BEFORE WE ADD MORE UNIVERSITIES

It is now eleven years since my father died but he has actually refused to die because his old sayings will not leave my memory. One of such saying is that “the money to buy a kerosene lantern is not as expensive as the amount that will fuel it” this is the appropriate word to the federal government of Nigeria as it plans to add six more Universities to the existing 109.
The states to host the new universities are Ekiti, Taraba, Ebonyi, Nassarawa, Bayelsa and Jigawa, which represent each of the six geo-political zones of the country. Each of them will receive N10 billion as take off grant. Of course, that is a very good amount for a start as long as there won’t be modern laboratory and up to date ICT equipment.

According to the minister of education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, who announced the plan, she said the move was based on the need to address the shortfall in university spaces in the country. She argued that only 205,107 candidates, who represent 16 per cent of 1,305,227 applicants, secured admission into universities in the last admission exercise, leaving out 1,100,107. That sound sympathetic and appealing  enough to my emotion. I sympathise with the candidates who have not been able to secure any of the limited spaces in the nation’s 109 universities. Honestly, I really do, at least I’m a living witness of the situation in University of Lagos this year where only out of the 45,369 student that applied for the Post-UTME, only 6, 400 were admitted.
However, this is no excuse for the Federal government to take actions without counting the cost. As things stand today, there is a critical shortfall in academic personnel required in most of our universities. Many university programmes rely mainly on adjunct and part-time lecturers. There are departments in some universities with no full time doctorate degree holder. Haba, why can’t we do the first thing first?
In my own opinion, I think, The National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Education should ensure that efforts to produce more academic staff for these institutions are worked upon, if the nation’s increasing Universities are to be adequately staffed for effective learning. Therefore, the government, even as it plans for more universities, must take cognizance of the fact that the required number and quality of academic personnel must be sourced to teach the admitted students.
Meanwhile,  Administrative staff in universities are also getting stretched thin. You and I know too well that It is not everyone with a degree that can serve in some capacity, for instance as an assistant registrar, Dean of Faculty or even heads of Departments. Further training and experience counts. So, rather than push in more money into erecting some unnecessary monumental architectures called University, money should be voted for training of university academic and administrative personnel. There has to be a deliberate plan to produce more PhD holders, not only to increase academic staff available to existing universities, but also qualified lecturers to man programmes in the new universities in view.
To do this, Students should be encouraged to take up careers in academics through scholarships for doctorate  degrees, and improved pay for university lecturers. Perhaps, the word ‘improved pay’ should be emphasized and if need be, should be well defined. I remember one of my lecturer once asked “who among you will like to be a lecturer in future” I was the only candidate that responded yes in a class of 83 students, how horrible!
So, where do we go from here. Good! The existing universities should be mandated to produce more doctorate degree holders to cater for the staff needs of both the existing and coming new universities.
There should be introduction of time-bound doctorate degree programmes which will involve the most brilliant graduates of certain programmes receiving scholarships and stipends while they undertake their doctorate studies as full time students, within a specific time frame of about three to four years, to encourage them to take up lecturing as a career. That should be made to replace the current situation in which PhD students are frustrated and made to spend up to ten years to obtain doctorate degrees. This is discouraging and inexpedient to the quest for more teaching staff in the universities.
At the moment, the most brilliant students are not encouraged to take up lecturing as a career, including my humble self. The profession has become a career of last resort for many who could not get better jobs, and those who have retired from other professions. That sound more like making our Universities a dung hill of retired professionals, Shame! Shame! Shame!
In all sincerity, I do not have anything against the initiative of the federal government but that government must address the practical issues involved in running the tertiary institutions, government must be careful not to devalue the quality of education by indiscriminate establishment of universities, otherwise, any new institutions set up will be a glorified secondary school.