In 2009, President Goodluck Jonathan directed specialised universities (Agriculture and Technology) to diversify and run other courses (including management and social sciences) alongside their core mandates to increase access to education. Most of these universities responded immediately and had since taken off and turning out graduates. The existence of management courses in these universities has no known negative impact on their abilities to train students in the areas of their core mandates. Moreover, these are acceptable best practices in other climes like the United States of America, China, Indian, and Europe and even in other African countries.
Surprisingly, without due consultation with stakeholders, the minister of education directed JAMB not to admit students into those programmes in the concerned universities in the ongoing UTME registration without consideration for the following justifications for the existence of Management courses in federal universities of agriculture and the attendant negative consequences of deleting those courses. Some of these are: Obligatory servicing and complementary roles to core agricultural programmes in this days of emphasis on value chains and entrepreneurial development: Agriculture as a discipline cannot be successfully practised without a complimentary training in basic management disciplines like those offered by College of Management Sciences (COLMAS).
This is more so as agriculture cannot only be seen as developmental programme but a business to be profitably undertaken. There is a symbiotic relationship between Management Courses and Agriculture in solving the nation’s economic problem. It will be counter productive for a university to be established for only one discipline in these days of interdisciplinary/multi-discipline approach to solving complex social economic problem including Agriculture.
Running Management Science courses in Universities of Agriculture is an acceptable practices in other climes: Many world-class specialised Universities in Africa and Western World have embraced the symbiotic relationship between their core mandates (Agriculture or Technology) and courses in Management Sciences. Such Universities in the world include Cranfield University, United Kingdom (Agriculture, Engineering, Technology and Management), Royal Agricultural University (Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK), Iowa State University, USA (Established as University of Agriculture), Swedish University of Agriculture, China Agricultural University, Cornell University of Agriculture (USA), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and Texas Agriculture and Mechanical University among others.
Existence of Management Sciences in Federal University of Agriculture has reduced admission problem created by over-subscription to public universities in the country: It is on record that, in recent times the number of commercial students seeking admission into tertiary institutions has increased far beyond the capacity of conventional Universities in Nigeria and as such, the introduction of Management Programmes into Federal Universities of Agriculture has tremendously reduced the number of admission seekers thereby minimising the negative consequences on the nation. To also note is the fact that some of these Federal Universities of Agriculture are among the few universities in their zones running a full complementary management courses accredited by NUC, ICAN and other professional bodies. A good example is Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta running five undergraduate courses in Management Sciences accredited by National Universities Commission (NUC).
Efficient Utilisation of human capacity in the Universities:Lecturers in the College of Management Sciences (COLMAS) provide inter-services to students in College of Agriculture so also lecturers from College of Agriculture provide services to students in Management Students. This has resulted in efficient utilisation of human capital within the University. Hence, no room for redundancy among the teaching staff of the University. In addition, it’s worth noting that, students in the College of Management Sciences are encouraged to acquire skills in the practice of Agriculture in the University.
Management Sciences create a viable avenue/ opportunity for sustainable Internally Generated Revenue (IGR): The existence of Management Sciences has contributed to the IGR of the Federal Universities of Agriculture which is one of the main policy trusts of this present administration. This is hoped to be one of the veritable ways the Universities can overcome the incessant short-fall in the federal government subvention to the University as being presently experienced by most Nigerian Universities.
Management Science courses are societal demand driven: Realising the importance of Management Science Courses to host communities and the practice of Agriculture in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has donated buildings to many Colleges of Management Sciences. A good example is Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta whose magnificent college building was designed and built by CBN. In the same vein, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ICAN and Association of National Accountants of Nigerian (ANAN) have also donated buildings to Management Sciences of many specialised Universities in Nigeria.
Before the establishment of Management Sciences in FUNAAB, parents and guardians have been languishing while seeking admission for their children/wards that intended to read Management Science courses in far places outside Ogun State. Hence, the commencement of Management Sciences in FUNAAB provided a succour to parents and their children. Furthermore, the existence of Management Sciences in Federal University of Agriculture, has tremendously improved the economic activities of the host community. It has immensely contributed to economic activities of the host community which hitherto was not available. Deleting the College from Federal University of Agriculture, will definitely cripple the economic activities of the host community and send a wrong signal to the host community about the present government.
Finally, the resources in Agriculture include Land, Labour, Capital and Entrepreneurs which can only be efficiently combined through Management Sciences. Pricing and marketing of Agricultural produce remain integral parts of management sciences. Projection and forecasting of Agricultural outputs require the inputs of management scientists. The various Silos for keeping excess food items need to be managed by management scientists. Hence, to turn the fortune of any economy around required training in management.
Given the above background, I make a personal appeal to the presidency, the National Assembly, Professional Bodies, Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) and stakeholders in the educational sector to engage in reasonable dialogue to salvage our educational system from the disastrous consequences of policy somersault.
Sam Adewole, an educationist, wrote in from Abeokuta, Ogun State.
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