By Martins Oloja
I would like thank the authorities of the Nigeria’s premier University of Medical Sciences in Ondo State, specifically the Chairman of the Governing Council, the Vice Chancellor, Members of the Council here present, Members of the Senate, the Deans. Heads of Department, Distinguished Members of the Academic and non-Academic Staff and Students for considering yours sincerely worthy of this remarkable lecture.
I would like to salute the courage and vision of the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko who had in 2014 looked into the seeds of time and seen the strategic importance of setting up this specialised university. If he is present here today, he should take a bow and thank God for the grace that propelled the founding of this pearl of inestimable value. Indeed, it is a jewel now. Reason? Most political leaders who would like to ask for the so-called federal universities in their constituencies are asking for the University of Medical Sciences. While I was reading though the draft of this paper on Monday, there was a breaking news that the immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie-Omo Agege was celebrating an approval of a University of Medical Sciences in his constituency. You would recall that when President Muhammadu Buhari officially visited Ebonyi state before leaving office, he was so impressed by the initiative of the then Governor, David Umahi (now Minister of Works) that he announced a compulsory acquisition of the State’s just completed University of Medical Sciences. Now there are a few of them in Orangun Ila, Otukpo, etc.
It is gratifying to note that the vision of the founders has triggered the demand pull for the specialised university. What is more remarkable, the other day I used meritocracy as a fundamental objective and directive principle of recruitment policy for the first two vice chancellors so far while decrying a national malaise of localising recruitments of vice chancellors. It was curious, incredible but remarkable that the founders and the pioneer Governing Council recruited Professor Friday Okonofua who hails from Edo State from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as the pioneer Vice chancellor. It means he was recruited on merit. Again, the owners of the university maintained that tradition when the outgoing Vice chancellor, Professor Adesegun Fatusi was also appointed five years ago. He also from the Obafemi Awolowo University hails from Ogun State. I am aware that some scholars in and outside the university do not like this meritocratic policy. One of the critics wrote to me when I used that analogy in my column last month. But let us calm down. This is a university, a “universal city” that should promote merit and excellence within the context of national or federal character. What would happen if the Visitor to the university who was sworn in for his organic term on Monday February 24, 2025 advises the Governing Council to amend necessary laws to allow a Vice chancellor from North America who can attract some robust funding? Anyway, while the answer to the last question on either federal or national or international character is blowing in the wind let’s go to the brass tacks for today’s critical assignment; discussion points on whether there is any nexus between the university education and national development at such a time like this when the economy is looking curiously stupid. A corollary to the discussions point should be whether the founders and sponsors of universities actually realise that there should be a correlation between quality in education and development of any country.
As if emanating from effects of some benevolent spiritual forces, the plethora of recent comments in the last few weeks concerning the state of education in the country seem to have demonstrated a re-awakened consciousness about the value of proper education and also reiterated the urgency to embark upon some radical reconstruction of the foundation. Even the federal government, the sole regulator of standards and admissions into tertiary institutions in the country is speaking in tongues about the age for admissions. Besides, there have been discussions and controversies over cut-off points from matriculation and post matriculation examinations. What is more, there is a renewed debate about policies and politics of recruitments into Governing Councils and Administrations of the public universities, as it appears in this regard that politicians in the university system are beginning to compromise standards and extant rules of engagements that are embedded in the enabling laws. For instance, the Visitor to a federal university in Abuja just invoked his powers to cancel an appointment of a Vice Chancellor an allegedly compromised Governing Council imposed on the university without following the due process of appointments into the office of chief executive officer of the university. It was clear that the young professor the strange Council hurriedly imposed on the 37-year-old university had barely two years of professorial experience. The candidate who was also then the acting vice chancellor on her own had a kangarooic senate meeting to replace the in-house members of the Council who were not going to participate in the perversion of a process to declare her winner. The candidate should not have participated in the process of the selection of the University Council’s selection committee. She allegedly collaborated with the Council Chairman who hails from her state to select the members of the selection committee that scored her 95% without appropriate academic qualifications. In fact, the dismissed ‘vice chancellor’ after only two months in office was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic before she bagged the two- years professorial experience we referred to. We can only imagine how the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the national university in Abuja apparently subverted the system to impose so many other unqualified academic and non-academic officers in the university. Let me also reveal here that the dismissed chairman of the Governing Council of the university in Abuja is a retired Air-force officer who was not in the Nigerian Defence Academy or Nigerian Defence College. This is just a face of what the university system has turned to: another it-is-our-turn- syndrome in the location of the university. Meanwhile, when the federal university in Abuja was established in 1988, the founding vice chancellor was Professor Isa Mohammed, a professor of Mathematics who hailed from Bauchi state. He was at the time of his appointment the vice chancellor of the University of Calabar. Is it possible today for anyone with the name Isa Mohammed to apply to be vice chancellor, University of Calabar? At the time we are contextually reporting, the University of Benin had an Adamu Baike as Vice chancellor. Let’s recall that an Ogbomoso-born, Professor Emmanuel Ayandele was the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar Maiduguri. Professor Cyril Agoda Onwumechili is on recored as the first non-indigenous Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He reportedly applied from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Professor Oladipo Olujimi Akinkugbe from Ondo City was in University of Ilorin and Ahmadu Bello, University, (ABU), Zaria etc. Recall that the pioneer VC of the University of Ibadan was Professor Kenneth Dike, apparently from the South East that also produced an Eni Njoku who was VC, University of Lagos where there had been a Kwaku Adadevoh, which doesn’t sound like a Nigerian name. I just want to use these old stories to illustrate that the few universities of the time had academic standards that attracted students from all over the world. Doubtless, there was internationalisation of university education at the time. Graduates of these universities were admitted for direct doctoral degrees in world-class universities abroad. One of them I know who graduated in 1976 with a 5.0 GPA from the University of Ife’s Department of Electrical/Electronics hails from Ondo City. His name: Anthony Adegbulugbe, a professor of Energy Management Systems. He had his PhD in IMT, Boston, Massachusetts. He was among those who benefited from the University of Ife scholarships in those days. One other one I know Dr. Goke Adegoroye who retired in 2010 as a federal permanent secretary, hails from Akure Ondo state. He also enjoyed a University scholarship as best graduating student too in Agriculture. He obtained his PhD in a university in Canada.
