…As companies now put employment age limit at 27
…Varsities’ complaint of poor funding killing appetite for learning
Many undergraduates in some Nigerian universities are lamenting their woes as they have spent more years in the school than what they bargained for, which is not their own making.
Over the years, one of the most significant factors contributing to the decline in interest in education has been the frequent industrial actions by university lecturers.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike several times in recent years, disrupting the academic calendar and leaving students idle for months.
This has not only wasted precious time but has also led to a loss of momentum and interest in learning. On the back of this is the rising cost of tuition fees, especially since the removal of fuel subsidy by the current administration.
Long before the subsidy removal, the university system had struggled with inadequate lecture halls, laboratories, residential hostels for students, and quarters for academic staff.
However, before the current financial challenges, Nigerian universities and by extension the education sector had always suffered from low budgetary allocations on a year-on-year basis.
For instance, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommends a 26-percent budgetary allocation to education, while the World Bank recommends between 20 and 30 percent.
Similarly, Nigeria’s National Policy on Education provides that not less than 26 percent of the Federal and State governments’ budgets should be allocated to education.
However, the highest budgetary allocation to the education sector since 1999 when the country returned to democratic form of government was made in 2006.
The then President Olusegun Obasanjo earmarked N202.4bn of the N1.88trn budget for education, making it the highest in the last 27 years.
The same President Obasanjo was also on record to have provided the least budgetary allocation to the education sector in the 2003 fiscal year with 1.48 percent.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his 2025 budget of N49.74trn ($33.16bn) has proposed to allocate about 7.08 percent to education, amounting to N3.52trn ($2.347bn) of the total N49.74trn.
If this budgetary allocation is anything to go by, the university system, and by extension the education sector will suffer similar fate in the 2025 fiscal year.
The resultant effect is that the university system will struggle to meet statutory demands of the educational needs of the students.
In response to meeting of its statutory needs, many universities have increased their tuition fees, making it difficult for students from low-income backgrounds to afford.
This has resulted in a situation where only students from wealthy families can afford to attend university, further exacerbating the country’s socio-economic inequalities.
Some university authorities recently announced compulsory virtual lectures for students and examinations fixed for February. With this policy, those in Engineering and other courses that require practical exposures are being affected negatively.
For instance, the University of Lagos recently directed that all lectures should be made virtual. The management justified its stand on shortage of accommodation and other infrastructure.
BusinessDaySunday gathered that already, some students have lost over two academic years due to some policy flip-flop in the university system.
The situation is so frustrating that some students have abandoned their studies and relocated abroad for a better education, whereas many of those currently in the university ecosystem are just managing to stay the course.
While the policy could be termed as a cost-saving approach, it is however, not helping the situation as students and some academics not in support of such policy and others like it are somehow protesting in silence.
As the university is trying to cut down on its overhead cost, students now bear the brunt of a policy that was intended to help accommodate some of the lapses of the institution, as many will graduate without the required prerequisite knowledge needed in their field of study.
“We have been unable to hold practical sessions with the students for some time now,” a lecturer in one of the affected departments in the University of Lagos (Unilag) told BDSunday.
He further said that the directive from management did not indicate how long the virtual lectures are expected to last. Hence, many of the academic staff who are directly affected are currently in a fix as to how to handle the situation.
BDSunday findings also indicated that some lecturers have already devised means of beating the directives according to interactions with some of the affected students on campus.
“But some lecturers still have physical classes,” a student confided with BDSunday, disclosing that “The lecturers set a date” for lectures.
Taofeek Yekeen, a professor of Biology from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), told BDSunday that the directive might not have a direct impact on the ecosystem since it is a stop-gap measure by the school in response to its peculiar challenge.
“But in the long run, if it persists, there will be no problem; at lower levels, the first thing to be taught will be basic knowledge. If that is done offline, online, they may now specifically request students to assemble and do practicals after they have been grounded with theory,” he said.
According to him, the directive may be a temporary solution to identified challenges within the university. He however disclosed that there is currently no directive for all Nigerian universities to migrate to virtual lectures. As they are growing in years and experience, one method I resort to, having practicals.
He also said that the directive should not be implemented to the extent of affecting full-time students, as it could be an immediate solution to solve such problems.
“But it should not be practical-oriented courses.”
Samson Akapo, a lecturer in the department of Theatre Art, University of Ibadan, also corroborated what Yekeen said, as he told BDSunday that there is currently no general directive from the school on virtual learning.
“There is no such thing at the moment. During the lockdown or some time afterwards, we had a virtual class stint. Presently, however, there is nothing like that except if a lecturer decides on his/her own for it due to some peculiar circumstances. It is, however, not statutory,” he said.
Students’ dissatisfaction
According to data from the National Universities Commission (NUC), about 60 percent of Nigerian undergraduates are dissatisfied with the quality of education they receive; while data from the Committee of vice-chancellors, indicates that about 20 percent of Nigerian universities have industry partnerships.
Read also: Nigerian undergraduates investing in profitable ventures despite harsh economy
Students going out of employment age limit
One of the major concerns nowadays is the employment limit attached to advertisements. Most employers of labour now peg age limit at 25 to 27. Many students are concerned that they may not be able to get a job after graduation on the basis of age. Some students who should have graduated at age 24, 25 have lost about two to three years in school for no fault of theirs.
Employability problem
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data indicates that about 40 percent of Nigerian graduates are unemployable. While this data could be challenged, it also points to the struggling nature of tertiary education across the country, and the need for urgent reform in the ecosystem.
The Nigerian university system, once a bastion of academic excellence and intellectual curiosity, is facing a crisis of monumental proportions. Undergraduates, who should be the backbone of the country’s future, are increasingly losing interest in education.
On the back of this is the worsening trend of students in a supposed ‘woke’ generation, who now outsource almost all academic activities, including registration to third parties; sometimes, to individuals less-educated and enlightened.
Chukwudinma Okoji, a lecturer in the department of Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, told BDSunday that the directive by Unilag could be another excuse that the management is using to cover up other internal crisis that could be brewing on campus.
According to him, the number of students that stay off campus has always outnumbered those who stay on campus; hence, it could be illogical to base a directive on virtual lectures on low accommodation on campus.
“We should not assume that all of them have a tablet. We cannot assume all of them have access to the internet. The Internet is everywhere. But how is it? Even in WhatsApp groups. When you post assignments to their WhatsApp group, not everybody has the data to access it. Sometimes, the network can disrupt the lecture too. The Nigerian network issue is still there,” he said.
Need for radical transformation
According to Okoji, Nigerian universities must undertake a radical transformation to provide students with a world-class education that prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century.
“The decline in interest in education among Nigerian undergraduates is a ticking time bomb that must be addressed urgently. The varsity policies that are stifling the appetite for learning must be reviewed and reversed.”
Need for social re-engineering
Charles Ighele, a Lagos-based cleric, told BDSunday that the educational system has failed over the years to offer mental development and civilised behaviour, which he considers as the two basic things offered by education.
He further said that once the products of any educational system fail to meet the two basic requirements, most of the students produced are not good enough to be productive and contribute their quota to national development.
“A ‘vicious circle’ of the creation of poverty and criminals is then set in motion. And nations like this can never develop. Until the Nigerian ruling class embarks on a total societal re-engineering of the entire social substructure, there shall be no glorious superstructure; no glorious Nigeria that will be a natural attraction to fellow Nigerians and citizens of other nations.
“I hope the ruling class will understand this. Once they understand, there shall be hope for Nigeria. I am hopeful that things will change in due course,” Ighele said.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
