The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has stated that for the country to achieve the fundamental objectives of education as envisioned in the National Education Policy, the challenges militating against quality tertiary education must be tackled with a sense of urgency and sincerity.
According to TETFUND, these challenges include inadequate funding, frequent industrial action, cultism, brain drain, insecurity, poor leadership, inadequate quality teaching staff, and poor policy implementation.
Speaking in his lecture titled “University Autonomy and the Challenge of Quality Tertiary Education in Nigeria” during the 9th convocation ceremony of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) at the weekend, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Arch. Sonny Echono noted that a combination of inadequate infrastructure and a limited number of academic staff in both private and public universities translates to limited spaces for admission.
According to him, the impact of rapidly expanding private universities has been quite negligible, as they collectively account for only 7% of the student population and rely heavily on public universities for part-time and adjunct lecturers.
“A mismatch between effective demand and the available space for admission further compounds the situation. The problem of inadequate funding of tertiary education is the most critical challenge that has continued to threaten the attainment of good quality higher education in Nigeria.
“Except for the intervention of TETFund, many tertiary institutions in Nigeria were finding it difficult to build classrooms and lecture halls, equip laboratories and workshops, and provide research grants to their academic staff,” he said.
In his address, the Vice Chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Fasina, said that the university is exploring partnerships with private organisations to develop an independent power supply for FUOYE to enhance efficiency and sustainability across the institution’s campuses.
Fasina stated that FUOYE has successfully cultivated 15 hectares of palm oil plantations, 5 hectares of pineapples, 10 hectares of cassava, and 15 hectares of maize, saying that this initiative has positioned agriculture as a strategic driver of the university’s economic growth.
He added that within the four years of his administration as Vice Chancellor, no fewer than 57 academic staff have been promoted to the rank of Professor, 115 others were promoted to Associate Professor, and 106 were promoted to Senior Lecturer.
One of the honourees and former Attorney General of the Federation, Senator Kanu Agabi, said that Nigeria can never attain the greatness that other nations have achieved by simply sitting down and enjoying the luxuries they provide.
“I am not an economist, but my native intelligence tells me that it is because those who have money refuse to invest it that the nation is going down. The government must encourage those who have money to bring it out and invest. It must encourage those who have money abroad to bring it back home and invest.”
In his remarks, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, tasked the faculties of Engineering and Physics to develop homegrown electricity that could serve the entire university.
He stated that the major challenge facing FUOYE is providing staff accommodation and student hostels, saying that at a certain time of the day, many in the university migrate due to a lack of accommodation, which, in essence, makes the university lose its essence as a community.
By Ayodele Afolabi, @TheGuardian
