Nigeria: Dumping ground for foreign varsities

Prof. Juilus Okojie,
Executive Secretary,
National Universities
CommissionNot only is Nigeria a dumping ground for finished products from the West and the East, the country is also fast becoming a dumping ground for education as foreign universities find it convenient to establish degree -awarding study centres in Nigeria. Sulaimon Olanrewaju reports.

Developed countries of Europe and America as well as emerging economies in Asia find it convenient to send to Nigeria their finished products. This is because the high cost of production in Nigeria makes the cheaper imported manufactured products attractive to Nigerians. So, other countries continue to dump their products in Nigeria. Consequently, the manufacturing sector is undergoing a trying time with many companies either producing far below installed capacity or not producing at all.

A similar scenario is playing out in the education sector now as foreign universities are establishing study centres where students can receive lectures and take the degree of a foreign university without leaving the shores of Nigeria. It is not uncommon to find a signboard in any of the major cities in the country announcing a place as the study centre of a foreign university. The foreign universities are not just from the West, there are even universities from the neighbouring West African countries having study centres in the country with many of them offering all sorts of courses, relevant and otherwise with university education-sapped Nigerians enrolling. Just as manufactured products are dumped in the country, so are educational programmes.

That Nigerians are patronising these study centres is a pointer to the fact that there are many people who would want to enrol in the universities that are not offered admission by the regular universities. That also goes to confirm the position of the National Universities Commission (NUC) that the number of universities in the country is inadequate for the population.

As desirous as the degree-awarding study centres may be, of great concern is the quality of education the beneficiaries of the system are exposed to.

Commenting on this, Professor Francis Egbokhare, Director, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan, said the increasing number of degree - awarding study centres in the country was a pointer to the hunger for higher education by many Nigerians. He, however, added that foreign universities were capitalising on this as a result of the failure of the nation’s authorities to seize the opportunity provided by the hunger.

Speaking further, Egbokhare said many of the foreign universities resorted to this because of the serious pressure they faced.

“The foreign universities are experiencing a cash crunch”, Egbokhare said. “This is one of the reasons for their action. They are coming to Nigeria just because they want to make money. That is their primary focus. Then, having their study centres in Nigeria solves the problem of immigration for the students. So, it is by far more convenient for the universities to have their centres here than have the students travel abroad for their degree.

According to the Linguistics professor, the major cause for concern is the not so high quality of the graduates produced by the study centres.

“The truth is that the graduates of the study centres do not have the same level of quality that the real students have for obvious reasons. The universities are not really bothered about this because they know that the products of the system are going to work in their home countries. As far as they are concerned. It is our problem, not theirs. That is why we are convinced that their primary concern is money. If they were concerned about really developing the human capital in the host countries of the study centres, they would ensure that the centres, had the same quality as the parent universities, “he said.

However, Egbokhare would, rather than have the study centres scrapped, want the NUC to regulate the study centres such that the products would be value - adding graduates.

“The NUC should regulate the centres,” he said. “The N.U.C. should ensure that the standards in the centre are consistently high. Unlike the foreign universities, NUC has a stake in the country. It has to ensure that the interest of both the students and the nation at large is safeguarded.

Egbokhare said if this is done, the level of capital flight that would result from the programme would be reduced and the country would not totally lose out.

Egbokhare lamented that the nation found itself in a situation where countries whose education systems are not as good as that of Nigeria export education to her because the country is not proactive.

“We ought to be exporting education to other countries but because we have failed to put our acts together, countries that we ought to be educating are now trying to educate us. We have to do something about it. We have to increase access to university education. That is the only way to ensure that our students are given the proper education that will enable them to contribute to national development,” he said.

We’re working towards paperless operation - OAU Registrar

Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu,
Education Minister Mr. Ayorinde Ogunruku is a 1978 graduate of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife. In this interview with Sulaimon Olanrewaju, he speaks on his plans to make the registry contribute to the realization of the university’s objectives.

What are the challenges of being the registrar of Obafemi Awolowo University?
We give God the glory, He is helping us, things are shaping up. Generally, Nigerian universities today are passing through a phase. When we are talking about world class universities, no Nigerian university is among the first 200 in the world. That is a very tall challenge. We, in OAU, are thinking of taking this university to such level that it can be truly called world-class. We don’t just want to be rated the best in Nigeria, we want to be among world best. The infrastructure we have here compares with what operates in any of the advanced countries. We believe that with government funding we will be able to get ourselves up to that level. We have the capacity.

So, the registry is part of the system. We think we need to get the registry to the level whereby we can facilitate the whole process of administration, the objectives of the university in teaching, research and community service by having an administration that is very well mobilized to ensure quick dispensation of decision as are taken by the committee system that operates in the university, employing modern tools, computerizing our operations. I have a dream that in a short while it should be possible for the major organs of the university to have paperless administration so that we can solve some of the problems. We are looking forward to a system that will be mobilized enough to facilitate the academic process so that there can be proper engagement with pure research that will impact the community in terms of knowledge.

How do you cope with staff demand?
We are all partners in progress. We are working together, synergising with the unions and the various segments of the university. There are challenges but we are all committed to ensuring that OAU is properly re-branded that what the society knows us by; a place where we don’t complete semesters as at when due, elongation of academic processes, becomes a thing of the past. We are praying to God to grant us a very smooth working relationship and we are working towards that. The VC is a very good leader, we are all following and we are all cooperating to ensure that all parts are brought on board so that the system can run well.

How do you cope with student problems?
There are problems of a few that are yet to catch up with what it is to run student unionism. I think student unionism is an avenue for leadership preparation. The era of brigandage is over. We are looking forward to having unionism that will project the image of the university, be accoun-table, responsive and quite innovative in the way it looks at issues.

You can’t do without students, they are very important and their leaders are part of the system we are talking about. We must all work together to ensure that there is the right atmosphere in the university. All hands must be on deck.

Is there a system of preparing the students for leadership position?
We are hoping that by the time we have the students’ union back we will organize training sessions to let them know that they are part of the whole process. We believe that training them will advance the cause of having a smooth education process.

I was outside the country in 2006. In the university where I went, the students’ union declared a profit of 2 million pounds from their operations; supermarket, canteen etc. They give scholarships to their members and many other things.