Opening Statement
Let the governing authorities and those who desire development to note this: Throughout the development of humanity, especially in the recent period when the knowledge economy is the choice of most countries, education plays a vital role as a key factor and a driving force for economic development. Education and training are not only prerequisites for economic development, but they also contribute to socio-political stability and finally, education and training contribute to raising the human development index.
Studies on economic growth have long recognised that human capital is important to economic growth and that education is the primary way to accumulate human capital. Major changes in economic structures, industries, and international labour markets have resulted in a demand for rapid knowledge development as well as flexibility and career mobility for individuals. The accumulation of knowledge and technological development make individual workers more flexible in adapting to new careers. Therefore, integrated labour skills and competencies are necessary conditions for workers to succeed in today’s workplace, and this can only be achieved through being educated and trained.
Higher education is a production chain whose output is qualified human resources, serving as a foundation for forming and developing the innovative capacity to serve the country’s development and contribute to human knowledge. Based on such a view, in addition to developing the higher education system to meet the learning needs of the society, higher education needs to enhance the position of higher education institutions with others in the region and around the world.
To accomplish such tasks, higher education needs to be aware of its role and has positive solutions to promote the role of higher education, contributing to creating a quality workforce that meets the country’s comprehensive development conditions.
In a society like ours, full of differences, with diverse ideologies and opinions, the term “higher education” means different things. Diversity of opinion is inevitable, and many consider it necessary. However, we should discuss quality in higher education. It is a multidimensional term (Elton, 1998; Krause, 2012). According to some studies (Barnett, 1992), higher education is a production line whose output is qualified human resources. In this view, higher education is a process in which learners are conceived as products supplied to the labour market. Thus, higher education becomes an “input” creating the development and growth of commerce and industry; besides, higher education is a condition to expand opportunities in life for learners. According to this approach, higher education is seen as an opportunity for learners to participate in personal development through regular and flexible learning modes.
Education for sustainable development
And so in the era of globalisation, governments worldwide focus on education for sustainable development, the prerequisite is the development of a sustainable economy. Furthermore, education is an investment in human resources. Because human resources from higher education have high skills and knowledge, in the context of globalisation and the knowledge economy, investment (especially in higher education) is a key driver of economic development (Vasilescu, et al., 2004). This investment will affect the lives of people in a country (Trinh & Cicea, 2019), such as increasing the gross national income of a country (Soyer, et al., 2020), and highlight competitiveness in higher education as it enhances welfare and economic performance (Januškaitė & Užienė, 2018).
In addition, a great deal of literature indicates that the global trend towards a highly skilled workforce can be a powerful driver, strengthening knowledge transfer, international cooperation, and innovation (Siekierski, et al., 2019). This trend influences countries’ reputation, competitiveness, and wealth and encourages them to pay attention to the quality of life and contributions to a sustainable and balanced society (Pedro, Leitão, & Alves, 2020).
Most of the previous studies have only presented or studied the role of education in general. In addition, many studies have presented only the role of higher education in a specific aspect. Therefore, let’s synthesise the main roles of higher education based on a literature review of some studies to clearly state that: Higher Education provides a foundation for development, the groundwork on which much of our economic and social well being is built. It is the key to increasing economic efficiency and social consistency (Ozturk, 2001)
The role of higher education in national development
In some countries trying to shift their traditional economy to a more knowledge-intensive platform, experience in transforming the higher education system has much to do with development (Azman et al., 2013). Furthermore, higher education, and universities in particular, serve as an essential force for technological innovation and long-term economic growth in society (Zhu et al., 2018).
Higher education and human resources
Humanity has entered the 4.0 era; knowledge has become the most important factor for economic development through the ability to improve labour productivity, which is considered a competitive advantage of the country (Porter, 1990). The shift of society towards a knowledge-based economy shows that knowledge drives economic growth and development (IIEP, 2007). Higher education is a cradle to create knowledgeable human resources to promote social development. Whether a country has a fast or slow growth rate is determined by the capacity of human knowledge resources. Therefore, higher education plays an important role in enhancing people’s capacity to acquire and use knowledge (Campbell, 2011). Higher education can help economies keep up or keep pace with advanced technology in the world in the knowledge economy. Higher education graduates are more likely to be aware and better positioned to use new technologies. They are also more likely to develop new tools and skills themselves. Their knowledge can also improve their skills, while the greater confidence and know-how inculcated by advanced learning can generate entrepreneurship, with positive effects on creative work.
