At ASUU valedictory lecture, EX-UNILAG VC advises Nigerian universities to adopt online education

The immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has chronicled the challenges confronting Nigeria’s tertiary education system, describing them as seemingly insurmountable.

Mr Ogundipe, a Professor of Botany, spoke on Wednesday as the guest lecturer at a valedictory lecture in honour of the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Lawal Bilbis, also a professor.

The event, organised by the institution’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), was part of the activities to mark the union’s programme tagged: “ASUU UDUS Heroes’ Day.”

Mr Ogundipe spoke on the topic: “University Governance and Traditions in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Prospects.”

He listed the challenges facing Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions to include acute underfunding, infrastructural decay, brain drain, overcrowding, leadership incompetence, and the accompanying consequence of unemployable graduates, among numerous others.

The guest lecturer said the key solution to the multiple crises facing the universities in Nigeria is improved funding and judicious utilisation of the funds. He, however, noted that it would be difficult to access the huge amount required by Nigerian universities to significantly address the identified challenges facing the institutions.

As a way forward, therefore, Mr Ogundipe said online education would help universities reach more students without the high additional cost of constructing more classrooms, and hostels, and the increasing cost of maintaining these facilities.

Professor Ogundipe and other participants at the event

“Given the impracticality of investing trillions of naira towards new university building projects, a cost-efficient alternative that the nation should embrace is online education,” he said.

Obsolete facilities

In his presentation, while reeling out many other challenges confronting the universities in Nigeria, he linked the perennial workers’ strike on various campuses to the identified issues.

“Inadequate funding is the bane of the Nigerian university education, and this is invariably hindering the optimal performance of many university managers,” he said.

He said most universities lack modern facilities for effective teaching and learning.

He added that modern equipment and facilities are important for effective teaching and learning with accelerating technological development.

The lecturer also decried the current earnings of Nigerian academics, which he described as paltry.

“The salary of a vice-chancellor is about N800,000. By the time they deduct everything maybe you will go home with N500 or N600,000,” he said.

“And when you leave office as a vice-chancellor, you will revert to your salary as a professor.”

Way forward

In suggesting a way forward, Mr Ogundipe said traditional brick-and-mortar universities are both capital-intensive and unscalable, suggesting online education which he noted is “scalable, flexible, and accessible.”

He said: “In fact, the flexibility offered by online education will also go a long way toward reducing incidences of kidnappings, particularly for those in Northwestern Nigeria. This is of course because online students can learn from home.”

He noted that universities would, however, need to invest better in internet infrastructure “given the importance of a strong and reliable internet connection in ensuring a good online learning experience for students, there’s a need to close this gap.”

He also asked universities to use the equipment provided by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and report contractors who supply substandard equipment.

He said: “Concerning these teaching materials, TETFund is spending a lot of money in that area, and you find out that some of these companies will now supply substandard equipment to the universities. Universities should write directly to TETFund so that they will know that some of the equipment that are being supplied by these companies that the contract were awarded to are not standard equipment.

“I remember when we had this TETFund meeting, they were showing us pictures of some universities that kept their equipment in the store. Equipment that they are supposed to have (been) given out for the student to use.”

Outgoing VC speaks

In his speech, the outgoing vice-chancellor of UDUS, Mr Bilbis, noted that universities must begin to change the narratives that come out of them.

He said most news coming out of the university is one strike or another, noting that such a single narrative must change.

He said: “We need to be dynamic in the way we run our universities. We need changes that will start bringing some work into the university”.

Mr Billbis noted that running a university is expensive, adding that funding from the government remains abysmal.

He said the government allocation for running the day-to-day activities of the universities is so little that it can hardly cater for the electricity bill of the institutions.

“I can recall we had a meeting with the minister of finance at one time and we told her that the salary of a vice-chancellor is N641,000, and if you are someone like me that take loans, I’ll go home with N400,000,” he said.

He appreciated members of ASUU for organising the ceremony and Mr Ogundipe for the lecture.

He thanked the union for the support for his administration as the vice-chancellor since he assumed office five years ago.

“ASUU, I sincerely appreciate this. I don’t know whether I deserve this. I know we have our usual behind-the-scenes quarrels at the management. Still, I have always had fruitful discussions at any meeting I have with ASUU,” he said, while dedicating his award to the staff and students of the university.

He also appreciated students’ civility in ensuring that the university remains the most peaceful in the country.

“This university is a student-centred university. Suppose you decide to transfer from the university and nobody picks Usmanu Danfodiyo University the next day. In that case, the federal government will say our services are no longer required, and they’ll ask us to put up your resignation letter and go home,” he added.

Awards

ASUU-UDUS also conferred excellence awards on its members who have retired from the university system.

The academics also extolled late members, including Yusuf Saidu, a professor who was recently murdered by bandits in Zamfara during a trip from Sokoto to Kaduna State.

One of the awardees, Hamidu Ahmed, an emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, was awarded posthumously. He died on 3 July.

Other awardees are Nuhu Yaqub, a Professor of Political science; Abdulganiyu Salawu, a Professor of Guidance and Counselling; Yusuf Saidu, a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry; Yahaya Al-amin, a Professor of Islamic Literature; Saidya Omar, a professor of Hausa Literature; Mohammed Mode, a professor of Science of Tafsir; Sulaiman Etsay, a Professor of Islamic Studies, and Mohammed Magaji, a Professor of Agronomy.

READ ALSO: Withheld Salaries: Stop treating us like ASUU, we never went on strike — CONUA tells Tinubu

Others are Muhammad Mustapha, Muhammad Dangana, Atiku Ahmad, Ibrahim Alhassan, Abdullahi Abdulkarim, Abdulganiyu Bello, Aliyu Yusuf, Auwal Abdulnasir, and Abubakar Tsoho, all professors.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe