A university teacher and administrator of repute has said Nigeria’s tertiary education needs a holistic overhaul, a combination of old and new ideas to make it work to meet the development needs of the country.
She pointed out outdated curriculum, low quality staff, corruption, decline in student reading culture, government agencies operating outside mandate and in confusion, quota system, internal politics within institutions, low quality of students we bring in as some of the challenges facing tertiary education in Nigeria. She capped her keynote by declaring that the Federal Government could no longer fund tertiary education, but asked parents to bear the cost of educating their wards.
These were the views of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Benin City, and Chairperson of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Universities of Nigeria, Prof. Lilian Salami while presenting her keynote address at first edition of The Tertiary Education Summit at the Nigeria International Book Fair 2023 in Lagos. The book fair has as them ‘The Role of a Functional National Book Policy in the African Book Ecosystem.’
Salami said, “There’s confusion in the system in doing same things and returning to the same place. New ideas are therefore needed to overhaul the system that has been long overdue. I believe what we need is a holistic approach whereby attention is given to these challenges. We need to redirect the system and to walk the talk. When there’s a way, there’s a way.”
She said everyone involved was to share in the blame for the rot in the educational system, but with determination, the problems in the sector could be solved.
Perhaps, Salami’s definitive declaration that the “Federal Government can no longer solely fund tertiary education in Nigeria” will reverberate around the country as the new direction that has not been given much thought. She pointed at the dismal budgetary allocation to education in Nigeria’s education budget as stark indication of government’s inability or unwillingness to fund education. She disclosed that her university receives a monthly budget of N11m whereas she spends N77m for electricity alone, but that she has to find creative ways to augment to run her university.
According to her, “TETFund and ETF have been there, but they are grossly inadequate. Education is allotted 8.2% in Nigeria’s 2023 budget. Ghana allotted 12.8 in 2023 and South Africa allotted 18.4.
“At UNIBEN, we’ve undertaken the cost of training a student in each of the departments.
Whereas it takes N3m to train a medical student per session, but such student pays only N240 over the course of six years. Interestingly, this amount is far less than what is paid in a private secondary school; some of us pay as much as N380,000 for our children in creches per term. Commensurate fees must be paid by students for their courses of study. We must pay for services rendered.”
Salami said avenues of financial help students should receive should be in form of bursaries, loans schemes for indigent but brilliant students, alumni associations annual levies, scholarships, and others, adding, “Good funding can redress dilapidated equipment, and other infrastructure, improved remuneration to motivate teachers and attract global scholars.”
She tasked ASUU to rethink its strike options, saying, “The union must jettison its obsolete ideas and embrace new ideas on how to seek better working conditions. Union must hold education summit on how to sustain education. The Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC) is working on ways to make tertiary education meet international standards to make universities competitive. Curricula must be updated and must imbibe new teaching methods.
E-learning must be adopted. Most courses should be on e-learning.”
She also said universities should admit their own students, saying those admitted for them are needless burden the universities shoulder.
Salami said IPPIS is a dead programme that is hindering the effective running of universities, adding, “Government should allow universities pay lecturers to determine work rate and excellence. The almighty IPPIS is not the way to go. It’s fueling indiscipline, laziness, lack of commitment among teachers.”
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