Lack Of Motivation, Equipment Killing Tertiary Education In Nigeria – SSANU
The National President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Muhammed Ibrahim has refuted the claim that it is lecturers that are killing tertiary education in Nigeria.
Ibrahim who spoke in an interview recently on the nation’s tertiary education system, incessant lecturers’ strikes among other issues, said the standard of education in the country is failing due to lack of proper funding.
The president noted that education will be okay when it is properly funded, teachers are well trained, and lecturers are well paid.
Also, he said equipment should be made available with electricity and libraries properly stocked with related books and journals.
He said: “Education is a social service. So, the standard of education is falling because the providers of education don’t provide proper funding. When you don’t fund a system like education properly, you don’t expect to harvest any miracle.
“When the education system was said to be okay was because it was properly funded. That was when teachers and other workers were trained, lecturers were well paid and their morals high, equipment were available, there was electricity, and our libraries were properly stuck with related books and journals.
“Hostels were provided, students were comfortable, the clinics were well equipped with drugs, the environment was conducive, security was provided, and our lecture theatres were top-notch with good furniture and other materials.
“Those are the functions that give you the platform to provide good education or what you now call a high standard. It is not the frequency of strikes or lack of it.
“You can stay a whole section without a strike but if things are not there, how do you expect to have quality education? If you fund education properly, everything will be top-notch. There is no public university in Nigeria today that can tell you it enjoys adequate funding whether in terms of running costs or personnel costs.
“You find yourself in a situation whereby workers will work, and their salaries are delayed or are not paid. You have so many public universities, especially state-owned universities where you have workers who have not been paid for six months and above. So, the morale is low. If you go to their lecture theatre, laboratories, and classrooms, everything is dilapidated.
“These are what we can say are the reasons why the standard of education is falling. But I can assure you that if the government is serious about providing quality education, they should make available adequate funding.”
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
