Stretching University Education To Absurd Limits

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nation and Security Council President for July, Prof Joy Ogwu (right), in a handshake with Queen Elizabeth II during her recent visit to the UN. Middle is UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. Photo: NAN

I have consistently refused to be dragged into the argument that the degrees awarded by our universities are worthless and inferior certificates.

Some stretch the argument further that Nigerian universities are far behind civilisation and therefore are not worth the name, especially outside the shores of the country.

For this school of thought, our university system is in a terrible state of anaemia and decay to the extent that everybody, including Nigerians and foreigners, no longer have confidence in the capability of our graduates to defend their certificates.

In fact, they justify their position with concrete examples whereby graduates in various disciplines cannot even define the simplest concepts in their area of specialization, say engineering, mass communication, linguistics, among others.

For instance, during an interview for a job placement in a radio station, a mass communication graduate was asked to define ‘news’ which usually is the first lesson for any mass comm student, and for almost 30 minutes, the interviewee could not.

The phenomenon is worsened by the proliferation of universities in Nigeria, some of which are operating illegally and without licence from relevant agencies.

A recent report by the National Universities Commission (NUC) closing 50 universities operating illegally, to say the least, is very worrisome and constitutes a national embarrassment to all well-meaning citizens of this country.

Stakeholders in the education sector, should, indeed, bury their heads in shame that despite the decadence in our education sector, particularly in the university system, the authorities could not checkmate the upsurge of unauthorised and illegal universities.

One can therefore imagine the number of illegal polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education and other specialised institutions operating without relevant papers if 50 illegal universities exist in Nigeria. Your guests is as good as mine.

Gladly, the NUC, the regulatory agency for university education has published the list of illegal universities to alert the public on the dangers inherent in registering our children and wards in such institutions.

But methinks that the commission should go a step further by not just shortlisting the affected universities, rather the NUC must take necessary steps to ensure that they are closed down, using all the necessary government machinery and security agencies to enforce the blacklisting.

It will indeed be unpardonable if the authorities in the education sector allow these illegal institutions to further deepen the rot in the nation’s university system.

Sadly, the 50 blacklisted and illegal universities are all privately owned and if the phenomenon is allowed, further, Nigeria may end up having more illegal universities than approved ones in the next one or two decades.

Agreed that candidates seeking university education in the country are usually not absorbed in the legal and approved ones, but the development must not degenerate to the level of allowing our children’s education in the hands of charlatans and hawks who are bent on exploiting our people.

The federal authorities should therefore move fast to shut down these schools to forestall others of their likes from sprouting up, no matter the faces behind their establishment or existence.

From the statistics released by NUC’s spokesman, Ibrahim Usman Yakassai, the South-East, North-Central and South-West have 15, 12, and 10 illegal universities respectively, a development which should agitate the minds of well-meaning citizens.

Besides closing down these schools, the NUC and law enforcement operatives should fish out those behind the establishment of these institutions, make their names public and also prosecute accordingly so as to serve as deterrent to others who are out to exploit the unsuspecting members of the public.