Professor Francis Adegbaye Igbasan is the second substantive Vice Chancellor of McPherson University, Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State. He is a professor of Animal Science, a writer and administrator, who has been in the university system for 33 years. In this interview by KINGSLEY ALUMONA, he speaks about a number of issues bordering on the Nigerian university system, including the student loan scheme and TETFund.
At the opening of the 2023 annual conference of the National Association of Christian Studies (NACS) recently held at McPherson University, you spoke about the war between Israel and Palestine. What is the implication for Nigeria should it take sides in the war?
Nigeria should not be pressured to take sides in the war, because, by our constitution, Nigeria is a multi-religious state. We do not belong to any particular religion – we have Christians, Muslims, and others – so, by taking sides, a particular religion will look at it as if the multiplicity has been eroded which will cause a lot of controversy. So, to mention that secularism, it is important that Nigeria should not take sides with either Israel or Palestine.
In some parts of Nigeria, Muslims protested the invasion of Gaza by Israel. Do you think Christians should voice their support for Israel?
Christians generally see Israel or Jerusalem as sacred a place – either for tourism or pilgrimage. It is not out of place for Christians to also come out and support Israel. If Muslims are supporting Palestine, nothing stops Christians from lending their voices to what is happening over there. The only thing is that the Nigerian government should not be involved in the conflict.
The attention of the National Universities Commission (NUC) has been drawn to the news that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has officially introduced a one-year top-up degree programme in Nigerian polytechnics to enable holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND) to convert their certificates to first degree with foreign accredited universities. What is your take on this?
I will pitch my tent with the NUC because anything that relates to first-degree education is being regulated by the NUC which has a list of recognised universities around the world. For instance, if someone comes with a university certificate from Ukraine, the first port of call is the NUC, the Ministry of Education, to confirm if that university is recognised.
If someone does a conversion programme in a university that is not recognised by the NUC, what happens to that kind of certificate? We have enough universities in this country where anyone who graduated from a polytechnic or college of technology can do whatever conversion they intend to do.
Recently, someone brought a certificate to this university (McPherson University), a PhD certificate he did online with a university in America. I asked him at the interview “How can someone do a PhD online? Is it possible?” PhD is by research. How did he do the research? These are some of the things we see in the education sector. And it is the responsibility of the NUC to regulate such anomalies
I will pitch my tent with the NUC. If anybody wants to do a conversion programme, they should look for universities in the country instead of subscribing to a conversion that can be done online within six months and get a certificate for it.
What is your position concerning the dichotomy between university and polytechnic certificates?
The National Assembly has passed the law as far as that is concerned. The dichotomy has been bridged. However, in the real sense of it, it is the society that has something to do with it. The society thinks someone with a degree is better than someone with a HND. It depends on the profession. Many HND holders are far better than degree holders. Those of us who are employers have tried many hands and we know that there are many HND holders that degree holders in the same field cannot compete with. We know.
The student loan proposed by the Federal Government does not apply to private university students. What is your take on this?
The leadership of private universities met recently and came up with their position concerning the student loan. It is not only the student loan we do not enjoy. We do not enjoy the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) either. It is believed that it is only rich people who send their children to private universities, which is not true. There are many parents here (at McPherson University) who are struggling to meet up with the cost of educating their children. We know what we pass through here. Many parents will complain that they are not able to pay this fee or that fee. We tell them to pay in installments – in fact, our students can pay their school fees in four installments in an academic session. We made it this way so that parents will not complain about the cost. We know the problems and challenges in the country today, but we have made it in way that parents can easily pay the fees.
Recently, the Federal Government mandated public universities to remit 40 per cent of their IGR into the coffers of the government. What is your take on this?
When I read the news, I laughed. The Federal Government is not serious. These are universities the Federal Government has refused to fund. In the last one or two decades, the Federal Government has not released money to federal universities for capital projects. I came from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). I know what is happening there. These universities rely solely on TETFund. The little money they have generated, the government also wants to corner it. Is it realistic? How do they want these universities to survive? What do they want to do with the money? It is not right. What the Federal Government gives universities every month is not enough to pay salaries. What of the running cost, the overheads? The overheads are what the universities use the IGR for.
