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University education not a low hanging fruit -By Sam Aruleba

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minster of educationmallam Adamu Adamu

Hon. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu

The controversies surrounding the Joint Admission Matriculation Board’s policy on admission into universities and other institutions of higher learning in the country in the 2017/18 academic session are not receding just yet. With Nigerians in the Diaspora residing in the United Kingdom, over the weekend, the raging arguments continue to strengthen even though on a moderated paradigm shift as Nigeria clocks 57 years of independence. The 120 cut-off mark for universities, 100 for polytechnics, colleges of education and 110 for special centres of learning have since been considered by many stakeholders as pathetically deficient to academic progression. To this, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, may be wearing an apron of indictment if he had to say, Welcome on board the Nigerian premier learning centres, oh yea, that is lazy or known to be academically backward. Je suis de votre côté! “I’m on your side”. This is your clarion call to obtain your degree on the cheap, wear the gown and endorse your signature on the indelible ink of academic history. We offer everyone a 30 per cent success for our universities”.

The minister couldn’t brush off the dust of sentiment under his skin by thoughtlessly veering into the ideas of further smearing an institution already on its kneels with his so-called education distribution equaliser in all the states of Nigeria. Former presidential spokesperson, Dr Reuben Abati, was even unapologetic and would go the extra mile to protect his pay master whilst exonerating him as not a party to the debate and final conclusion of drubbing down the credibility of education in the country. The more he addresses the issue in the public, the louder the people in chorus cry out their umbrage, condemning mediocrity and loathing panel-beating the body of knowledge. It is indefensible, slovenly crass, intellectually fraudulent, and erosion of academic value. These are many of best ways the Diasporas could ascribe the ludicrous flu jab administered over tertiary institutions’ revised admission policy by JAMB. The fire of condemnation and clamour for a reversal of policy couldn’t have generated more heat than stated. Children, they say, are treasures of life to their parents and in their later years of development if properly nurtured and groomed could also become beacons of joy and happiness to their community.

In some parts of Nigeria, child education is religion, and treated as the prime factor for economic development and social fulfilment. Yet, quite a number of states still whirl near zero ground level in its improvement. In the South-West of the country, primary education became free in 1955 under the leadership of the late Sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Higher education, post-secondary education, or third level education is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completion of secondary education. Tertiary education at the non-degree level is sometimes referred to as further education or continuing education as distinct from higher education. Regardless of the rainbow colour each portrays, the terrain of university education is not for the half-hearted but the domain for the candidates of lateral thinking ability and of analytical mind. It is the parameter that separates the master from the apprentice. In its days, university graduates were seen and treated like mini-gods. They called the shots, they made the policy, and they ran the shop. They directed national affairs, others followed. They were the logicians who are rich in knowledge. They were the Socrates and Oasis of their time. They defined and refined the society. Doctors were rare and professors even rarer.

In spite of its spread further down the line of little fish in the pond, one cannot still attribute university education as a low hanging fruit for the reach of all aspiring entities. It is an exclusive nutrition for those that are mentally prepared, intellectually sagacious, and with reasoning abilities that go beyond averageness. From this class of people, we have the gifted candidates who perform on natural endowment, and with less strain to cope with all it takes inside and outside the classroom. They are the highest bidder. Thomas Edison, the American inventor, once said, “Discontent is the first necessity of progress”. The unprecedented lowering of UTME entry requirements to 30 per cent for potential university candidates in the country is contentment on the slow lane of progress and nothing but cowardice and self-relegation back to the Stone Age. It is an expression of self-worth and the belief that we lack the moxie to effectively compete with the best around us.

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Already, we have 23 universities in the country that were so elated to implement the below par standard policy of the ministry of education. Many of them are nothing more than glorified secondary schools. Some could even be honoured with chicken and pig institutions. What would become of their seeds after graduation on half-baked tuitions? That is left to one’s imagination. But one thing is sure; any tertiary institution found to be keen at promoting mediocrity is not adding value to human enlightenment and development. Ordinarily, such institution should be boycotted and left in self-ruin. Looking around, these universities are spineless as they are visionless. Their focus hangs on filling up the empty classrooms as against quality control. They also relish on collecting and feeding fat on easy money from those underperforming candidates seeking literacy at the prime level.

Candidates with aura of showing off a university certificate as against what good education would do for them and tailoring them at serving their country in the very best capacities are those to be found at Adamu’s influenced centres of learning. Devoid of any underpinning fugaciousness, these universities were primed by the education ministry to serve a permanent cocktail of intellectual backwardness, further compounding the malaise of the giddy candidates that should have been lifted up in their quest to acquiring acceptable standard education in reflection of the modern day needs. University education is important to national economies, both as an industry, in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy. University educated workers have commanded a measurable wage premium and are much less likely to become unemployed than less educated workers. However, the admission of so many undeserved candidates of only average ability to university education inevitably requires a decline in academic standards, facilitated by grade inflation. Also, the supply of graduates in many fields of study will be exceeding the demand for their skills, which aggravates graduate unemployment and underemployment, as well as credential and educational inflation.

In addition to the skills that are specific to any particular degree, potential employers in any profession are looking for evidence of critical thinking, and analytical reasoning skills, team-working skills, information literacy, ethical, judgment, decision-making skills, language power, problem solving skills, and a wide knowledge of liberal arts and sciences. It is noted and widely accepted even before the introduction of 30 percentres into the body of learning at our tertiary institutions that Nigerian graduates are parading certificates obtained on false pretence of academic ingenuity. They have long been classified unemployable by prospective employers, hence, the millions parading the streets as urchins. If the past could still offer a glimpse of hope to jump-lead a veritable life back to the lifeless body of learning in Nigeria, the present directive by JAMB to accept and enlist as authentic candidates every Dike, Tomiwa and Haruna into our universities has completely wiped out such hope and left us in the cliff. In football terms, it is like we have taken unprecedented decision as a nation to relegate ourselves from a top-six Premiership side by deciding to play exclusively in the League One! Some people may dismiss omissions as sophistry, but they have lost sight of the fact that precision of expression reflects precision of thought. Adamu in whatever adoptable guise might urgently need a rethinking to bring back the deserved sanity to our tertiary institutions.

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Dr Aruleba, a policy analyst based in London, wrote in via samarus@rocketmail.com

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