Today, when society “opens up,” the transfer of gray matter from one country to another has more optimal conditions and is seen as a trend. Moreover, qualifications are the key that opens the door (Brown & Scase, 1994) so that people can be recruited. As a result, obtaining a college degree increasingly resembles getting an insurance policy. Each individual is encouraged to obtain the highest degree possible in order to minimise personal risk. Thus, it can be argued that higher education provides relatively good protection against unemployment (Kivinen & Ahola, 1998); (Aamodt & Arnesen, 2021). Reaffirm that university graduates will enter society as members of “the energetic society”, which is necessary to achieve sustainable development goals (Hajer, et al., 2015).
Higher education and economic growth
It is widely recognised that education has a significant positive effect on economic growth. Schultz argues in human capital theory that education can help accumulate people’s human capital to enhance their productivity in the labor market (Schultz, 1961). This argument has been confirmed by empirical research in different countries and regions (Barro & Lee, 1994). Higher education fosters high-quality labour to increase the productivity of the whole society and promotes technological and institutional innovation to improve production efficiency (Lucas, 1988); (Romer, 1990); (Aghion & Howitt, 1990). The change for human resources, technology, and institutions will transform the economic structure of that country. Therefore, all possible effects of higher education on people will ultimately impact economic development, as the labor force is one of the basic factors in production (Yang, 2009).
According to some previous classic studies (Barro, 1991; Mankiw et al., 1992) have shown a meaningful relationship between education and economic growth. These studies often use the number of years of schooling of the working-age population as a variable for education.
Sustainable development has become a common goal of most countries and is a global trend towards development that can meet the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In particular, green growth is considered important content of sustainable development, requiring growth to ensure the harmony of all three main areas: economy—society—environment, simultaneously and harmoniously solving environmental and development issues.
However, in recent years, environmental degradation with a global shortage of resources has posed an unprecedented and severe threat to human development. This threat has raised people’s awareness of the need to protect the environment. In this case, the limitations of traditional GDP become apparent. On the one hand, human economic activities have positively impacted society by creating wealth; on the other hand, similar activities have brought about adverse effects by hindering the development of social productivity in many ways (Gao et al., 2019).
Therefore, countries move towards green growth to overcome the disadvantages brought about by the traditional growth process.
The concept of “green growth” has now been introduced by many organizations around the world. For example, the World Bank (WB) says: “Green growth is efficient in the use of natural resources; clean in minimising pollution and environmental impacts; flexibility in adapting to natural hazards; management of the environment and natural capital in disaster prevention” (World Bank, 2012). According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “green growth includes promoting economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services for our prosperity. For this to happen, green growth must be the catalyst for investment and innovation, the basis for sustainable growth, and new economic opportunities” (OECD, 2014). Thus, Green Growth emphasizes promoting economic growth while maintaining balance with the ecological environment, while Green Economy places more emphasis on the limits of the environment, human well-being, and social justice (UNITAR, 2012)
Through previous studies, it can be confirmed that higher education plays a huge and vital role in developing a country by providing quality human resources to meet market demand and a competitive economy.
Besides providing quality human resources, higher education also promotes economic development by accelerating industrial optimisation and upgrading industries from labour-intensive to capital-intensive, and ultimately knowledge and technology-intensive (Min, 2017). The timely optimisation of industrial structures is of great significance for economic progress and for ensuring the smooth and sustainable operation of the green economy, in which countries can reduce consumption of energy resources and control costs in the environment.
Indeed, among the many factors that influence industrial upgrading, well-trained workers with sufficient knowledge and skills are those who can adapt well to industries where advanced technology makes a fundamental difference. Therefore, higher education, by attracting talented people who are pursuing knowledge and skills, is an essential prerequisite for industrial upgrading. In this way, higher education plays a leading role in the industrial restructuring of the economy to achieve sustainable economic growth (Gao et al., 2019)
Thus, higher education is considered a bridge between the supply and demand of human resources, and universities are the source of green human resources for the labour market. Through this human resource, universities will contribute to promoting green growth by changing the way of life, production, and consumption. In addition, the highly qualified and skilled human resources from these green universities will help green the country’s economic growth model towards sustainable economic development.
Higher education and social issues
The ultimate purpose of investing in education is also to improve people’s living standards. Therefore, the level of local human capital and the relative importance of educational institutions are expected to improve the quality of life in an area for several reasons.
First, residents with a high level of education will promote their roles in some typical local locations such as museums and theatres. Second, educated residents can facilitate the density and variety of consumer services such as restaurants, cafes, and bars that consumers desire (Waldfogel, 2008). It is a fact that people with higher education also have more opportunities for political activities (Milligan et al., 2004) and can elect better government officials and help build clean cities with low pollution and crime. In addition, Lochner (2004) emphasised the role of education as an investment in human capital, increasing future legal employment opportunities and deterring participation in crime.
