Each time I reflect on the State of higher education in Nigeria, I feel nothing but immense pity for the youth of this generation. Nigeria represents a classical example of a country where the real meaning of education has been torn into shreds.
It is often said that when the importance or use of something is not known, it is prone to misuse and abuse. The government both at the state and federal level are unaware of the importance of educating the masses.
Education is treated with much contempt; it is underrated, undervalued and overlooked.
The real meaning of education is teaching people better ways of doing things and living. It is about empowerment and creativity. It is not limited to a class, age, gender or section of people, or else any neglected section will ruin whatever you are trying hard to build or protect.
Education is not restricted to reading and writing, but it also encompasses character building, installing into people the right moral attitude, etiquette and virtues like patience, tolerance, teamwork, gentleness, boldness, eloquence, entrepreneurship skills, communication skills, neatness, gracefulness, politeness, good sense of judgment and healthy ways of living. Education teaches people how to live right and shun social vices.
It is disheartening that the government is unable to give quality education to the citizens. The government has limited education to paper certificates.
Lecturers hardly care about the welfare of students, they only care about how to set exams, no character building, no counsel to guide, you find students moving like sheep without shepherd, making wrong decisions. Universities that promise to build the life of people only achieve the opposite. You can hardly distinguish a university graduate from a bus conductor that does not have a primary school certificate.
Most of our graduates have become armed robbers, assassins, street fighters, hemp smokers and gangsters. They are also the corrupt leaders we have today who get into power through ulterior means. All these they learn while in school and bring into the larger society.
A good example is the case of the 38-year-old mathematics graduate of Nnamdi Azikwe University, who was apprehended recently for being a notorious kidnapper. Despite all the lectures, semester exams, school structure and all the years he spent at the university, the school only made a kidnapper out of him. Well, this is not a time to cast stones on anyone but to find a way forward and move in that direction.
My candid advice to the government, if it is truly interested in the development of Nigeria, is to give the private sector more opportunity in the higher education sector.
The government should call on stakeholders in the banking, telecommunication sector, and so on, to invest positively on education.
It should encourage and welcome more private universities across the country by giving them full accreditation, including in professional courses. They should reduce the unnecessary expenditures that private institutions must make before getting registered and accredited.
This will help improve the quality of their services, tuition fees will be reduced, more schools will be available to the teeming populace, while the overcrowded state and federal universities will become a thing of the past.
This will also ensure that students are monitored closely to ensure discipline. Students will have access to vocational skills to help them become entrepreneurs instead of searching for non-existent jobs. Employment will be increased with the establishment of more schools.
I will also like to correct the notion that private institutions are only established to exploit citizens; rather it is the government elected by the people to manage our resources that mismanage it and end up hiding under the cloak of insufficient funds to give citizens quality education. I therefore appeal to the government to stop hoarding education in order for us to gain the true development we seek.
