The
University of Abuja, established on January 1st, 1988 and
enviably located
in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria has been bedevilled with
crisis for
some time now owing to the inability of the school to obtain
accreditation for some of its courses. There have been several protests
by the students on
this issue some of whom have unfortunately spent seven years for a
course that
is ordinarily supposed to last for four years!
It
is the duty of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to accredit courses,
regulate and maintain high standard and ensure that adequate facilities are in
place for the running of various courses in our universities. This duty it has discharged
creditably well by denying accreditation to these courses lacking the necessary
facilities including Medicine and Engineering and by ensuring that these departments
in the University of Abuja meet the required national standard for course accreditation.
For
several years, professional bodies in Nigeria such as the Dental and Medical
Council of Nigeria as well as the Council for the regulation of Engineering in
Nigeria (COREN) have denied recognition for products of Uniabuja as a result of
this anomaly. The multiplier effects of this are innumerable. The world has
undeniably become a global village and whatever happens in the home front reverberates
to the outside world and the international community and that accounts for why
many Nigerian graduates who seek employment opportunities and greener pastures abroad
have been denied placement due to the belief that these Nigerian products
possess “untrusted” degrees.
The
situation at the University of Abuja has been of immense concern to
stakeholders in recent times and it is surprising that a Federal University of
that status could make its students go through such harrowing experience of
having to spend several painful and unnecessary extra years before graduating
from their chosen courses in the university. However, news reaching my desk
last week indicates that the NUC has finally accredited some of these contentious
courses at Uniabuja. I think it calls for celebration for those students and
their parents who have fought tooth and nail all these years for these courses
to be accredited and here we are as they have finally been approved by the NUC.
But let me advise you on this: Don’t ever celebrate until you eventually graduate
from that course! The reason is not far-fetched. With the erratic and
unpredictable nature of university and tertiary education in Nigeria plagued by
perennial neglect by government, incessant strikes and unstable academic calendar,
the fact that your course has been duty accredited by the relevant body does
not guarantee that you will graduate at the right time from the university.
Students
in Nigerian tertiary institutions would have to unfortunately contend with a
whole lot of unpalatable experiences including constant lecturers’ strikes and
denial of accreditation to the courses for which they have been validly
admitted to study. Strikes have a crippling effect on the education sector and no
wonder Nigerian graduates are regarded as half-baked by certain employers of
labour who feel that these graduates do not have the necessary skills and
wherewithal to be entrusted with certain positions of responsibility. We have
heard of some Nigerian graduates who went abroad in order to obtain a second
degree but were either denied such opportunity due to Nigeria’s poor educational standard or
asked to undergo some years of study and scrutiny to ascertain their
suitability before admitting them into those programs.
When
we remember the Uniabuja crisis, it brings feelings of neglect, incompetence and
lack of accountability and foresight on the part of our university
administrators. There is a clear-cut difference between teaching well in the classroom
and being a good administrator. The two do not necessarily require the same
skill and not many people can effectively combine the two skills. A university
is not a laboratory or experimental specimen which you hand over to an inexperienced
hand to determine the possibility of the outcome because you will be toying with
the lives and future of thousands of people who would later on graduate to
become future leaders and important decision makers. The prolonged situation in
Uniabuja over course accreditation as well as similar situations in several
other Nigerian universities calls for concern of stakeholders because the
future of our students is at stake and this is part of the lingering crisis in
the education sector that is threatening to cripple the education system in the
country.
When
students are admitted into various courses in our universities and other
tertiary institutions, the school authorities have a constitutional and moral responsibility
to ensure that nothing within their power hinders these students from
graduating at the appropriate time from such programs. Why did it take so long
for the management of the University of Abuja, a Federal university for that
matter, to put in place the necessary facilities required for the accreditation
of these courses? Did the school not receive its own share of Federal
allocation over the years or was it just a case of neglect and lack of
accountability by people entrusted with the affairs of the university? These
questions are pertinent because the issue here is peculiar to countless other
Nigerian universities which are internally sick and need special financial
surgical operations to bail them out of a monumental mismanagement of resources
threatening to cripple their existence. Aside the lectures’ strike resulting from
the failure of government to holistically address funding issues, what of the
issue of accountability, integrity and prudence on the part of our university administrators?
Does
the case of Uniabuja not show to any right thinking person that there is more
to it than meets the eye? It is surprising that some state universities in
Nigeria are ranked higher in performance index in certain courses than some
Federal universities who as a result of the lack of adequate facilities required
to run such courses only end up admitting students whom their facilities cannot
cater for and these students end up wasting away their future with the hope
that someday they will graduate from these schools all to no avail. Recall that
in December 2012, a Special Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of
Abuja had recommended the sacking of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sunday Adelabu
and his management team due to the magnitude of systemic rot in the university
and their failure to properly manage the university. The Panel thereby recommended
the appointment of a reputable Professor from outside the university, with
strong character, integrity and sound experience in university management as
Vice-Chancellor of the university. I believe that if Uniabuja had had the right
kind of leadership and management over the years, the current situation would
not have been the case.
The
lesson here is that when square pegs are put in round holes, the result you get
is better imagined than experienced. We must stop playing politics with every issue
in this country if we truly desire any meaningful development. If we must play
politics, issues concerning education should be totally excused from such games
because they should never be toyed with by any serious nation. To avert
students’ protests and agitations such as the ones witnessed in Uniabuja,
school authorities should endeavour to utilize the resources available at their
disposal to ensure that adequate facilities are in place for the smooth running
of courses for which they admitted students or else they should scrap these
programs to avoid misleading admission seekers into seeking admission into
them.
The government should ensure that only people who are morally and intellectually fit to manage our universities are eventually appointed to head these institutions. A university is the world's highest citadel of learning and an Ivory Tower which produces manpower for several sectors of the economy and should not be entrusted to people who have little or no managerial acumen. Governments
at all levels, both Federal, state and local level, should realize that education
inevitably holds the key to Nigeria’s development and should ensure that the
education sector is given utmost priority in the scheme of things.
By Tayo
Demola
E-mail:
tayodemola@gmail.com
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