University Fundraising: the Nigeria case

It may not yet be uhuru for the cat and mouse game between the errant former collegues at the Ivory tower now Lords in NUC (National University Commission) and their remnant aluta comrades in ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) over the way and manner their current foes at FME (Federal Ministry of Education) should proceed with resolving the lingering autonomy and funding issues in the Nigerian Universities and allied educational establishments.

As long as NUC and ASUU cannot get their acts together to compel FG and FME to grant full autonomy to the Universities in Nigeria to enable them access funds from businesses and corporations without unduly charging the already impoverished and over-stretched studentry; the standard or education and quality of graduates from Nigerian universities will remain what the CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo observed as poor and unemployable.

There are many options open to universites to raise funds to support academic and research work without charging extra tuition on the students. This should be made clear to allay the fears of the anti-autonomy protagonist.

The best practice the world over sees universities going all out to solicit for funds from their formal wealth student and friends of the university without unduly dishing out honourary degrees; a case in point is the latest drive by Cambridge university as reported by Education Guardian that

Cambridge University is well ahead of the pack in fundraising already. In 2001, it started a campaign to raise £1bn by 2012 from wealthy benefactors and former students - by whom it is disproportionately blessed. The report went further to state that as at July 31st last year £663M have been raised.

It is no doubt that most Nigerian Universities are equally blessed with such wealthy benefactors and former students that can help fund research and endow professorial chairs in Nigerian universities and research centres.

In the case of the UK, government is encouraging all universities “to do more to raise funds from private donations, or endowments” to enable them meet their funding needs.

In Nigeria, the case remains unclear the direction or strategy of FME and its supervisory organ (NUC) on how the universities can best be funded; to help lift the already ‘failed state’ of the Nigerian Universities.

No doubt most companies and organisations have shown a lot of responsibilities corporately towards supporting the Universities, much still needs to be done; because in the end, these companies and organisations will pick up the garbage that the underfunded universities are throwing out as employees. It is therefore imperative that these organisations and companies invest today in their tommorrows’ destined employees.

Another way forward is for the FG and FME to muster enough political will and be truthful in their dealing with ASUU towards resolving all the lingering problems in their over 15 years marathon and unending negotiations.

Although, the issues raised above may sound simplistic, the managers of the education sector in Nigeria will always have another view of complexity; coupled with the lack of continuty in programmes and policy between succeeding governments.

The big issues here therefore, are;  what is different from the Nigerian case and that of the UK and other places (?) Are there no corporately responsible companies in Nigeria (?) Are we lacking of wealth benefactors and formal students OR Are the universities not blessed with them (?)These questions are begging for our answers for a start. What is your take?

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University of Ibadan Celebrates 60yrs

 Che Oyinatumba. 

This year 2008, Nigeria’s quest for inclusion into the league of the intelligentsia is 60 years old. In 1948, the University College Ibadan was born and consequently other universities took root. With the manner and means every rich man, church and organisations are getting licence to open a university, even the Nigerian University Commission cannot ascertain the number of degree awarding institutions in Nigeria. Despite this multiplicity of Nigerian universities, the quality of graduates produced is a sad story. Prof. Charles Soludo (Governor of CBN) said that 70% of Nigerian graduates are unemployable.

A good number of companies in Nigeria will rather employ a Diploma holder from Germany than a Nigerian groomed PHD holder in engineering. Same applies to other fields. A good number of corporations in Nigeria have at their top echelon Nigerians with foreign degrees. Their argument being that it is expensive to retrain a Nigerian graduate to fit into the work environment and compete globally in this era of global village.

How did we get here despite the promises of greatness at the wake of independence and the birth of Nigerian Universities? 60 years after, Nigeria cannot produce a table spoon, Nigerian undergraduate will rather leave at 400 Level to start year one in Ghana, Malaysia, Australia and other non-English speaking countries. There are more private/quasi-religious universities than those who can afford them yet there is no corresponding improvement in the quality of graduates we produce.

Nigerians once they leave the shores, do so well, in fact a study in the USA, puts Nigerians among the brightest and most educated immigrants. So what is wrong at the home front? Our men of intellectual timber and calibre are often brought to our notice by foreign institutions. The list of books read by Nigerian undergraduates should be critically examined. Agreed it is the lecturer that dictates what a student reads, but it should be remembered that the headmaster was once a student.

When I was an undergraduate, the easiest source of extorting more money from my parents and sponsors, is through presentation of list of books. As was the custom then, every lecturer gave a list of suggested readings for the course. What we did then was to follow religiously the lecturer for 3 weeks, spy out his favourite text book. Having done this, we present the entire list recommended to us to our sponsors and demand they give us money to buy from the University bookshop.

Need I remind you that of all the books on the list, we will only buy the one the lecturer lectures from while the money for the others slips into our pockets to be diverted to buying other extracurricular books not recommended by the lecturer(s) In this intellectual extortion, most of my “comrades in theft”, brakes book into two and collect double portion for one. If a book is co-authored, all they have to do is write the name of the book twice and place it against each author. Some even request money for two editions of the same book.