If human capital adds more marginal return to work than crime, then human capital investment and schooling should reduce crime. Therefore, strategies to improve schooling (or schooling efficiency) should reduce most types of street crime and are more likely to be more tolerant of others than themselves (Florida, 2002). However, certain types of white-collar crime (e.g. embezzlement, fraud) may increase with education if they sufficiently reward skills learned in school (Hjalmarsson & Lochner, 2012). Also, when discussing the issue of education level and crime, in a study by Ehrlich (1975), the author found that it is not necessary to imply that education reduces crime and here is why: First, unobserved personal traits such as patience or risk aversion may directly influence schooling and criminal decisions. Individuals who choose more education (even after conditioning on observable characteristics) are likely to choose less crime, regardless of their education level, in which case regression-based estimates cannot determine causality. Second, exploiting differences in crime and education between states or local communities can also lead to biased estimates.
Governments can choose between funding the police force or quality public schools, which often creates a false positive correlation between education and crime. Alternatively, unobserved community characteristics may directly affect the costs or benefits of education and crime. Third, reverse causality is another important issue. Individuals who plan to be heavily involved in crime (for example, because they are particularly good at crime, enjoy crime, or live in areas with many illegal opportunities) may choose to drop out of school at a young age (Lochner, 2004). Arrests or detentions related to juvenile delinquency may also cause some young people to drop out of school (Hjalmarsson, 2008). Under certain circumstances, for those who do not have the opportunity to access education to generate wages, committing crimes seems to be a reluctant way of survival. Therefore, providing disadvantaged urban youth with better schools can substantially reduce juvenile and adult crime, even if it has little effect on traditional education outcomes (Cullen et al, 2006).
In addition, higher education is a “measure” of social distance between quintiles. Some authors (Moretti, 2004) analyse the benefits of investing in higher education, while other authors (Ferrante, 2009) analyze the link between education and life satisfaction. Education has an effect on income (Psacharopoulos & Patrinos, 2004); (Gregorio & Lee, 2002), and higher education leads to higher incomes, and education is the most powerful tool to reduce income inequality (Stephens, Markus, & Fryberg, 2012); (Abdullah, Doucouliagos, & Manning, 2015); (Stephens, Markus, & Fryberg, 2012). Thus, there is a significant link between education and inequality (Marshall & Fukao, 2019). Through the universalisation of higher education, each country strives to promote quality of life and social justice, minimising socio-cultural differences (Kothari, 1996). At the same time, quality education leads to happiness (Samali, 2010) because education has a positive role in increasing quality of life (Bauer, et al., 2018). However, it must be understood that individuals with more education do not earn more just because of the diploma they have but because of the quality of the work they are doing. Because of the quality of their work, they earn more (Gillies, 2011). Undeniably, much evidence attests to higher education graduates’ continual ‘employment opportunities’ (Schomburg & Teichler, 2006).
In addition, there is a need to recognise the role of higher education in the creation of human resources and considers higher education as insurance for job search; Higher education also plays an important role in green growth and addressing social inequality, especially among income groups.
University autonomy and growth
However, when the university is autonomous, many schools simultaneously increase tuition fees, causing society to fear that it will increase the pressure on study costs on the shoulders of learners. This predicament results from the management level and the educational institution’s confused ideas, which conflate university autonomy with self-sufficiency in resources; these are two distinct issues. University autonomy does not mean that universities have to be self-sufficient regarding resources and funding. The primary funding source for public schools is from the state budget.
Therefore, the State should not cut the budget of autonomous universities, but on the contrary, should increase budget support for schools that successfully implement the policy of university autonomy; considering them as worthy places to focus on investing to quickly improve the quality of training, helping the schools soon become essential national schools. When it comes to increasing tuition fees, regardless of the country, public schools have a principle that tuition fees must be fair, creating learning opportunities for everyone. Therefore, the tuition fee is usually limited, not increasing indefinitely, but should be based on the average income of the people (Newsnpr, 2022). Besides, when the labour market is increasingly expanding, human capital flight from one country to another is becoming a trend.
So, it is required that higher education make breakthroughs in reforming training forms to meet competitiveness and adapt to particular circumstances, especially when the whole world has just passed through the COVID -19 pandemic with many changes from awareness to action. Thus, the discussion points of this special lecture contribute both in terms of literature as well as a premise to delve into specific aspects of higher education and the development of a country.
To promote the role of higher education further in the future, it is a time to consider the following recommendations:
First, universities need to strengthen cooperation, coordinate and share ideas on scientific research; propose to state management agencies appropriate policies to support, encourage and promote green growth; promote cooperation in research, development, testing, and technology transfer for green growth. Because each university has its strengths, linking universities in the process of research, development, testing, and technology transfer will contribute to enhancing the role and position of universities in the process of participating in green growth; strengthen the exchange of lecturers, researchers, and students in the field of green technology, which should be focused on areas with great potential such as energy or environmental technology. At the same time, strengthen the research, teaching, training, and learning capacity of lecturers, researchers, and students, contributing to training high-quality human resources for green growth.
Second, connect training with practice: Enterprise semester, jointly build and evaluate training programmes, invite experts from enterprises to teach. Enterprise recruiting personnel is the output of the university; together with career counseling; The university supports personnel training for businesses.
Third, internationalise the university’s teaching staff and curricula to meet the competitiveness of countries with strengths in higher education.
Fourth, connect brand communication and sharing messages and images: communicate corporate brands in academic spaces of the university, on university communication channels; organise events and spread the brand to the university’s learners.
