Only 60% university lecturers qualified to teach —NUC

ONLY about 60 per cent of lecturers in Nigerian universities have the requisite qualification (which is the PhD.) to teach at that level, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has disclosed.

It described lecturers without a doctoral degree as unqualified, and also lamented the inability of the nation’s universities to generate serious endowment fund and investments capable of financing their recurrent expenditure needs.

The commission admonished vice chancellors to “begin to see fundraising and mobilisation as an integral part of their jobs in response to the realities of today.”

The executive secretary of the commission, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, disclosed these as a guest lecturer at the University of Benin Academic Colloquium, held in honour of 17 alumni of the institution appointed by the federal and state governments between 2015 and 2016.

Represented by the Director of Research in the commission, Dr. Suleiman Ramah, the executive secretary, who spoke on the topic ‘Nigerian Universities: Thinking Outside the Box to Embrace Innovative and Positive Change’, said thinking out of the box requires developing skills or engaging in activities which link the more rational left-brain thought processes with the more creative right brain.

He advocated that universities should strive to build high reputation in order to command the respect of the larger society.

Professor Rasheed said: “The critical thinking skills which universities are expected to instigate in their students constitute a critical component of the arsenal required if the Nigerian university system is to live up to expectations in leading the way in our quest for innovation and positive change.

“Each academic programme in a university must pay attention to and incorporate within its curriculum the commercial and industrial needs and focus of its discipline.”

Earlier, the vice chancellor of UNIBEN, Professor Faraday Orumwense, said the university is a resource-based institution, because, according to him, about 17 members of staff have been appointed into high level positions between 2015 and 2016.

Orumwense listed such positions to include; minister, vice chancellors, registrar, bursar, provost and rector.