not withstanding, these mentors go the extra mile in helping the mentees to window dress so as to get accreditation that they don’t deserve. This is what has been happening, causing us to go around in circles.

So, government should ensure regulations are enforced, while monitoring is taken seriously. It should also respond to whistleblowers. However, ASUU is always ready to tell them what to do to succeed.”

Commenting on the approval granted the eight varsities, Vice Chancellor of Christopher University, Prof. Friday Ndubuisi, said: “The interest and entry of the private sector into university education is a welcome and progressive development in the history of university education, as long as standards are not sacrificed. Governments, both at the state and federal levels cannot do it alone, given our large population, and the desire of our young ones to acquire university education.”

Licensing of new universities, he adds, “will checkmate the influx of our youths to our neighbouring countries and the western world for the purposes of acquiring education. It is also an opportunity for the private sector to contribute to the technology and educational advancement of the country.

“Most of private universities cannot fill the quota allocated to them by the National Universities Commission (NUC) because of the issue of school fees and the economic hardship in the country, especially since the government does not give any assistance, or subvention to private universities, leaving the promoters to bear the entire cost of running the universities. Without what is referred to as high fees, it would be impossible to sustain these institutions. That is why there have been persistent calls on the government to extend some form of assistance to private universities, through the mechanism of TETFund. If this is done, it will check the incidence of high fees in private universities, which will invariably cause more patronage from the large number of candidates that desire university education, the professor of philosophy stated.

On the mentoring of the new schools by the older ones, he said, “Running a university is quite expensive because aside from infrastructural development and maintenance, there is the very critical issue of welfare and emoluments of staff. So, it is a good and innovative idea to mandate the older universities to mentor new ones. It enhances standard and checkmates the enthronement of mediocrity. Mentoring takes care of areas such as carrying capacity, staff development and quality assurance. It is a good development and so should also be extended to exchange of staff.”

President of University French Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (UFTAN), Prof. Tunde Fatunde, is also of the opinion that the creation of additional eight universities is a “right step in the right direction as university education is both a culture, and an industry in Nigeria. It is rightly a popular belief in the consciousness of Nigerians that university education is a platform to ensure a better standard of living for all. Consequently, university education is an industry because both the private and public sectors continue to invest in it. This is a sector where over one million young boys and girls write the UTME examination with a view to gaining access to tertiary institutions.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, and for now, the Nigerian state deploys less than eight per cent of its annual budget to education, and a fraction of this percentage goes to the university sector. The Nigerian state erroneously believes that the private sector would fill in the gap because the state cannot cope. Unlike in South Korea education and vocational training are given top priority.”

He said: “In order to satisfy the demands and aspirations of Nigerians’ quest for university education, the Nigerian state must gradually invest resources to meet up with the recommendation of UNESCO, which prescribes that at least 26 per cent of all nations’ annual budget should be invested in education, and vocational training. Nigeria is a signatory of the UNESCO convention.”

To keep pace with the developed world as far as education is concerned, he said, “Massive investment in university education is required. There are enormous resources in Nigeria that should be deployed to education and vocational training. In South Korea, education and vocational training are the most lucrative sectors of the economy. In Nigeria with about 54 million souls who cannot read and write, politics is the most lucrative and most rewarding industry! Within this scenario and framework, the lack of investment in human beings can only produce permanent underdevelopment, where the culture of poverty, inequality and mass unemployment will be the order of the day.

The university teacher, who said the proliferation of private universities is a positive move, urged the government to borrow a leaf from South Korean government, which also invests in private universities because the state is conscious of the fact that products of both the public and private universities would converge to build the Korean society.”

He, however, bemoaned the exorbitant fees charged by private universities describing it as erroneous and counterproductive. “University education cannot be run like a supermarket where excessive profits are made. It is an irony that in faith-based universities, the poor, who are members of these churches, contribute their widows’ mites to build these universities. Unfortunately, their children are edged out because of the exorbitant fees.

“Even in advanced democracies, there is a deliberate loan scheme and scholarship scheme for students up to university level. These loans are repayable after graduation for a long period of years with very minimum interest rates. It is only a very corrupt political system that would insist that anybody who desires good university education must pay through his or her nose. Now that there is no free money to steal from public coffers, coupled with the economic recession, parents are gradually withdrawing their children from private universities. The chicken has come home to roost. It is the Korean model that would help reshape and restructure university education in Nigeria, with the deliberate and conscious deployment of resources from the Nigerian state.

Fatunde, who also frowned at the mentoring programme as presently practiced, expressed regrets at the unethical things that happen in the process saying, “Right now, there are about 45 thousand academic staff in public universities and 5, 000 teaching staff in private universities. This academic workforce is not enough for all the universities including the new once. Consequently, very unholy practice and illegalities are committed by universities, by hiring of mercenary lecturers during the accreditation exercise conducted by NUC.

This practice is well known in the university community. There is no culture of mentoring anywhere. What we have is a culture of survival.

…This is not how to run a university system in the 21st century. The way forward: The Korean Model of 21st century University education is the fundamental alternative.”
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