BY BENSON OKOBI-ALLANAH
WHILE establishment of new companies in the present economic dispensation appears a herculean task for investors, resuscitation of moribund industries, a tall dream for governments and private investors, and keeping afloat of the few existing ones, managing to survive on drips, Oxygen or life- support, resulting to money-gulping, and leading to down-sizing of workforce and under payment and owing of salaries, it is not so for many selfish and greedy Nigerians who now appear to have found solace in establishing schools ranging from nursery, primary, secondary to tertiary institutions rather than industries, the aftereffect of their whole actions being countless unemployed graduates being spawned on streets yearly like ghosts challenging a strange visitor to their grave yards, and grumbling sets of grossly-underemployed tired, hopeless and helpless workers.
Recently, the Federal Government under the watch of President Bola Tinubu placed a seven year ban on establishment of new federal tertiary educational institutions across the country. According to recent reports, the decision was made during the Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting chaired by the President.
According to the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, the moratorium covers all tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, adding that the current challenge in Nigeria’s education sector is no longer about access to tertiary education, citing numerous institutions in the country.
He admitted that the duplication of institutions, especially tertiary has led to significant deterioration in both school infrastructure and manpower.
‘If we do not act decisively, it will lead to marked declines in educational quality and undermine the international respect that Nigerian graduates command’, he said.
Mush-rooming of schools began when private primary/ secondary schools and tertiary institutions started springing up in all nooks and crannies of the country like seeds on a fertile soil, particularly in the South-South region of the country, and escalated with the advent of the 6-3-3-4 system of education introduced by the federal government, according to One Good Turn Support Group (ONGOTSUG), Founder/Coordinator-General, Prince Ben OBCA Nwaobi-Okonya, who is also a public affairs analyst.
Nwaobi-Okonya, recalling the system of education adopted in the past, when secondary school students wrap up their education in class five, and schools administration ran by the missionaries, said schools were better managed then under them, there was a lot of discipline and standard in such few secondary schools, and such schools found in few communities which gave them much value, and students admitted on merit only, and not through back doors as being done now.
He said then, one could take common entrance into any secondary school of his or her choice, and in any part of the country no matter how far the distance from one’s community, and be admitted on merit as potential students were compelled to go for rigorous interviews, and if successful, still be subjected to an oral interview before finally being admitted, that is on the ground that he/she was able to scale through the hurdle of that oral interview where they were made to face members of the interview panel, recalling that one could be denied admission for failing an oral interview , regardless of the high performance in the common entrance examination and interview preceding the oral interview. There were several parameters considered then. There were no parental influence on their children’s admission as being done now by most parents; some influential parents paying millions of naira to ensure that their children read a particular course, while parents who are not that buoyant look for powerful politicians, going in cap-in hand to beg them to influence their children’s admission.
Quality of education in the country, according to him, started falling when government both at the state and federal levels, started granting private individuals licenses to start operating primary, secondary and higher institutions with total disregard to standard and quality.
Here they started recruiting half-baked graduates for cheap labour, and founding out that it was a robust source for making quick money, private schools (primary, secondary, tertiary institutions) like private Schools of Nursing & Health Sciences, Colleges of Education, Colleges of Technology, Polytechnics, and universities) started springing up indiscriminately in villages, towns and cities with little or no regard to standard and quality like I earlier pointed out. There is no longer time frame for admitting students as admission is always on-going.
State Houses of Assembly members, House of Representatives members and those in the Senate, rather sponsor bills that will promote the establishment of industries, reviving ailing and moribund industries that will help bring about employment, started sponsoring bills for the establishments of more universities to the extent that in some states, we have more than 10 universities, most of them grossly under-funded and sub-standard.
He says, in most of these private schools whether secondary or tertiary institutions, qualified and unqualified teachers abound, and are employed as cheap labour in order to maximize profits, and students not able to meet up with the JAMB and Post-UME requirements, find solace in most of these universities with unaccredited courses, while some of them do not compromise on standard. In some of these private universities, students overall in-take most times is not up to 100. I have seen a student in one of these eastern-based private universities who told me that the entire students’ population was not up to 100, and just only three in her own department. Asked if Law programme she was studying was accredited by National Universities Commission (NUC), she first honestly exhibited her ignorance by saying she doesn’t know what was meant by accreditation talk more of knowing what NUC stands for. She shocked her audience the more when she said she doesn’t know what was meant by Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Faculty, but could tell them who her Head of Department (HOD) was. Her father, who is a local and illiterate chief in the village, never stopped boosting that his daughter was in the university reading Law and would soon graduate to start defending their village in the age-long land dispute they had been locked in with the neighbouring community.
