Some are of the opinion that the funds used to create the new universities should have been used to beef up existing, under-funded institutions. Others are convinced that the move will open up much-needed access to higher education for many more Nigerians.
Professor Ruqquayat Rufai, the federal minister of education, recently announced the three additional federal universities, in Kebbi, Zamfara and Yobe states.
“The establishment of national universities complements efforts being made by the federal government towards tackling educational challenges at all tiers in the country,” she declared.
But the policy is controversial, and has sharply divided vice-chancellors.
Professor Adebayo Odebiyi, vice-chancellor of Achievers University in Owo in the west, does not fully support setting up new universities. “It is a political decision,” he declared.
“It can only provide a short-term political solution to one side of the equation of human capital development in our universities. There is a crisis of funding, infrastructure and staffing in the university system and the latter is indeed fundamental.”
On staffing, Odebiyi likened the establishment of universities without sufficient staff to building barracks and recruiting soldiers without officers and equipment to train them. “Consequently, the result can be nothing but the emergence of rag tag army,” he stressed.
Opposition to new universities also came from Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, vice-chancellor of Caleb University in Lagos. He questioned the rationale and said the new institutions were created to “score political points and not to contribute to educational development.
“So if they are a political equalisation tool, good for them. But should a university be created for political reasons or for developmental purposes? Where will the lecturers come from? Where will the funding come from?” asked Olukoju.
Towing a middle line was Professor Sola Akinrinmade, former vice-chancellor of Osun State University in Osun in the south-west, who reminded critics that the government had declared its intention to create 12 new universities as far back as November 2010.
“The recent approvals only completed what was approved then. Hopefully, the three new universities will contribute to expanding access while ensuring equity,” he said.
“The establishment of new universities should not in any way halt government’s efforts in tackling the challenges confronting old ones. The interventions are not mutually exclusive and federal government intervention in higher education should be continued.”
On the other side of the spectrum, three vice-chancellors in Kwara state in western Nigeria fully supported the new institutions. They are Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah of Kwara State University in Malete, Professor Ola-Rotimi Ajayi of Landmark University in Omu Aran, and Professor Suleyman Abdulkareem of Al-Hikmah University in Ilorin.
They pointed out that more than 1.5 million candidates compete each year to gain access to 300,000 places in 128 Nigerian universities. New institutions, they argued, will help solve the admission crisis.
Both protagonists and proponents of the new universities are unanimous on three issues – infrastructure, staffing and funding.
On infrastructure, Na’Allah of Kwara State University was emphatic. “While the number of available universities for 168 million Nigerians may be significant, the most important thing government can do is to ensure 21st century infrastructure and academic quality for all government universities.”
With regard to staffing, Professor Oladimeji Faborode, former vice-chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University and current secretary general of the Association of Vice-chancellors, is a strong advocate of special funding for older universities with strong postgraduate colleges that can produce PhD holders and a new generation of academics.
Funding of universities is a perennial problem confronting older universities. The creation of new ones may compound the financial crisis engulfing the entire university system.
And there is no apparent solution, although Na’Allah suggested that partnerships between industries and universities could help. “Our universities have failed because we are still facing gigantic developmental problems, which could have been solved if they had collaborated with industries. This kind of partnership should be explored without delay.”
The debate over the creation of new universities will not disappear. University education in Nigeria is both a culture and an industry.
The vast majority of Nigerians have embraced higher education since the late 19th century, when the first generation of law and medical graduates were produced in Dublin and London.
There is a myth that every household must have a degree-holder, which has given rise to a proliferation of public and private universities. And yet there are still not enough to cater for secondary school-leavers qualified to enter higher education.
“The Nigerian public will clamour for more universities because every family wants all of its children to obtain university degrees. The attendant difficulty in creating and running universities will continue to confront Nigeria,” said one vice-chancellor who did not want to be named.
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