…Establishing more private universities should not take priority over the ‘quality of graduates’ that these universities produce

…There should be streamlining of the process of establishing new universities in Nigeria, while existing ones should be re-structured and repositioned to meet globally accepted standards

By ZIK GBEMRE

In being blunt and going straight to the subject matter, I strongly believe that the Nigerian Public/government universities, particularly Federal Universities, are far better than the private Nigerian universities across many angles.

The truth is, I really do not know how some of the Nigerian Universities came to be in existence because looking at how they operate, and of course the quality of the graduates they produce every year, one begins to wonder. For instance, how can a Private University turn out and produce 50 to 100 First Class holders as graduates, and over 300 Second Class Upper Division graduates in just one private university for just One Academic Session? With which facilities and intellectual capabilities did they use to produce such number of First Class and Second Class Upper Division graduates? How do we explain it?

For me, it simply means most of these private universities are nothing but “cash and carry” certificate centres. I seriously doubt the quality of the education dished out to the said graduates described above. Most of the private universities in Nigeria are nothing but “money making” centres for the universities’ academic staff and exams and records staff.

Agreed that as a result of the problem with ASUU strikes, which often prolong the duration of every study in public/government universities. This has made some to prefer private universities so that their children and wards would graduate when they are supposed to. But I think it is better to have quality graduates from Federal universities than to have half-baked graduates from private universities with first class and upper class degrees in Nigeria and other African countries.

As at the last quarter of 2020, Nigeria has 171 universities, according to National Universities Commission (NUC) records. Of the figure, 91 are public institutions, with 44 owned by the Federal Government while 48 are owned by State Governments.

The remaining 79 are privately owned. But with the doubtful quality of most of these universities, and the rising number of candidates competing for the VERY LIMITED ADMISSION SLOTS – an annual average of two million, according to JAMB figures – the debate over whether the proliferation of universities is a blessing, or even a curse, has continued to rage.

While some Nigerians believe that the nation’s over 200 million people deserve even more universities, others like me, have argued, and are of the opinion that MORE ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO STRENGTHEN EXISTING ONES TO MEET REQUIRED GLOBALLY ACCEPTED STANDARDS, AND BOOST THE QUALITY OF GRADUATES.

Stakeholders opposed to more universities in Nigeria, have often pointed out that Nigerian universities are finding it extremely difficult to break into the top 600 universities in global ratings. There is also the evident fact buttressed by employers, that MOST NIGERIAN GRADUATES ARE UNEMPLOYABLE and will, thus, suggest more attention should be given to existing universities to shore up QUALITY, so that graduates of Nigerian universities can COMPETE FAVORABLY with their counterparts in the world.

We will not be wrong to say that apparently, the NUC has been too liberal to people seeking licenses to own universities. It is as if all that people do now, including some State Governments, is to raise new, or upgrade existing structures and then call it a University, having used money to buy their way through in meeting the supposed requirements set by the agency to get their approval and license.

While lending his voice on this issue, a concerned Nigerian once said: “Many of the universities established in the last 10 to 15 years were just `creations of our political action’; they have turned universities to mere constituency projects. We cannot expect the best from the schools because we have no plan for the academic staff and the infrastructure. Before creating any university, there must be concrete blueprint for the take off of the institutions, but we create them and leave them to suffer. Even some of the Federal and State Governments ESTABLISHED UNIVERSITIES, WERE DONE WITHOUT ANY PLAN FOR THEM AND THEIR FUTURE. For instance, why do we need a university of transportation, or that of Information and Communication Technology? All these courses can be taken care of by existing public/government universities.”

Clearly, the proliferation of private universities’ education will not help us as a nation; it is grossly affecting the QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN THE COUNTRY. Our education standard is in trouble with this Proliferation of private universities in Nigeria. I still hold the view that the public/government universities are still the best no matter what. Even though some of the recently established State Government, and few Federal Government universities cannot be said to have been established with clear direction of purpose and education quality sustainability, but they are still better off than most of these privately owned universities.

While it is good that the Government agency in charge of issuing licenses for the establishment of private university, wants to create access to tertiary education, but it is bad that the quality of education is usually not looked into. The argument that close to two million Nigerians apply to write JAMB yearly, should not be the basis for which the government agency would decide to dish out licenses to every dick and harry that wants to open a university.

Universities across the United Kingdom and the US were properly thought out before they are established. And that is why they have continued to stand the test of time, and are always ranked amongst the best in the world. I believe there should be streamlining of the process of establishing new universities in Nigeria, while existing ones should be re-structured and repositioned to achieve desired mandates. The country is not so much in need of more private universities for now. And for the existing ones, there should be strict monitoring and supervision of private universities as most of them were operating like commercial ventures.
_*Zik Gbemre.*_
_*May 31, 2021*_


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