Fifth, connect and share social responsibility: fund facilities; academic grants; sponsor student activities; fund technology development
Where do we go from where Wole Soyinka once lamented?
I have been talking to the ideals an how to get to where we need to be in 21st century where education is fast changing the dynamics of development. The policy experts and scholars here and all of us need to understand that founding and funding a university isn’t for the fainthearted. Visitors who hold the fort for public universities constantly claim that they don’t have enough to fund education the way we want it in this same 21st century. In other words, if we look into the seeds of our education development times, what we will see now is that the education sector at home isn’t good and governments are only declaring emergencies whenever they want to hold general elections. We are talking at a time when most education leaders are again suggesting policies that will take us to where we can internationalise higher education again. That was the theme of my convocation lecture at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State in December 2023. But from the way we daily read from the book of lamentation about funding of higher education at this time of economic crisis, where will we get on the road to internationalisation?
Isn’t it a time to interrogate Professor Wole Soyinka’s suggestion some years ago about the expediency of closing down all the Nigerian universities for a year or two with a view to restructuring them into “Ivory Towers”, citadels of learning and centres of innovation that they should be? I had asked a similar question at the Akungba 2023 lecture. But the answer will continue to blow in the wind.
Again, this paper is not a seminal paper on the role of the university in a developing country. Nor is it a research topic on the role of public intellectuals in development. Rather, it is a thought-provoking discussion point on why all our representatives in government, all our duty bearers should halt the “hollow rituals” called licensing of new private universities and the federal government’s own obsession with political project called federal universities in all the states of the federation. This is a time to tell them to pay attention to better rather than more universities whose products cannot contribute to national development, no thanks to poor funding.
It is a time to call on the elders of the land, notably those that had enjoyed ‘the good old days’ in this same country when universities were universities to support a motion that governments at all levels should stop all priority projects and declare genuine emergency on education with a view to investing in them consciously and sincerely.
This means there had been good time here when even some Americans were applying to read even English at the University of Ibadan. As I have noted in some presentations, in 2008, I met an African American, in Miami Florida who claimed to be a classmate of now Professor Gordini Gabriel Darah at the University of Ibadan where she did her PhD in English/Literature in the early 1980s. The woman gave me a note to give to her radical classmate, G.G Darah. She was at that time a President of a University in Florida. That was internationalisation at the Nigeria’s premier university college when an American could hear about a great university without the Internet. There were stories of foreign students in the universities of first generation when there was indeed a universe in the universities then. How do we regain the paradise lost when we can be part of the universe again?
The highway universities without universe?
What is more horrible than a situation whereby most Nigerian universities have become mere factories for producing unemployable graduates at all levels? All the major highways have become attractions for private universities, most of which are just for ways of laundering money for some crooks who can no longer hide such slush and stolen funds abroad because of the danger in illicit money transfer now that we have the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). But sadly, most of the lecturers of the universities cannot allow their children to be admitted into most of the universities where they teach. I know many of them, who would still have to struggle through thick and thin to send their wards abroad where real learning takes place.
But let’s reflect on this classic. According to Gasset (2005) on the Mission of the University. Why University Must Be Primarily: the University; Profession and Science. This is important for our leaders, policy makers and university owners.
(A) The university consists, primarily and basically of higher education which the ordinary man should receive.
(B) It is necessary to make this ordinary man first of all, a cultured person: to put him at the height of the times. It follows then that the primary function of the university is to teach the great cultural discipline namely:
1. The physical scheme of the world (Physics)
2. The fundamental themes of organic life (Biology)
3.The historical process of the human species (History)
4.The structure and functioning of social life (Sociology)
5 The Plan of the universe (Philosophy)
(C) It is necessary to make the ordinary man a good professional. Besides his apprenticeship to culture, the university will teach him, by the most economical, direct and efficacious procedures intellect can devise, to be a good doctor, a good judge, a good teacher of mathematics or of history.
The specific character of this professional teaching must be set aside, however for further discussion.
Whether it is local or ‘glocal’, the university should be equipped enough to play its primary role of turning the ordinary man to be what he wants to be: professional But can the university play this role today in this age of digital technologies? We can’t and that is why the Artificial Intelligence Centre of Google has since 2018 ben in Ghana. The Google AI experts were in Nigerian then to look for a well equipped university out of our more than 200 then to be the host of the technology giant’s centre in West Africa. They couldn’t and they went to Ghana with about 15 national public universities and 11 private universities and found a well-equipped school of computer engineering that could play host to their AI Centre. What a giant in the sun.
You aren’t a giant of a nation if you cant excell in STEM subjects in the 21st century. Where will development flow from when your universities aren’t producing young engineers that are helping the Trump administration to disrupt the very corrupt bureaucracies of the United States through the independent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that the globalists and public enemies don’t want to see in the United States?
