Beyond the NUC Accreditation Exercise

Victor E. Dike

Recently, the National Universities Commission (NUC), which reviews courses and quality and standard of teaching in Nigeria's universities, denied accreditation to some courses offered at some universities in the country. The NUC also reported that some of the institutions lack the requisite number of quality teachers and resources to provide quality instructions to students and to conduct research. Consequently, the affected institutions were instructed not to admit fresh students into the programs that were denied accreditation until further notice. If there is any truth in what NUC has said it is that this information is not new because the universities in Nigeria (federal and state) have for years now been starved of funds for effective teaching and learning. And the good teachers who teach from the heart are profoundly disgusted and discouraged for lack motivation to perform their duties leading to the dangerous ‘brain drain’ phenomenon in the society and the “half-baked” graduates they churn out each year.

Is that not what the doctor ordered? You cannot order a Pepsi and be given a Coca-Cola! Who is to blame for the low academic standard in the society? The politicians, whom the people elected (and those who rigged their way into power) to run the affairs of the society, are diverting the funds for education to their private purses causing the decay in the system. However, with good management of the resources at its disposal Nigeria should afford to offer good quality education to the youths and prepare them to meet the challenges of the emerging technologically advanced global economy. The society should look beyond the NUC accreditation exercise and begin now to dismantle the obstacles hampering effective teaching and learning in Nigerian universities.

The role of education in the development of a society has been vastly documented in academic journals, and we do not intend to revisit it here. However, it suffices to say that the current poor quality university graduates (and those of secondary and elementary schools) is preventing Nigeria from moving toward greater growth and prosperity. In other words, the dismal state of education in Nigeria affects the economic, social and political life of the nation. But how much a nation progresses depends largely on the quality of its education and the educational attainment of its citizens. According to development experts “growth means prosperity” and “no growth means stagnation, recession, [and] a decline in the standard of living” of the people. That's why Nigeria should maintain and equip its schools and consistently give the sector the attention it deserves.

The observation and documentation of the crucial problems facing the universities alone is not enough. However, having identified the problems what plans have the NUC to ratify the situation? Are efforts being made to improve the working condition of teachers in the system so as to attract and retain good scholars? Has the government allocated enough money to the system to procure the necessary tools for effective teaching and learning? Have some funds been made available to graduate students in the form of loans to pursue doctoral programs in the needed academic areas? Presently, there is a mad rush by state governments, individuals and organizations to establish private universities without serious plans on how to train the requisite manpower for the institutions. But there is another aspect of the matter. It is not good enough for the NUC to issue out credentials to individuals to open up higher institutions. The commission should go beyond that; and the managers of Nigeria should learn to do something right! Any organization applying for a license to establish a university should be required to show concrete and serious plans for training or acquiring the needed teachers for the programs they intend to offer. For education to accomplish its objective both for the individual and the society, the root causes of the rot in the system must be removed. And this requires a well thought-out educational policy otherwise the society will end up breeding “barbaric” and unproductive citizens.

Lack of proper regulation and supervision is part of the problem bedeviling Nigeria’s educational system. Despite of their inability to provide the necessary resources for effective teaching and learning most of the existing universities are offering programs in the areas they are not properly equipped to handle. For instance, without laboratories and libraries virtually all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria (even the new ones) offer courses in Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Computer Science and Law, et cetera. It should not be this way -schools should only offer courses they are equipped to handle. And the new educational institutions should be required to operate for some years before being permitted to award degrees in some areas. In some societies, such the US and Britain, schools would operate for decades before venturing into the resources-intensive programs. But anything goes in Nigeria! Why is everything about Nigeria different? The country seems out of touch with realities of modern life. It appears that good quality education is becoming a mere slogan in the society because schools are in dilapidated condition and nothing serious is being done about it.

As this writer has argued elsewhere, teachers cannot perform miracle without the necessary tools for effective instruction (the trouble here is lack of resources and motivation) and they are doing marvelously well with the little tools at their disposal. Thus the trouble here is the lack of resources and motivation to lure and retain experienced scholars in the system. Students should be motivated to perform too (teachers will not do the reading for them). As the great educational theorist, John Dewey, noted in Experience and Education teachers are just “the agents through which knowledge and skills are communicated and rules of conduct enforced.” And as a poster on the wall of our school library says “Teachers open the door, but you must enter yourself.” However, Nigerian students have the ability to perform if proper learning tools are provided, and more importantly, if there is the hope that they could find employment after graduation. But the economy is barely crawling – and finding a job is becoming increasingly difficult.