For example, sometime last year, when FUTA wanted to do accreditation for the Department of Computer Science, the university authority only released N1 million, even less than that. The reason was that there was no money in the system. It is not realistic. And I want to advise the Federal Government to desist from this. It will put universities in a position where they will not be able to provide quality education.
There is this notion in some circles that most private universities in the country are glorified secondary schools. What is your take on this?
They are not glorified secondary schools. I have been in the university system for 33 years. I have been in this university for one year. That means the last 32 years were in public universities − state and federal universities. Now I am the Vice Chancellor here, I recently told someone that I take my son to a private university. 95 per cent of private universities in the country are well equipped, even more than what is obtainable in public universities.
We want to do accreditation for our Department of Medical Laboratory Science. For Medical Laboratory Science alone, we have spent close to N70 million to buy equipment. When I was at Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Ondo State, the Vice Chancellor told me that for all the programmes – 17 programmes – they are doing accreditation for, the state government only released N75 million. And they want to do three courses in engineering. How will they do it? Our own programme, only one, we have spent close to N70 million.
In terms of equipment and manpower, private universities are far better. Most of the lecturers in public universities go to private universities to teach as adjunct lecturers. So, it is not true when people say private universities in the country are glorified secondary schools.
In what ways do you think the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education can assist private universities in these trying times?
They can assist in two major ways. First, they should allow private universities to be part of TETFund. TETFund provides capital funds to public universities. If the Federal Government and Ministry of Education could allow TETFund to also fund private universities, to some extent, it would help. We, the private universities, are also contributing to the economy of this country. We pay taxes, and the taxes we pay is what TETFund uses. We produce manpower for the country, we pay taxes, and we are citizens of this country. So, there is no reason the Federal Government should exclude private universities from the TETFund arrangement.
Secondly, in terms of tax relief for private universities, the Federal Government should also look in that direction. We pay a lot of tax, both to federal and state governments. This is double taxation, which should not be. They can harmonise the taxes so that we pay once and they decide how to handle it from their own end.
What makes McPherson University exceptional and different from other private universities in Nigeria?
At McPherson, we place a lot of premium on quality education. We do not only produce people of excellence, we also produce people of integrity – integrity for service. We place a lot of emphasis on Christian and moral values, being a faith-based institution. Once students are admitted into the university, we take them as our children. And we need to bring them up in a way that they will be useful to society. All this makes McPherson University unique.
It is one year since you have been the Vice Chancellor of McPherson University. What would you say are your major achievements within this one year?
I will attribute my achievements to God. When I came in last August as the second substantive Vice Chancellor of this university, the first thing I did, within a few weeks, was to put a five-year strategic plan in place that would drive this administration on a yearly basis. Within the last one year, we have been following the plan religiously.
For instance, before I came, the students’ enrollment was less than 500. Today, we are talking about over a thousand students’ enrollment. In the last one year, we have been able to put some laboratory and structural facilities in place. We have acquired laboratory equipment that can make our students competitive when they graduate. We have created two more colleges − the College of Law and the College of Computing − within this one year. We will soon commission our McU radio station. We have also increased our accommodation capacity – two students’ accommodation halls have been completed within one year. We have also boosted our internally generated revenue (IGR) by over 150 per cent in one year. We are working on increasing the workers’ salary by 30 per cent by the end of this year.
What is the relationship between the university and the host community in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR)?
We have about 13 villages around the university, and we maintain a cordial relationship with them. Seriki Sotayo is the major host community. When I came in as the Vice Chancellor, I instituted a scholarship scheme for the best student in that community. She is now a student of McPherson. We are taking care of her tuition and will train her throughout her academic programme. We have donated transformers and built town halls for Seriki Sotayo and other communities. We have also assisted them in opening up their roads. We supported the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigerian Police when they wanted to set up their administrative buildings in the area. Our university health centre is also open to them.
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