Again, where are our leaders at all levels including the state and national assemblies at this critical time? Why are our leaders and representatives concerned about only the next election without caring a hoot about the next generation of leaders who are supposed to be products of our universities? Are the suffering, malnourished and ill-equipped students of today not going to be the leaders of tomorrow? How many of the more than two hundred million people would have the resources to send their children to good schools abroad as our leaders are apparently doing today? Are our leaders aware that most of our university lecturers in science and technology schools are relocating abroad in search of greener pastures? Does the education minister tell the president and some Labour Ministry’s arrogant negotiators with ASUU members that most serious nations, especially some in Nordic countries pay teachers better than other public officers because they believe that only satisfied teachers can produce better graduates? Aren’t they aware that in the United States, which is still proud of its exceptionalism on all fronts, public officers including policy makers are still concerned about the fact that their American children (students) are well outside the top-ten international student rankings in reading, science and mathematics apart from the nation’s position of leadership on everything from the economy to the military to issues of moral authority? They are beginning to argue that their rating “will continue to plummet unless we take dramatic action…”. Michelle Rhee, a former chancellor of Washington D.C., public schools from 2007-2010, now a driving force behind American education reform, has already written a classic on this development, titled, ‘Radical: Fighting To Put Students First’. The founder and CEO of StudentsFirst has drawn attention to the fact that although the United States is well known as a world leader in innovation, boasting of brilliant thinkers and trendsetting companies, yet there is a fact that, that status is at grave risk because American children are getting outside the top-ten international student ranking.
Come with me to South East Asia. The power behind Samsung, a global brand is South Korea, with a population of 51.3 million. They have more than Samsung to export to the world because of the power that quality education that they take seriously has given them. They are among top-five countries with excellence in Research and Development (R&D) funding in global context. That is their power. You can make the same claim of Singapore. The economic power of Singapore isn’t tied to any extractive industry. It is only linked to their intellectual power. Yes their brainpower through education quality their legend, Lee Kuan Yew bequeathed to them. There are more examples of these powerful countries. How many times shall we write that there is a nexus between the economic power of South Africa and the quality of its universities? It is not by accident that the best university in Africa in all global ratings is the University of Cape Town. Is it not also true that of the top ten universities in Africa, most of the times, six to eight are in South Africa? What we are saying isn’t about setting up technical universities, agriculture universities, medical sciences universities, maritime universities, police and army universities that are underfunded and ill-equipped. This isn’t about the number of graduates in the country. It is about the quality of the graduates. It is about the capacity of the graduates to solve 21st challenges in this age of the high-tech, digital disrupters.
This is why the Tinubu government should note that although we are well aware of what his administration is doing to contain the danger of insurgency and banditry in the core northern states, we can’t easily forget about what the previous administration made of Nigeria’s Human Development Index (HDI) through education and health policy thrust. Indeed, posterity will remember the predecessor in office as the leader who allowed insurgents called Boko Haram campaigners (anti-education campaigners) to destroy even foundation of education in northern Nigeria: they did nothing for eight years to resolve the crisis of basic and tertiary education in Nigeria and notably in the North. And so we will remember to recall PMB and his education minister to return and account for what happened to higher education quality, the main weapon we need to resolve all other problems in the country. Even if we are helpless, we will continue to recall that he also promised to solve the ASUU crisis he blasted his successor for when he was campaigning in 2015. He actually noted that his predecessor was quite irresponsible for failure to solve that same ASUU problem while wasting money in other areas including too many jets in the presidential fleet and leakage in oil revenue, unbridled fuel subsidy, among other wasters.
The current administration at federal and state levels should be told that I will continue to repeat the story I have told many times about what any powers need to destroy any country. Yes, a South African teacher has said that you don’t need any atomic bomb to destroy any country. Accordingly to the teacher, all you need to do for the collapse of any country is destroying its education standards.
The following words posted by a teacher at the entrance gate of a South African university sums up where the Nigerian leader and his education minister are leading us: ‘Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students.” The result is that: Patients die at the hands of doctors. Buildings collapse at the hands of engineers. Money is lost at the hands of economists and accountants. Humanity dies at the hands of religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of judges. Because, “The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation…”
And here is the conclusion of the whole matter: President Tinubu should immediately direct his Education Minister to swallow his pride and vanity and resolve the ASUU-FG avoidable conflict now or never. It has become a symbol of suffering and shame to the federal and state governments. Here is the thing, there should be a national summit on education administration and funding for development. There should be no excuses about economic downturn or crisis. Some members of national assembly appropriation committees were aware of the economic crisis the other day when they allegedly asked vice chancellors of federal universities to drop some millions of naira to get their budget details approved.
As a stakeholder in this state, I confirmed before that once upon a time, an artful and enterprising son to a governor of this state who was later hired as director-general in the state bureaucracy was collecting 6% tax on all students incidental fees as part of state revenue collection mechanism. That was a disastrous policy and revenue collection blight on higher education in this state. May that spectre of darkness not fall on this state again! This was happening to institutions that actually need more money to survive. How many of the three universities in this state are on their permanent sites? This is therefore a clarion call on the newly sworn in Governor of Ondo State who is the Visitor to all the universities to take special interest in the state of school facilities and quality of teachers in basic and secondary schools. Besides, he should be audacious in revisiting a special panel’s report on the three universities in the State. He should not play politics with quality of education in Pa Adekunle Ajasin’s state, our state. Let the sun shine well on oversight and funding of education at all levels in the Sunshine State.