 I am forced to reflect on this culture because there is a dearth of reading culture. I have engaged some undergraduates in a discussion. To say the least after talking with them, I felt too intelligent, or aptly, like a pastor leading a sinner to repentance. Mind you, despite our ingenious fraud, we still bought at least one and read it. Those who claim forced to study parents’ choice discipline, use proceeds from this venture to buy books in the field of their choice. Novels were voraciously read. In the interlude before another lecture, discussions hover around do you have this book that book or when will you lend me your novel.

These days, the object of loan among university students is musical CD, DVD and the centre of their discussion is when and where is the next bash. The “librated” lady on campus talks about fashion despite not knowing how to thread a needle. The conquest at the “senator’s” party or illusionary promise of a trip to Dubai by an aristo, keeps these ladies off their books.

For the gees wearing a bandless trouser that exposes dirty boxers, their talk centres around when next a GSM service provider will hit campus and the number of loose girls that will be tipsy and honey for a quickie. The guys’ greatest asset is the make of the cell phone he is hauling around campus, his tushed love nest and not his ability to intellectually mesmerise babes with his understanding of a complex theory.

There is another group of students, who are caught in between. They are hungry to read but there are no books. A carless browsing through books readily available on a book stand will show a collection of American manuals on how to be rich in a poor environment and not how to build rockets or other machineries needful for development.

These books do not take into consideration to economic policies and realities on ground, rather in the name of universal principles; they proffer solutions that can never work. What is the richest man in Babylon doing in Africa? A typical reading list of New Nigerian youths will read like this; Rich Dad Poor Dad; 101 Love text messages; Maximise Your Potential; ABC of Forex; How to make the internet make Money for you( euphemism for manual for yahoo yahoo boys). With active connivance of American evangelical, the capitalist west is underdeveloping Nigeria by corrupting the reading list of Nigerian youths with questionable religious books and self enrichment books that do not take into consideration the world of difference between America and Nigeria.

The dearth of reading culture among Nigerian University undergraduates has been attributed to handout culture introduced by lecturers. According to a lecturer friend of mine, the non-availability of text books and the collapse of printing press in Nigeria, made them to photocopy their rare books and give out to students, so long as students will bear the cost of “production”. From merely bearing the cost of “production”, lecturers have turned authors by summarising and binding these photocopied sheets into books. Woe unto you, if you do not buy.

In some Universities, security numbers are allotted to the students who buy these books. These security numbers are required to be affixed to your exam paper after your matriculation number has been written. Any exam paper without a security number (often the serial number on the lecturers purchase list), no matter how good, does not get a favourable marking. Some passable exam papers without security number, gets an outright carry-over.

Another lecturer I spoke with blamed this culture on students. His claim is that most students are not strictly students. They are involved in trading (both flesh and hardware) and do not have time to read voluminous text books. This group of students coaxes the lecturers into giving them a simple pill and areas of concentration and does away with the boring reading of Das Capital or Wealth of the Nation. But students disagree with these lecturers’ positions.

Accordingly, students lay the blame on the door step of the school authority that through their silence embolden these lecturers to extort students, despite the huge allowances they collect from government after each strike. It is surprising that ASUU and National Association of Nigeria students (NANS) have not deemed it fit to confront this monster. As an icing one student asked me what have my generation done with all the books we read if not to quote bits and pieces to justify our write ups. Interestingly this student referred me to Dele Momodu’s Pendulum on back page of ThisdayNewspaper of December 8th 2007 titled “What Books Do You Read?” and quarried what intellectual purpose does Ovation Magazine serve.(Dele Momodu is the publisher of Ovation Magazine that celebrates the rich without asking the source of their riches).

This student obviously well informed also referred me to Pedagogy Of The Oppressed by Paulo Freire, where the author stated that the end product of reading is action. As an epilogue, this student asked me to point out any community library or reading centre where good books can be accessed.

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Lack of Education Contributes to Crime

Written by: Fabiola Castillo

As more and more low-income families move into neighborhoods that once catered to the middle or upper class, one must be on the lookout for his own personal safety and report any criminal activity going on in their surroundings. Crime is everywhere in these neighborhoods where kids find too much time on their hands after school hours or after the school year lets out.

What also contributes to the crime rate in such places? Is it just the lack of money for low income families? Sometimes, crime can be attributed to the lack of education on the part of the perpetrator or their families.

It is a statistical fact that the crime rate is inversely proportional to the education level of the culprit. Kids who grow up in families that do not stress the importance of getting an education are more likely to be living out on the streets, doing drugs, joining gangs, or ending up in prison.

Sometimes parents who raise such kids were raised in similar conditions when they were youngsters. Nothing has changed. An education should be foremost on parents’ minds when rearing their kids. In fact, an education is the key out of poverty. As the old saying goes, “The way out of the gutter is with a book and not a basketball.”

Kids who do not have a good education in school are more likely to have difficulty with finding jobs, getting into college, or staying out of trouble with the law. Many times they have family issues that are attributed to the loss of a parent at a young age due to a death or an incarceration.

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