The role of education in human development (6)

The future of tertiary education in Nigeria:  A case for more private universities

IT is a notorious fact that education is capital intensive such that government alone cannot effectively fund education. To require governments today to direct all its resources towards education will translate into the neglect of other important aspect of the economy such as healthcare and infrastructural development. This much was even evident in the first republic when the government of the then Western Region embarked on its free education policy. Due to the resources which it committed to providing free education other sectors suffered. In an article titled “The development of Free Primary Education in Western Nigeria” S. Ademola Ajayi stated as follows:

“Between 1954 and 1966, education attracted the largest share of the Western Region’s recurrent budget, having varied between 28.9 per cent and 41.2 per cent during the period (Table 4). In the 1958-59 financial year, for instance, 41.2 percent of the total recurrent budget was devoted to education alone. This, undoubtedly, represented one of the highest proportional expenditures on education, the world over. That was an ample demonstration of the great importance that the regional government placed on education. However, the fact should equally not be ignored that the more money spent on education, the less there was for the sectors that could provide employment and other services.”

Indeed in recent times the overall budgetary provisions of most states of the federation shows conclusively that even if all their resources were directed or allocated to education, it would still be grossly insufficient to fund education and would still be lower than the funding available to education in other parts of the world. The combined budgets of Plateau State, Nassarawa State, Bauch State, Taraba State and Gombe State for 2013 is N559 Billion. These states allocated about 8% to 10% of their individual budgets to education. Yet the 2012 budget for the University of California was $4.4Billion amounting to about N640Billion.  It is therefore easy to see why the quality of education in Nigeria cannot compare well that of several developed countries.

It is for this reasons that Government must urgently evolve a new approach towards funding of education. Perhaps it is in recognition of this that President Goodluck Jonathan on the 10th of October 2012 presented a budget of N4.9trn to the National Assembly of which the sum of N426.53bn was allocated to education. As commendable as this effort is, the allocated amount represents just 8.7% of the budget. This is a far cry from the minimum of 25% prescribed by UNESCO and 31%, 30% and 27% allocated by Ghana, Cote d’viore and Uganda respectively in 2012. This is yet confirmation of the inability of government to fund education alone.

It is therefore imperative that Government continues to encourage well-to-do Nigerian to invest in and contribute to education. The future of tertiary education in Nigeria lies in private investment in education. It is worthy of note that the leading Universities in the world such as Havard, Stamford, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale were either founded by private individuals or missionaries. In the address christened “Reflections on essence of university education in human development” delivered on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua as the visitor of OAU stated that:

“The emergence of private universities can be seen as a logical response to fill the demand gap located by the inability of governments to meet the number of universities required. However, the current success of private universities as the preferred choice for students that put premium on quality education and predication calendar, even by children and wards of professors of the older Federal Universities, is a sad pointer to the realities of what we have jointly failed to do.”

What is required of Government now is the creation of an enabling environment to enable more private universities to be established whilst also strengthening the educational statutory framework to enable the National Universities Commission (NUC) further carry out its functions effectively to the benefit of both private and public universities.

Government must also strive, irrespective of whatever financial shortcomings there are, to make use of the resources available in the overall interest of education. Therefore it should be realised that the N2 Billion Naira can never be sufficient to start a University as that is the amount that Government traditionally allocates to each new University.  On their part some states allocate a meagre N50 Million naira annually to state universities for capital development. This is grossly inadequate.  As a way out there must be concerted efforts from all stakeholders in the educational sector. It must be realised that the development of education in Nigeria requires the efforts and dedication of all

Conclusion

Without a doubt Nigeria has benefited from modern education. As I stated previously, the likes of Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and others were able to contribute to the cause of Nigerian’s independence owing to the education they acquired. After independence these nationalists deployed their learning towards the development of the new nation. Indeed such was the level of success recorded by them that the World Bank designated Nigeria, along with Brazil and India as the most likely of the underdeveloped nations to overtake the developed ones. Regrettably whilst Brazil and India can be considered to have fulfilled their potential or at the very least can be considered to be strategically placed to fulfill them, the same cannot be said of Nigeria. Rather than build on the success of the founding fathers of the country, what we have witnessed has been a steady decline in vital areas of our national life including education.

The problem is not our make up as Nigerians. It appears that the problem is the decline and rot which we have permitted into our educational structures. This is why Nigerians who acquire education abroad compete favourably with their counterparts. Nigerians can be found in virtually all important sectors of national life in countries such as the USA and the United Kingdom where they continue to make meaningful contributions to the development of those countries. However back home graduates of Nigerian Universities are rejected by multi-nationals owing to the drop in the quality of education that they received.

It is said that ignorance is a disease. I agree absolutely. However I consider poor education without character a worse disease. I state this owing to the high spate of kidnappings, armed robbery, corruption and electoral malpractices and other vices which continue to remain a sad aspect of our national life. Most of these crimes are committed by persons with poor education. Those with poor education and who utilize the so-called education to commit heinous crimes are a classic example of education without character. They are a reflection of society’s poor quality education devoid of character.

There is a need to revisit the era when emphasis was placed on character and learning and when certificates were issued upon satisfaction of these all important criteria which dated back to medieval era. Unfortunately our schools today from the primary, secondary and University are not structured and organized to build character in the students. Most public universities lack sufficient accommodation facilities for their students. Therefore most students attend school from their homes and end up spending more of their time on the road and at home. Therefore the university has little opportunities to affect the character of their students.

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The problem with the Nigerian universities is that in the absence of adequate funding, teachers cannot effectively open up the minds of the students. Most of our public universities teach and repeat theories and principles they were taught when they were students. The minds of the students are therefore not open to current innovations and the latest technology due to lack of modern scientific equipment. They are not trained to think about new trends in the world. It is for no other reason than excellent tutelage focusing not only on learning but on character that schools such as Havard, Yale and Stanford have produced a huge number of American leaders including Presidents.

On the political front, aside from increased awareness about the advantages of democracy, education has had little impact on the country’s political development and particularly on the political class. Nigerian politicians still exhibit the traits which brought about the failure of the first republic. Rather than draw inspirations from their counterparts in other countries including some in Africa such as South Africa, Nigerian Politicians have continued to behave in a manner suggestive that they have failed to learn from the mistakes of time past. Most elections in Nigeria are characterized by widespread electoral malpractices. (See the rest on www.tribuneonlineng.com)

AARE AFE BABALOLA, OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D (LOND.)

In 2006 former President Obasanjo invited all the leaders of Ekiti mostly the academic to a meeting at Ado-Ekiti and told them bluntly that although Ekiti has the largest number of Professors in the Country, they have failed woefully to bring about any positive change, economically, morally, politically and socially etc. He was right. Ekiti remains one of the least developed states in Nigeria.

As way out, there is a need for Governments at all levels to admit that they cannot fund education alone. Members of the public should be encouraged to endow universities for research, and also assist the indigent and brilliant students. The missions, whether Christian or Muslim or other religious bodies must be encouraged by the Federal and State Government to establish institutions where moral and character are given pride of place. State governments should restore missionary and public schools to the government. A visit to the former missionary and other private schools would reveal how the beautiful and well maintained schools have been severely damaged by the state governments on the altar of free education. Morals and character which were the hall-mark of those great schools have disappeared. I call on religious leaders to meet, discuss and agree on how to revive education with character in our schools.

I urge government to return schools to the original owners.