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\nWhy are Nigeria\u2019s universities in such a sorry state? Some would say it had to do with just one word: money. Sadly this is part of the reason. But not entirely.<\/p>\n
\nWhy are Nigeria\u2019s universities in such a sorry state? Some would say it had to do with just one word: money. Sadly this is part of the reason. But not entirely.<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s universities have been under-funded for\u00a0decades<\/a>. Like a talented but under-achieving football team, fail to achieve goals because the country hasn\u2019t invested enough in their structure, their facilities and their people.<\/p>\n Higher education in Nigeria includes universities (federal, state and private) as well as polytechnics (skills-intensive and experiential learning programmes) and colleges of education. With over 160 universities, 128 polytechnics and 177 colleges of education, it constitutes the\u00a0largest higher education system<\/a>\u00a0in Africa.<\/p>\n My colleague Professor Val Ekechukwu, the Dean of Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and I did a\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of Nigeria\u2019s top 12 universities to assess their academic output. This review was undertaken as part of a comparative assessment of Nigerian universities to other emerging global economies (Brazil, Turkey and Thailand). The review hasn\u2019t been published in an academic journal but its contents have been made available to readers interested in the development of tertiary education in Nigeria\u00a0via news outlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n We found that the country\u2019s universities lag well behind equivalent emerging global economies like South Africa, Egypt, Thailand, Turkey and Brazil. They also lag behind traditional world leaders.<\/p>\n We sourced the data for our paper from\u00a0SciVal<\/a>. This tracks the research performance of over 10,400 research institutions from 230 countries.<\/p>\n Decades of under-funding in universities has had dramatic consequences. These include:<\/p>\n And yet, the education budget in Nigeria has seen\u00a0little or no change<\/a>\u00a0over the last few years, and government funding of education remains low. In 2018, it was just over 7% of the national budget. This level of funding, as a percentage of the total budget, has remained stagnant since 2009 when it was 7.25%.<\/p>\n A widely-used international indicator to measure the level of investment in research is the Gross Domestic Expenditure on Research and Development. It\u2019s measured as a percentage of the total economic activity in a country or Gross Domestic Product.<\/p>\n The\u00a0world average<\/a>\u00a0is a healthy 1.77%. But African countries lag behind. In South Africa it is\u00a00.76%<\/a>\u00a0and in Egypt it\u2019s\u00a00.4%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nigeria trails behind even its African equivalents at\u00a00.2%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nigeria is Africa\u2019s biggest economy and most populous country. Why then, when it comes to university education, does it behave more like a backwater than the mainstream it should be? What can be done?<\/p>\n We would argue that improving the outcomes of Nigeria\u2019s universities requires investment, powered by a national strategic vision and matched with good governance.<\/p>\n The Nigerian University Commission has\u00a0indicated<\/a>\u00a0that it intends to increase university capacity by supporting the creation of new private universities. But indications show that the commission hasn\u2019t focused on the level of scholarly output. Quantity is of limited use unless accompanied by quality.<\/p>\n Offering joint faculties or schools between foreign and local institutions would be another way of bringing investment into Nigerian universities. The foreign investment model has led to significant improvements in the quality of education in other countries, for example in\u00a0Malaysia<\/a>.<\/p>\n But turning to the international market for investment would require significant policy and governance changes within the Nigerian University Commission.<\/p>\n To improve university research activity, the proposed establishment of the National Research and Innovation Foundation as detailed in the\u00a0Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of 2011<\/a>, is now urgently required. An established research and innovation foundation could have responsibility to fund research and development across all subject areas, and monitor its quality.<\/p>\n It\u2019s vital that the strategic vision of the foundation is aligned with the economic objectives of the country. This will ensure the development of strong research in subjects critical to the economy.<\/p>\n Of course, decades of neglect will not be remedied in a year. There are competing demands for government funds, such as in areas from transport infrastructure to health. But there must be a strong political will to improve universities year on year, and make education a long-term priority.<\/p>\n Nigeria has just voted for a\u00a0new government<\/a>. Let us hope the new government has a vision for Nigeria\u2019s tertiary education \u2013 a vision that will give a youthful, vibrant Nigeria the universities it deserves.<\/p>\nThe problems<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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How to fix the problem<\/strong><\/h4>\n