Tuesday 22 January 2013

Debo Adejugbe: Federal Executive Council’s Joke on Education

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People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public – Adam Smith.
“Now let’s have no more of these useless meetings.” – Animal Farm
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It is what it is; some people are wiser than the rest while some are dumber than others. It is in this same vein that we have, foolishly-wise individuals, marching across the whole place, lost in their definition of progress.
Confusing? I know.
I can’t seem to understand what I’ve written myself; such is the wonder that our oxymoronic Federal Executive Council (FEC) exudes in the present dispensation that we’ve actually stopped wondering where the next drama would come from – it is so guaranteed.
I was working on a satirical piece about death, taxes and FEC’s never ending ‘proclamations of nothing’ when I got a publication on their last meeting’s deliberations; it made for good comedy as it was Labaran Maku, the usual suspect, so suspect in his lack of credibility, that was sent to relay to the press. Chore. Routine. Impunity. The show had to go on.
Rising from its maiden meeting of the year on Wednesday, 9th of January, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria, through Labaran Maku (Information Minister) and Ruqayyatu Rufa’i (Education Minister) announced that it has approved the establishment of three new federally championed universities in Gashua, Birnin Kebbi and Gusau in Yobe, Kebbi and Zamfara States respectively. Sounds like good news!
This gesture, according to the angst-causing august body, is a fulfillment of government’s policy of siting a federal university in all states of the federation. We were also informed that eight (8) out of the nine (9) universities approved in 2012 had taken off, except the one in Otuoke in Bayelsa state, delayed due to the flooding in the area.
Here is how Premium Times reported Rufa’i and Maku’s justification of the move:
“To justify the imperative to create more universities at this time, Mr.Maku painted a grim picture of the decline in the country’s education system, noting that only 10 per cent of school leavers get admission every year into higher institutions nationwide.
Ms. Rufa’i said about 1.3 million school leavers seeking admission into higher institutions every year compete for less than 200,000 available openings in the existing institutions.”
If the ‘Honourable’ Minister and our ubiquitous Maku had just parked their raison d’être under the tree of quota policy, our arguments would perhaps have nestled close to conclusion at this stage, but attributing the decline in the country’s educational system as necessary prompting for the establishment of more universities, is simply barking at the wrong tree. Using the excuse that only 10 per cent of school leavers get admitted into higher institutions as a basis for establishing more universities in the hope that our education will suddenly get sorted out is dubious escapist resort and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Walking in error is one thing; confidently striding through the muck of this untenable position repositions governance in the genre of impunity. It’s definitely a Jonathanese these days to throw money at symptoms, rather than attack the root.
It would have been pleasing to my ears, if the government had announced copious measures at redeeming the educational system of systemic rot, but I guess that would be asking too much from an administration that works the surface to cure the innards.
I would have expected those in the FEC, who passed through the walls of the Nigerian university system – even as it were then – to take a look at themselves and let us know if our universities are graduating, in the main, intelligent and creative minds.
The President is acknowledged as having passed through the system – earning a PhD – and so did Maku too. No PhDs for the latter though, thankfully. If the number of higher institutions we have is a reflection of how good the sector is, we probably should be able to simply lay this mater to active rest. These premises do not offer Maku up as a shining light or example of the distinction that our institutions of higher learning push through to the labour market, at least in my very humble opinion.
What are the qualities of a good university, essentially? For the purpose of this, let’s collapse them into three, namely:
I. Qualified teachers and professors.
II. Able management.
III. Good Infrastructure.
On 21st of august, 2012 in Yenagoa; President Goodluck Jonathan lamented that 60 per cent of university lecturers in Nigeria have no doctorate degrees. He went further to beat his chest on how the government has arranged schorlarships to help them study in any part of the world. In reality, how much of this claim is true? How much of the ‘Nollywood’ Funds claim that fettered the industry at election time is also true?
Is Goodluck not a product of the Nigerian PhD-awarding system? He is yet to prove to Nigeria that he really merited it. Where are the good managers in our university environment? Guaranteed that there are some, but with infusion of downright dirty politics into the appointment of vice chancellors (VCs), what hope is really there for our institutions?
Can we in all honesty affirm that all our federal universities are blessed with good infrastructure? Then what is the point of going on an establishment spree when most of the universities on ground are just glorified secondary schools?
What are the dangers inherent in the present approach of siting a federal university in every “sitting room”?
I. Reduction in Basic Funding: Establishing new universities reduces funding for existing ones – in our case, as there is no extraordinary allocation going into that sector. The university system is presently underfunded and this has affected every facet of its development. Couple the lack of qualified lecturers in most institutions with the little or no good facilities in most schools; (let’s not even talk about the rise in “political managements”!), and you’ll get my point. If the existing universities are well funded, they’ll be able to function maximally and take care of more students, thereby invalidating the “increased admission” argument.
