…‘Major problem is curriculum not number of varsities’
…Priorities for university education may have been misplaced – Critics
Stakeholders have expressed worries that Nigeria is not measuring up in human capital development despite numerous academic institutions in the country.
Human capital development refers to the process of enhancing and optimising the skills, knowledge, abilities, and experiences of individuals in a workforce.
The human capital development index of Nigeria is put at 0.32 percent, which simply means that a Nigerian child has only about 30 percent of his/her potential in life to compete at the global level.
Employers of labour have also lamented the dearth of skilled graduates that fit to work amid poor performance of candidates that turn up for job interviews.
The argument is that even the once highly-rated institutions have lost their charm in terms of quality teaching and learning; and that the interest seems to have shifted to money-making.
Today, despite impressive results being announced by some universities in Nigeria, education in the country has nose-dived to abysmal levels.
Students increasingly seek other means to get fantastic grades without working for such grades. Papers are leaked before the examinations. Lecturers now allocate scores for reasons other than hard work and merit.
Establishment of universities has become a political tool in the hand of government rather than the value that such institutions should bring to society.
The Federal Government on February 3, 2025, approved establishment of the Federal University of Environment and Technology (FUET) in Ogoni town of Tai, Rivers State.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved the establishment of other new private universities in the country.
According to the National Universities Commission (NUC), “Nigeria currently has 129 public universities and 149 private ones.”
Some schools of thought are worried that in the face of the poor state of the public, and private universities, the Federal Government is assenting to bills establishing new ivory towers.
Read also: Nigeria reels under poor human capital development, retention
New universities vs human capital development
Stakeholders believe that the country needs more universities as the existing ones are just too inadequate for its over 200 million population.
Indonesia, they argue, which also has over 200 million population, has about 2,000 universities not to talk of Russia, Brazil, India with hundreds of thousands of universities.
The United Kingdom, which has a smaller population than Nigeria, has about 130 universities with over 2.8 million students, whereas the Nigerian 278 universities could only cater for about two million students.
Nubi Achebo, director of academic planning at the Nigerian University of Technology and Management, said that the rapid approval and establishment of universities has raised concerns about the impact on learning outcomes. Achebo disclosed that while increasing access to higher education is crucial, the proliferation of universities may not necessarily translate to improved education standards.
“One of the primary concerns is the potential compromise on quality education. With more universities, there may be a shortage of qualified faculty members, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient resources, ultimately affecting the quality of education,” he said.
Isaiah Ogundele, an educationist, said Nigeria having many universities is not a crime but that what matters is the quality of learning outcomes which translates to human capital development.
“To be sincere, in as much as we do not control our birth rate in Nigeria, the population will keep increasing and no provision from the government will be able to cater for such a population.
“We need more private and public universities for the development of our nation but such arrangements should be well-tailored to enhance human capital development, producing problem-solvers and not graduates who are looking for a white-collar job that does not exist,” he said.
According to Ogundele, Nigeria needs more universities of technologies and not humanities or arts.
“More universities with good standards will bring about rapid development to the nation because wherever the institutions are sited, the area will develop and there will be opportunity for both skilled and unskilled labour to get a good job.
“Establishment of more universities especially will break the monopoly of some lecturers that have turned themselves into an institution or sadist,” he noted.
Gift Oshikoya, a teacher, said that the multiplication of universities was a double-edged sword which comes with both positive and negative consequences.
She said that the proliferation of universities in recent decades was driven by factors such as increased demand, accessibility, and political considerations, but stressed that all these do not equate quality learning outcomes.
“Increase in the number of graduates does not necessarily translate to a rise in graduate employability. If the quality of education is poor and the curriculum is not aligned with industry needs, graduates may struggle to find meaningful employment,” she noted.
Alfred Ona, a researcher, told BusinessDay that the major problem was not about the number of universities, but wrong curriculum and the purpose of establishing the new institutions.
“What I have discovered over the years is that private universities in Nigeria have become money-making machines for the proprietors. People just go into it not to improve the quality of education in the country, but to make money. The proprietors may promise great and qualitative education, but as soon as they take off, they drop the ball. Again, the curriculum of Nigerian education must change to reflect the need of the hour. If you ask me, there are courses in the university that must be discontinued because they no longer address the need of today’s society,” Ona said.
The researcher further blamed administrators of many universities in Nigeria for the falling standard in the teaching and learning going on in those institutions these days.
“I find it difficult to believe that many Nigerian universities are producing the number of first class graduates they claim every year. I doubt it so much. You know why? Some of these universities do not have what it takes to produce such excellent results. We see some universities today that are insisting that their students take lectures virtually. You ask yourself; how may this affect engineering, medical and other students whose courses are practical-based. We now see graduates who cannot string together correct sentences. Human Resources experts who conduct regular interviews for new hires are complaining that they are seeing a lot of ‘unbaked’ and ‘half-baked’ graduates. The government must be intentional in restoring the glories and the dignity of the nation’s education,” he said.
The way forward
Education stakeholders believe that one of the ways to stop establishing ‘mushroom’ universities in Nigeria, is for the government to allocate a larger portion of the national budget to education to address infrastructure deficiencies.
Achebo said that to address these challenges, the Federal Government should focus on improving funding, monitoring and evaluation, among others.
“Increase allocation to education and ensure that existing universities receive sufficient funding to maintain quality standards. Establish a robust monitoring and evaluation system to track university performance and identify areas for improvement,” he said.
Besides, he maintained that the government should invest in faculty development programmes to ensure that educators are equipped to provide high-quality education.
Oshikoya urged the government to prioritise improving the quality of existing universities rather than establishing new ones without adequate resources.
“The government should increase funding for universities, particularly for infrastructure, research, and faculty development; and explore alternative funding models, such as public-private partnerships and endowment funds,” she said.
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