NIGERIA’S gaping academics shortfall is raising concerns once again. A recent revelation by the National Universities Commission that there are only 100,000 academic staff members attending to 2.1 million students in Nigerian universities starkly and embarrassingly highlights the parlous state of university education in the country. Saving the system should be a priority for the federal and state governments.
With a population estimated at over 210 million, and youths constituting a dominant demography, the NUC statistics call for serious concern by all stakeholders. The secondary schools produce millions of candidates annually. These candidates desperately desire university education, to secure a better future for themselves. But only a fraction of those qualified get admitted yearly.
The rot in the Nigerian university system started long ago. Scant attention was paid to the funding of the institutions that are meant to produce the different professionals to transform the country as it is in other nations. The indiscriminate establishment of universities by the federal and state governments, politicians, and ex-military generals, who found themselves in governance, and businessmen, has resulted in a gaping personnel crisis.
With 201 universities, 48 of which belong to the Federal Government; 54 owned by states; and 99 by private individuals and organisations, the 100,000 academic faculty members are grossly inadequate to provide qualitative education to the undergraduate and postgraduate populations. It must be noted that the lecturers are not evenly distributed across the institutions.
Roughly translated, the ratio of students to lecturers in Nigerian universities is 21:1, whereas it is 5:1 at Harvard University, United States, against the national average of 15:1. Harvard has 76.3 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students.
A low student-faculty ratio allows professors to dedicate more time to students in this respect. With smaller classes, lecturers can easily manage their students, with more time to engage with each student to address important questions or discuss possible points of improvement.
In its assessment of the quality of academics in Nigerian universities, the NUC selected the full professorial category as the zenith of academic staff quality in a university. According to the data, the institution with the highest number of professors is Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, which the NUC ranked at 36.44 per cent. This was closely followed by the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with 35.80 percent. The University of Ibadan came third with 29.04 percent, while the University of Lagos was placed in the bottom 16 with only 14.75 percent of professors. Other federal universities with an extremely low percentage of professors include the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti; Federal University, Lafia; University of Agriculture, Makurdi; and the University of Uyo.
For state-owned universities, the NUC noted that 11 of them had below 10 percent of full professors. In the private universities category, some institutions had less than six percent of full professors. Comparatively, there are 16,000 staff and faculty, including 2,400 professors, lecturers, and instructors at Harvard.
Indeed, more lecturers are not being recruited to replace ageing faculty members in the Nigerian university system. This fact is a source of worry for the NUC, which pleaded that universities should be isolated from the Federal Government’s circular halting new employment owing to the shortage of lecturers. There is also the problem of lack of adequate qualified dons. Hundreds of scholars have moved abroad for better prospects.
The current lecturers in the system must be exposed to modern techniques and technologies to enhance their work and competence. This was brought to the fore during and shortly after the lockdown that followed the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. Educational institutions in developed countries and other parts of the world embraced virtual teaching and learning. Sadly, many Nigerian lecturers are reportedly still not abreast of how ICT can aid their work.
Similarly, technology can reduce the burden on the few available lecturers as examinations can be automated to reduce the burden of marking scripts. University teachers should also be more dedicated to their job by devoting time and resources to improving themselves and justify the confidence reposed in them as the moulders of the younger generation.
The federal and state governments have a big role to play by paying lecturers in public universities adequately and promptly. The controversies surrounding the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System should be sorted out and fast too, while incessant strikes that have characterised the public university system in the country should give way to robust engagement among stakeholders in the system.
The NUC should improve on its regulatory role, especially the approval of universities and accreditation of their courses. Universities are specialised institutions and should not be established without adherence to standards.
The commission can partner owners of universities to sponsor brilliant students to pursue higher degrees so that they can become lecturers. Some institutions are already doing this by giving incentives to some of their brighter students to study to PhD level with a view to adding to the existing faculties. A situation where foreign institutions give more scholarships to Nigerian students than their home governments is not ideal in this regard.
The rivalry between professional regulatory bodies and the universities should give way to collaboration to improve the quality of training offered to students. As it was in the past, different levels of governments should award scholarships to students at the various levels of higher education to provide a pool of highly skilled workers at different cadres to meet the projected number of teachers/lecturers.
The federal and state governments should immediately stop establishing new universities and concentrate on adequately funding, equipping, and staffing existing ones.
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