II. Depletion of Manpower in existing universities: With nothing less than 60 per cent of present lecturers lacking the requisite qualification to teach in the university environment and our universities having 30,000 less staff than required, establishment of new universities will further thin out the availability grid of the qualified ones. Most of our lecturers combine teaching in two or three academic institutions to make ends meet at present. The new universities will draw their teaching staff from existing ones; and inevitably stretch the sector further, leading to the implementation of stop-gap policies that lets in unqualified ones through the front door. By the time you connect reduced funding (of the already under-funded) with the migration of qualified staff from existing universities to new ones, what’s the essence of having new ones when quality won’t be guaranteed?
III. Lack of recognition of graduates of Nigerian universities by the government and the labour market. It’s easy to scoff at my suggestion, but we are already witnessing this in every facet of our national life. The government prefers the Havard, Yale and Purdue trained brains to handle our growth. To compete with those revered institutions, the government misses the point by bringing through new universities when the current ones are basically limping to the finish line.
Early 2011, while reacting to the pathetic state of Nigerian universities in the global ranking, former executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola said that “the sector had eight imperatives which are: to create a vibrant research culture; ensure that it fully discloses information, especially on its websites; maintain a stable academic calendar; improve facilities; exterminate “cultism”; comply with student-number capacity; concentrate on strengths while avoiding duplication; and build strong international links.” Talking imperatives is one thing, but stating the problems is another gambit; and he failed miserably in the latter.
Labaran Maku has painted the picture of a government ready to solve the problem in the education sector; can we ask him what percentage of the 2013 budget is allocated to the education sector? Of the N4.9trn budget, a paltry N426.53bn is allocated to the education sector. This figure represents just 8.7% of the budget, a minor increase on the 8.4% allocated in the 2012 budget. Now, compare it to Ghana who allocated (for 2012) 31% of her budget to education and Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Morocco, South Africa and Swaziland who allocated 30%, 27%, 26.4%, 25.8% and 24.6% respectively; tell me who is likely to get the better results, with graduates who are trained to excel in their chosen fields.
The most painful part of this ridiculously thought-out budget for education is that only N60bn (a mere 14%) of the N426.53bn is for capital projects while the rest covers overhead. Don’t forget that in this same budget that has failed to positively allocate funds to our education sector, N1.3bn has been budgeted for food expenses in the state house; a sum they are trying hard to pass off as “too small” and N5.5bn will cater for the welfare of our ex heads-of-state.
The minimum budgetary allocation to the education sector as recommended by UNESCO is 26 per cent, which going by the 2013 budget, should be N1.274Trn. If the President and the FEC are truly committed to the education sector as they want us to believe, adhering to the “minimum 26%” should be an easy task. If they truly care about the nation’s development and building up of the youth, who are cheekily referred to as “leaders of tomorrow”, that minimum should be the starting point. If the 26% is met, we can now focus on real development and proper monitoring of funds disbursed to the universities to ensure that they are spent judiciously.
How can we save to accommodate the 26% if we don’t have additional resources to bank on?
I. Reduction in the present number of federal universities in the country. Our focus should be on quality and not quantity. Let’s raise and support technically gifted individuals who would have the best of equipment to learn, carry out research and be a blessing to our advancement thrust as a nation.
II. Reduction in the number of political office holders and their huge “unaffordable” salaries. Cut down on your ministers Mr. President. The Vice President of the United States of America manages 15 departments (Ministries, as called in Nigeria); they include: Agriculture, Commerce, Defence, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labour, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veteran Affairs. We can emulate that and cut back on the waste of space and resources we presently dangle as ministers.
III. Let us reduce this overbloated National Assembly. There is nothing wrong in having one senator per state plus one in the FCT; and complementing that with two house of representative members from each state and the FCT. Let’s demistify this legal embezzlement going on in the legislature, we need to make politics less attractive and focus more on human development. When 25.1 per cent of budget overhead accrues to a legislature that knows little about their functions; who only sleep and snore whenever the air-conditioner in the chamber comes alive, you know there is trouble.
IV. Recover, without further delay, the monies that have been embezzled in the oil sector. Let’s try Diezani Alison-Madueke and her cronies in an unbiased court. Doing this will give us more funds to address any deficit encountered, due to our 26% education budget implementation.
V. Guaranteed stable power supply. There can be no improvement, advancement or proper development with the present epileptic power supply we tout as “getting better”; Let’s feel the change and not the talk of an elusive and derisory 5MW that wouldn’t even power an Olympic village. We need uninterrupted power supply to build a sustainable economy which in turn will open up the market, creating new jobs and absorbing some of our jobless youth / graduates.
VI. Let’s tackle corruption! Without proper use of funds, ploughing more money into the sector will not necessarily take us to the promise land. As it stands, several Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts are practically competing with our politicians on who has the best looting mechanism. Having a clear agenda of what the education sector must do, as a template, will also be a very good idea.
If we can improve on education and implement some of the ‘stupid’ measures I have suggested, we will definitely be on our way to proper growth as a nation. My concern as a proud but vilified citizen of this country is that the government is confused; Implementing policies for political patronage under the guise of “satisfying federal character” requirements while neglecting the basic point of governance – The People.
DailyPost

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