New Private Universities: No Shortcut To Quality Education

 By Levi Obijiofor

Anyone who is not baffled by the blunders committed by clueless political leaders who governed Nigeria since independence in October 1960 must be in deep slumber. Two weeks before the inauguration of a new government on May 29, 2023, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the establishment of 37 new private universities. That decision by the Muhammadu Buhari government flew in the face of reality.

You have to wonder the kind of reasons that convinced the FEC to endorse the new universities in a country in which existing universities are struggling to find and hire qualified teaching staff, to provide quality teaching and research, to establish good libraries, and to provide high-speed Internet and other resources that would enable academic staff and students to achieve their teaching and learning objectives.

The decision to approve 37 new universities in mid-May 2023 must be seen as weird, indefensible, unwarranted, superfluous, and unnecessary. To justify the establishment of new universities, the government must be convinced that the proprietors of the universities have unassailable evidence showing that, in the current environment, the universities are urgent, that they would close any gaps in the university education system, that they would fulfil students’ needs, and above all, that they would help to enhance the quality of education offered in Nigerian universities. Apparently, none of these issues was examined rigorously or even considered before the universities were rubber-stamped. 

Unsurprisingly, that is the way decisions are made by government officials in Nigeria. Projects are proposed and decisions are made rapidly even before anyone has considered the viability and relevance of the projects. It is always a case of leaping before looking. 

Former Education Minister Adamu Adamu, who announced the endorsement of the private universities, said the newly approved institutions have increased to 72 the total number of private universities in Nigeria. What a feat. 

You might want to ask about the key arguments that justified government approval of the universities. The specious and woolly reason given by the minister was, wait for it, the link between education and economic development. Of course, education is the engine that drives economic development. However, in what specific ways would 37 private universities achieve that objective when the existing universities have struggled and failed to make any significant impact on the nation’s economy? 

In 2022, public universities in Nigeria were shut for nine months following protracted labour dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government. For that never-ending period of industrial action, no academic activity such as teaching and research took place in public universities. Other than those self-directed students who engaged in independent learning, other students remained idle and gained no new knowledge. This is the oppressive and uninspiring environment in which the Buhari government approved 37 new private universities.

One of the consequences of careless establishment of private universities while existing institutions suffer from lack of funds, poor quality teaching and research, and unqualified teaching staff is the substandard quality of education that is provided to students and the half-baked graduates who are produced by those universities.

Let’s get this fact out in the open. Our university education system is on a death bed. It is exhausted, frustrated, hopeless, doomed, and sustained by a life-support machine. The government has shown no interest in promoting quality or high standards in university education. It has not been able to provide sufficient funds to sustain research in the universities. 

For many years, the situation in universities has remained grave. There has been no improvement in infrastructure, in standards of teaching, in quality of research, in science and technology equipment, and in hiring qualified teaching staff who are expected to adopt innovative teaching practices to deliver new knowledge to students. 

The Federal Government must take responsibility for higher education in Nigeria. It must rise to uphold its obligation to provide more support to universities. But that support should not be in the form of endorsing new universities. The existing institutions must be catered for first, before consideration of the viability of any proposed private universities. That is what every reasonable government should do. You do not aim to solve a problem by creating new problems. 

Available research evidence shows that standards of university education have deteriorated in Nigeria. Over the past eight years, the Buhari government remained openly aloof to the critical situation in universities. Buhari consistently threw his hands into the air to signal that he has run out of ideas about how to improve the situation. Throughout his two-term tenure, he refused to take responsibility or show leadership to resolve the protracted strike by ASUU. Buhari typified the saying that university education is too important to be left in the hands of an inept president. 

Of all the problems that hinder university education in Nigeria, lack of funds must be considered the most overwhelming. And when funds are provided by the Federal Government, they are done unsystematically and sporadically. Often the funds are misappropriated by officials who perceive government funds as free money to be converted into their own personal use. 

Apart from dearth of funds, there are other factors that contributed to poor quality of university education over the years. They include but are not limited to non-provision of essential structures to support ground-breaking teaching, poorly resourced libraries, ill-equipped science and technology laboratories, and irregular assessment of university curriculum to ensure that it reflects the realities of our current environment.

The breakdown of standards and infrastructure in universities is a national disaster. Comprehensive reforms must be initiated to save university education in the country. Currently, existing universities lack basic facilities, including computers and Internet access. Indeed, an environment favourable to teaching and research in universities does not exist. This raises the question: how would the new private universities overcome all these challenges? 

Without the much needed financial, technological, and technical assistance, now new private university would survive. They would not be able to deliver the kind of quality education that undergraduate students expect. The new private universities would not be able to attain the lofty objectives they set for themselves. And they would not be able to assist students to accomplish their learning objectives. 

Unsystematic endorsement of private universities shows the government’s higher education policy lacks focus, clear objectives, and direction. Indeed, the government has demonstrated ignorance of factors that drive and enhance university education in the 21st century. 

New knowledge cannot be acquired or developed when undergraduate students are trained in ill-equipped institutions and taught by academic staff with dodgy qualifications. Nigeria is a part of the global village. University students should not be subjected to adverse learning conditions and environment or suffer technological deprivations their predecessors experienced decades ago.

*Dr. Obijiofor is as Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Queensland, Australia (obilev@yahoo.com)