A journalist travelled to one of the first generation universities in the country, precisely in the South-South, and discovered, while he was there for an official visit, that there was preponderance of female students than the male. Most of the male hostels have been converted to that of female because just a few number of the male are in school with many among them more interested in internet –related matters including fraud than their studies. They don’t use it to promote ideas; do research for their studies or for good business sense and content creations. It now appears that social media evolution is doing more harm than good especially for Nigerian students. They post all rubbish on the social media. Girls, mostly those at the university level, and other higher institutions, post their nude pictures, thus, inviting boys to know how beautiful they are, do all sorts of rubbish to get males’ attention.
Social media managers allow all these to go, and management of schools, particularly those of private institutions allow all of these to go on unchecked because they need students to boost up their population, This is not students from to public institutions are excluded from the anomaly, only that it is more pronounced in private institutions. Most schools no longer promote morally discipline and academic discipline.
Mr, Nwadike, a provision shop owner on campus, told the journalist that what the male students specialize in was internet browsing, not for their academic works, but for naughty businesses on the social media, posting how they make love to girls they co-habit with, defrauding innocent members of the public of their hard-earned monies, and living as married men with girls their bride price has not been paid.
He went further to say that those female undergraduates who co-habit with their male students, afraid of ending up without husbands, chose to co-habit with these male students who use them as they like, only for many of them to end up without being married.
He says because checking of this unbecoming attitude is better checked or frowned at public owned institutions, some of these girls and boys who see the university as a fertile ground to operate unlimited prefer attending private universities where these checks are less severe because they need more students to boost their institutions population.
The journalist was told that more latitude is granted to students in some of these mushroom universities to behave any how they like for fear of losing them, while most students there hardly know the reason why they are there.
Some wealthy illiterate or literate parents are milked financially, made to pay high school fees for these children because they want their children to study courses they were denied by JAMB, without some of them asking themselves if the courses their children are reading the blessing of being accredited by NUC. All they are after is telling people ‘my son/daughter is studying this course and that course.’
Seeing the huge amount of money being churned out from some of these private universities, especially those with a bit reasonable population, other investors go on establishing universities without strong financial base to provide the needed infrastructures or facilities in their so-called university.
The ONGOTSUG boss, whose social-pressure group cuts across the 36 states of the federation including the FCT, and with its national headquarters in Asaba, says that it is when government started granting licenses to every Dick and Harry to operate schools, and some individuals operating schools with license that evolution of mushing of schools began.
He says there are currently 159 private universities which form significant number of universities in the country; 106 government-owned universities, 43 federal universities, and 63 state-owned universities adding that there were approximately 551 applications for new universities waiting for approval before a potential ban, according to the Minister of Education, and Voice of Nigeria. He says this information comes in the context of a discussion about the Federal Executive Meeting (FEC) considering a seven-year ban on establishment of new Federal universities. The Minister mentioned these large number applications while emphasizing the need to address the proliferation of institutions and the challenges it poses to infrastructure and manpower.
The ONGOTSUG Boss noted that the craze by many communities to belong is the simple reasons why mushrooming of schools abound in the country today, worsened by actions of some politicians who would want a microphone placed before the mouth of a lifeless body to talk or attempt the un-attemptable.
He said it is not everything certain tribes or ethnic groups should want politicized because they have some people in power. Hear him: ‘every village wants to become a local government headquarters, state capital all because of selfish interest, even when they know it is not possible. Look at what is happening to the issue of state creation where certain tribes want to be created at all cost even when they know they don’t meet the criteria. Even those lucky to be close to local government headquarters and state capitals, because of envy and acrid jealousy, don’t want to be identified with their state capitals even as they are buried in the bowels of the state capitals as satellite towns of the state capitals. Is that not foolishness, state capitals that brought light and development to their domain? Nwaobi asked.
While commending the ban on establishment of federal universities, the Public Affairs Analyst called on politicians to stop proliferation of infrastructures in their states. The Ika north-east born social crusader and patriot, says proliferation of infrastructures and other social amenities especially in communities there are of no value, and because of politics and ethnic bias, are established there, should stop. He says in some states now, you will see housing estates rotting away unoccupied leaving cities where such housing estates would have helped solve accommodation problems for city dwellers all because of political and ethnic bias.
He called on house members whether at the state or federal levels to think more of establishing industries, finding way to revive moribund industries like the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mills, the Asaba Textile Industries Plc, the Onwian-Aladja Steel Industry, and many other moribund industries lying idle all over the federation rather than establishing more universities which space has been over saturated, saying even if five hundred million universities are established and distributed in all villages, towns and cities, and jobs created out of them, it has not solved the lingering economic hardship and suffering in the country.