The NUC should, thus, go beyond ranking of schools and the accreditation of programs and begin now to device serious plans for proper training and education of the youth. They should be systematically trained and educated to acquire the knowledge that will be useful to the society. Therefore, attentive care should be devoted to the schools so as to change the graphic sordid conditions in the universities’ and launder their image to improve their reputation. This would assure the world and Nigerians that education and skill acquired at Nigerian universities is valuable, worthwhile and potentially life changing. However, the teachers will not go without blame because some of them do not appear to be teaching with appropriate teaching strategy. Thus they should assist in achieving this objective by changing their teaching strategies (granted they are lacking the necessary teaching tools) for better subject-matter delivery. The present defective and tiresome lecturing and memorization mode of instruction (and book learning on the part of student) should be discarded for a more practical form of teaching (and learning) where knowledge and principles are applied in real situations. With this, the society will train good citizens (workers and parents) to properly perform their duties for the wellbeing of Nigeria. Here, again, the needed tools and materials must be provided to make this possible.

There is no short cut to real success! It is only through good quality education that a society can be well governed because good quality education is the foundation for growth and prosperity in any society. The society will not plant ignorance in the mind of the youth and expect them to be productive and caring. Any amount of money spent on the education of the youth is a wise investment. As Benjamin Franklin was reported to had said “They only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.” Increased funding for research in science and technology (in particular) will spur technological innovation (and possibly new invention) and economic growth and development. This is not to say that primary and secondary education (basic education) should be neglected. Their curricula should be re-designed with the needs of the society in mind. The schools do not appear to be teaching the pupils about the greatness and vastness of Nigeria (its history and geography, vision and values etc) and to be responsible and productive citizens.

As mentioned earlier, the general poor performance of the schools stand in the way of the prosperity of the nation. And this situation will not change without adopting new education philosophy, which means taking concrete and desirable steps toward removing the bottleneck to “progressive education” in the society. Re-activating the moribund student loan program could help serious students to pursue graduate studies and to fill the void. Nigeria’s educational social order is still plunged in corruption and immorality with “sorting” taking the place of serious academic work. And politically, “thieves” and “big crooks” that are only interested in extracting from the society are in charge of the affairs of the society and apportion consequences for minor social infractions. No society progresses when the “rouges” are political leaders! If the society continues to neglect its schools, it would not properly educate its citizens.

Almost everyone has had occasion to reflect upon ones school days and wonder what has gone wrong with Nigeria. The question therefore is how would the system produce the critical and creative minds Nigeria needs to manage its democratic system? The success of any democratic system, as experts have noted, depends on the individuals' ability to analyze problems and make thoughtful decisions. Presently, Nigeria claims to be democratic, but it appears totalitarian, because the leadership comprises individuals who do not seem to have the basic understanding of the modus operandi of democracy. Democracy thrives on the productivity of its diverse constituency - productivity fostered by free, critical, and creative thought on issues of common interest. As Marzano, et al (1988) rightly noted democratic values are nurtured on the fertile ground of basic education – a functional education with the right focus and correct scope. For Nigeria to be become truly democratic it has to begin today to properly educate the future leaders with integrity to administer the laws of the land. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau had noted "it is only men [and women] of integrity who can administer the law…" (see The Social Contract).

Nevertheless, for this to be possible the educational institutions should be allowed unfettered hands to engage in healthy academic competition and raise funds to supplement allocations from the government. This writer has emphasized elsewhere that higher education should not be free in Nigeria; any person who is talking about “free education” is still living in the past because that is not a reflection of reality in the modern era. If one should pay for any service, one could afford to complain if quality service were not rendered. Nigeria should look beyond the NUC accreditation exercise and invest copiously in education because improving the state of education in Nigeria is an important part of the solutions to the myriad problems facing the society. But the system will continue produce poor quality graduates if nothing serious is done to clean the mess and they will continue to suffer mass unemployment. The ill-educated “rouges” will continue as political leaders and Nigeria will continue to fall behind economically, socially, and politically.

Victor E. Dike, CEO, Center for Social Justice and Human Development (CSJHD), in Sacramento, California, is Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Engineering and Information Technology, National University (Sacramento Campus). Mr. Dike is the author of Fraud or Democracy? The Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, 2003-2007 [Forthcoming, 2007]