Here is why our leaders should intentionally and unapologetically prioritise education quality. As our leaders put on their thinking caps on what to do with our apparent underdevelopment, they should remember first that education quality not quantity that can deliver sustainable development goals including war on multidimensional poverty and civic incompetence we notice all over the place. Our civic incompetence is the only reason our leaders become dealers and we hail them for misusing our public funds with all their strength. Our leaders need to beam our discussion points now on the need to focus on better universities instead of establishing more that will not produce employable graduates in the public and private sectors. Seriously speaking, I believe that better universities can produce excellent models and modules that can address our rickety development agenda.
As I was saying, this is not a seminal paper on the critical role of quality of education in development. But we have been following a simple trend that is showing that there is some nexus between the quality of universities and development of very well known countries. I mean that we have seen that the countries that have had the best universities and research orientation and funding are simply the best (and fastest growing) economies in the world.
We are talking about the United States, China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, France, India, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Italy, etc. Within the context of global rating, in Africa, we have South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Egypt, etc. that can boast of better universities now than Nigeria. This is a tragedy for the giant of Africa that used to have one of the best four universities in the Commonwealth countries, including United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, etc.
It is instructive to note from some peer-reviewed academic research that many universities especially in southern and eastern African countries are making progress when academic excellence comes into focus. A research report entitled, Universities & Economic Development in Africa by Nico Cloete, Tracy Bailey, Pundy Pillay, Ian Bunting and Peter Maassen in 2011 illustrates this point: The report shows that universities in South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, are more advanced in research orientation.
So, that is why we need to turn to our local leaders in Nigeria to deepen their understanding of the essence of what we mean when we say they should understand that education and indeed quality education should be too important to play politics with.
There is, therefore, no question about the fact that the time has come for our leaders to lay aside all weight and worries about insecurity that has produced so many crisis merchants and deal with the problems of the Nigerian University system. All I have been saying in the discussion points here has been that what Professor Wole Soyinka has been harping on, what he saw about three decades years ago is now very loud and clear: The entire university system in Nigeria needs a radical overhaul. Products of the current structure cannot be relied upon anymore to sustain development of this complex country that requires urgent attention. I am fully persuaded that all the academic and non-academic union members in the university should be angry about the decadence, poor funding, corruption, politicking and all the vices that are in the universities.
We need a policy environment that recognises that at the moment, learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage, individually and collectively. There is therefore no doubt that we need better universities that will enable organisations to become deliberate and effective in learning, unlearning and relearning essential to progress. Nigerian university system with poor research funding and orientation has for some time now been producing the illiterate of the 21st century. According to Alvin Tofler, the illiterate of the 21st century will not ne those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. It is the same Alvin Tofler who notes that “a library is a hospital for the mind”. How many of the Nigerian universities have good libraries? How many are linked to virtual libraries of working universities in developed economies? Are the Nigerian universities producing graduates that can continue to learn, unlearn and relearn for the industrial need and the public service?
Finally, it appears to some of us outside the system that Nigeria’s academic community does not like audit queries, reforms and accountability. The Oronsaye Panel report on the universities, which recommends that unwieldy bureaucracies that consume a larger chunk of their funds through complex and too much recurrent expenditure and unwholesome capital votes for academic work clearly shows resistance to change. The governance system in the current arrangement is not conducive for academic excellence. There are too many challenges of infrastructure in a new world driven by technologies. Yes, we now research and learn in a brand new world, according to a management expert, Betty Stanley Beene, President and CEO of United Way of America, where we confront a future in which the change is ever more rapid and unpredictable.
Let’s ponder over this: Any university system that will allow students to pursue a Master’s degree for five years and a PhD for ten years needs an urgent reform. The university is to prepare global citizens and oracles that can look into the seed of times and tell the people what tomorrow should be. It is education quality, quality research that can deliver that.
Therefore, Abuja and all the state capitals’ big men should not hold any summit on the need for a declaration of emergency on education. Failure to deal with the university challenge will amount to covering up corruption at the highest level.
We should continue this conversation beyond this paper until something happens to the university system. The Soyinka’s radical approach is not a bad idea, after all. Nigeria should have good universities that most Africans can come to as it was in the beginning. We need to look at how our distorted, convoluted federalism has impacted on quality of tertiary education in Nigeria. We need to look at how the few good public and private universities can be assisted to be globally competitive so that they can assist urgent efforts by organisations and even government agencies to reengineer or reinvent themselves to achieve more efficient and effective global orientations.
What do we need to do? How can our universities be assisted to produce global citizens equipped for this high velocity world? How can there be restoration for the University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan, which used to part of the top four in the Commonwealth? There are experts who should contribute to this symposium so that “Nigerian exceptionalism” our leaders always promise will not be a mirage, after all.
We can’t excel nor can we make progress unless we get angry about the state of our schools, especially the universities, where research drives sustainable development goals. Let’s debate this now! The debate continues on other contexts and constructs including how the regulatory authorities in education, notably the almighty National Universities Commission (NUC) too can be reformed to deal with our ancient curriculum in 21st century. Can’t we debate why the regulators are too blind to see that in the developed economies, learning is fast getting out of the classrooms? How did an education agency regulator, for instance insist for so long that Law graduates from an open university cannot be admitted into Law School in 21st century when even most medical and engineering courses are now been offered online with the power of digital technologies?
