"1. We, the undersigned, were all, at one time or the other in the past, associated with the Nigerian university system as students and\or as teachers. Our current sojourn away from Nigeria has not made us unconcerned with or indifferent to the fate of Nigerian universities at the present time. It is precisely our concern with the current state of the university system and our belief that urgent corrective measures are called for that have motivated us to write this open letter to all who have a stake in the present and future well-being of tertiary education in Nigeria.
2.
At different times in the past, we each, and in conversations with one another, have expressed misgivings regarding the role of the National Universities Commission (hereinafter NUC) in the current sorry state of our universities. If we had any doubt that the NUC is part of the problem of the tertiary education sector in Nigeria, recent developments have served to extinguish that doubt. We refer specifically to the recent announcement by the NUC that it had suspended the licenses of seven private universities for an assortment of alleged infractions. We are aware that some of those licenses have been restored. But, as will be clear presently, restoring the licenses does not address the fundamental problem that this write-up makes clear. The suspension of licenses was merely the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back for us. Such naked exercise of power, in suspension or restoration of operating licenses, it matters little, by an unelected body over the fate and fortunes of hundreds of thousands has no place in a democracy, properly conceived and practiced. Nor does it augur well for the future well-being of our society insofar as we desire to be a knowledge society."
http://forevernaija.blogspot.com/2013/05/to-save-higher-education-in-nigeria.html
- Ikhide
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
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