"It is no longer news: the Nigerian schools system, from the primary to the tertiary levels, is in dire straits. ASUU is in part right in drawing attention to these developments. This body of University Faculty has been drawing public attention to the crisis in the Nigerian University for nearly three decades now, and nothing has changed for the better, from the years of Babangida to now. Federal Education policy on Education and Research has so far failed to work.
Private Universities are no alternatives to the crisis in national education. There is an important question that has not been resolved so far: if the Nigerian labour environment cannot fully absorb the current outflow in number of its generally badly trained graduates from established Federal and State Universities, what could it do with the numbers from the numerous half-baked "private" universities we have allowed to mushroom?
Successive administrations in Nigeria seem unwilling to properly fund and reposition Nigeria's national Universities and Research institutions for strategic national development . The current ASUU strike does offer an opportunity for a real conversation to begin in that front, because frankly, what we currently have in Nigeria are no longer Universities.
They are outdated and their missions are now unclear. But having said that, ASUU seems also to have outlived its usefulness. Its methods of organization and advocacy no longer work. It is time for this union to reassess itself, its mission, and its methods in the light of developments in the 21st century.
Certainly, Nigerians understand that any nation that rewards its legislators or ministers of government more than its top researchers is bound to slide into atrophy. That is what has happened to Nigeria: the flight of its best from its once vaunted ivory-towers into the embrace of other lands that now nurture them reflects the state of the Nigerian mind. Nigeria will remain uncompetitive for a long time until change happens."
- Obi Nwakanma
Insightful piece, many of us have been crying ourselves hoarse about the disgrace that is public education in Nigeria. It is a crisis and we should all take responsibility. I am not sure I agree that private universities are not a solution here, I think the type of "private" universities, chicken coops that thrive in Nigeria are what Obi is referring to. We also must take some responsibility and attempt to give back. Western universities do not own alumni associations, they are populated by people who willingly return AND give back. I realize from personal experience that there are challenges with this, but we do need to question why there is no culture of giving back once we have taken. But still, great insights, plenty food for thought. A must read...
- Ikhide
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