Let’s conclude somehow this way: our leaders at all levels should not allow public relations impresarios to just overstress the strategic importance of the revival of the Student Loan. Yes, they are expedient at this time. But I would like to draw their attention to the fact that there are multifarious challenges in the country that are related to absence of education quality at this time. In otter words, what is the purpose of education if it cannot solve the country’s problems through its scholars and researchers? How can innovation in agriculture, governance, health sciences, digital technologies, etc be addressed without commitment to robust research and development (R&D) funding? How can we hope for a better tomorrow if today’s beneficiaries of student loans cannot find job tomorrow to pay back? How can education quality that can serve the needs of the 21st century be guaranteed when any close friends of the president or governor who may not have any competence or capacity can be appointed Minister and Commissioner of Education? How can we lead the black people of the world in 21st century if there is no robust policy to attract good teachers at all levels? How can education quality be achieved without making training of teachers a big deal as it once was in Western Nigeria before what Patrick Alley called ‘Very Bad People’ began to seize power in the same zone? As I was saying here, let’s rise from this hall and remember how two countries Singapore and South Korea without petroleum resources have developed human capital to wealth through education quality.
Recall that most orators and motivational speakers may have been entertaining us with the story of the good man, a leader who inspired Singapore from Third to First World, Lee Kuan Yew. It is always a good read, a wonderful biography of a significant Asian. But not many of our leaders may have studied some of the specific strategies the very educated Asian employed to achieve his goals that have become a national and organisational culture in Singapore. It is important for us to note that the unique but least-talked about strategy Mr. Lee used was remarkable investment in education quality. I would like our Governors, indeed the Governor of Ondo State to take this away as a major deliverable.
According to Stavros Yianouka, of Project Syndicate, Lee Kuan Yew’s achievements have been the subject of much global discussion before and since his death. But one aspect of his success, which has been under-reported is his investments in education. His strategy, he would often remark, was “to develop Singapore’s only available natural resource, its people”. Today, Singapore routinely ranks among the top performers in educational attainment, as measured by the very influential Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment. The powerful Asian country is though a city-state of just about six million people, it normally boasts two universities among the top 75 in any Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the same number as usually China, Japan and Germany.You may ask, what did Mr. Lee and Singapore do right? Let’s ponder over that question as we rise from this special gathering to mark the end of the tenure of the second Vice Chancellor of the first University of Medical Sciences in Nigeria.
Summary and conclusion
Here is the onclusion of th whole matter: The battle for restoring the lost glory in higher education in Nigeria must be waged holistically. Thus, to improve the standard of education and her global competitiveness, Nigeria must first educate the educators and improve their level of “psychological satisfaction.” And Nigeria should begin now to appreciate and reward excellence! Poor working conditions dissuading talented youths from entering the teaching profession.
Nigeria is capable of reversing the trend and produce enviable world class scholars if the leaders can sufficiently fund the schools, motivate the teachers and students by providing good teaching and learning environment and create employment for the teeming population. Nigeria cannot benefit from the emerging global economy with the present poor state of the educational sector.
The school should be equipped with functional libraries and laboratories; and classrooms should have modern instructional technologies-computers connected to the Internet, projectors, audio-visual and video conferencing equipment, et cetera. Teachers should not be expected to perform miracles without the necessary teaching tools. Primary and secondary schools, which are the foundations of higher education, should be adequately funded and properly staffed. However, university admissions should be strictly on merit and schools should offer relevant courses that prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century economy.
Higher institutions should be granted full autonomy and allowed unfettered hands to source funds through private sector partnership….The government should motivate students by providing them a healthy learning environment (modern classrooms and living quarters) and assist the needy with affordable loans and grants to finance their education. At least in advanced nations good environment is known to provide good settings for teaching and learning.
An injectable culture of corruption has not allowed the government to provide good quality education to prepare the youths for further leadership position. Without the tools, how could they grow, develop, compete and effectively function in the rapidly changing global economy?
No nation will neglect its educational institutions and expect to progress. Therefore, the society should employ capable hands and motivate them to settle the much-vexed quality issues in the educational sector. Fanciful speeches cannot improve the condition of things. Miracles don’t just happen. Many Nigerians have been harping on moving the nation forward without taking practical steps to accomplish that.
The colourful words are wisdom only to those who do not contemplate essential reforms in the area. Nigeria cannot talk of improving its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) without improving its educational system and business environment. Good quality education and good business environment are among the primary means to spur an economy and improve the people’s productivity and their living standards, which would strengthen their global competitiveness.
The government should get off the high horse and take concrete action towards resolving the crisis in the educational sector. Because without treating the crisis in education as a public health issue that requires serious attention, as this writer had noted elsewhere, the youths would continue to receive inferior education. And they will continue to suffer mass unemployment and social vices, such as armed robbery, prostitution, peddling and consumption of illegal drugs could worsen. Besides, the society will continue to have illiterates as leaders and political parties without ideology and Nigeria’s politics will continue to be violent. Nigeria will continue to fall behind economically, socially and politically and that will continue to impact negatively on the nation’s global competitiveness.
Thank you for your patience. May God bless you all!
- Being a paper presented by Mr. Martins Oloja, the Immediate Past Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of “The Guardian”, Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors at the 11th Distinguished Lecture of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo City on Thursday March 6, 2025
The Guardian ex-MD/EIC, Oloja delivers UNIMED 11th distinguished lecture
