The Nigerian Education Problem
Tags: Education, Nigeria, Asuu Strike, Private Universities, Nigerian Government

Despite all its merits and plaudits, the Nigerian Public university system has its fair share of problems from the lack of proper facilities to the unbelievable lecturer to student ratios or even the long and incessant strikes undertaken by the university staff. These are just a number of problems that face Nigerian universities.

The public university system in Nigeria is almost wholly dependent on the government for funding and like most things that rely on the Nigerian government to function, it is struggling. The low rates of tuition and low private funding increases the university system’s dependence on the government. The low tuition fees might seem like a good thing at first but then once you consider the bigger picture you begin to see the cracks in the ceiling.

In earlier years this didn’t seem to be a problem as there were just a few universities in the country and funding was adequate but as more universities have been established by the government, the problem of funding those universities and maintenance of the facilities has proven to be a serious burden for the Nigerian government. As at the time of writing, there are 43 federal universities in Nigeria with about 10 of them established after 2011 but since then the percentage of funding for education in Nigerian budget has been on a steady decline. Considering the UNESCO guideline for the education budget is 15% — the highest Nigeria has passed in recent years is 10.71%, the Nigerian education sector has been under-funded for a very long time. This lack of funding has had a domino effect on the whole of Nigeria.

In recent years The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have advocated for increased funding and better university facilities by use of industrial action (strikes). Although ASUU means well with the strikes, the cumulative effect of the lack of funding and incessant strikes is a dilapidated university system where lecturers aren’t properly motivated because of poor compensation, students aren’t properly motivated due to lack of proper facilities to facilitate proper learning and the long breaks from school don’t help matters either.

The advent of private universities landed another significant blow to the public university system in Nigeria. They offered the lecturers better pay, lower class to student ratio and better learning facilities. With these developments, private universities were able to poach top talent from public universities. Private universities also offered the Nigerian middle class and elites a way to offer their children a better standard of education than what’s readily available without having to leave the shores of the country so there are fewer incentives to solve the education problems.

This lack of proper facilities has resulted in a disconnect between the public-school system and the industries/workforce because the public university graduates have little to no practical experience which makes them less probable to be hired. So, there’s a situation where there are jobs and excess graduates but not enough adequately skilled graduates to fill those jobs. This creates an economic problem as the supply of labour is greater than the demand so the price employers are willing to pay for labour falls continually not only due to the excess supply of the labour but due to employers spending large sums of money to train graduates for jobs they normally should be equipped to do.

Since the government haven’t been willing to implement the terms agreed with the university staff. The onus now falls on the public universities to find a way to generate funds for themselves. There are quite a few ways to generate funds for universities or improve the education system.

Firstly, the universities could raise fees, this is the most straightforward option as the funds will be made readily available. The advantages of this option are that more funds are available to the leadership of the university to manoeuvre — more funds available for research, more funds available for rehabilitation/ improvement of facilities etc., fewer students in classrooms which improve the lecturer to student ratio (this will particularly be a relief as the lecturer to student ratios in public universities are quite absurd), Better facilities and environment allow the student to come out well rounded and better equipped to join the workforce. The main disadvantage of this option is that a lot of people might leave universities and that might increase the rate of crime in the country, that’s where the government comes in by making colleges of education and polytechnics more accessible to suit the demands of the workforce in the country. They become more accessible for the common man thereby reducing the crime rates and developing a workforce tailored to the needs of the employers.

Secondly, universities can partner with industry leaders to provide funding for schools. The advantages of this are limitless. Private funding for research frees up more funds for the universities to perform other important things that the funds might have not been allotted for. The results of the research could also benefit the public tremendously. Business mogul John. D. Rockefeller was known to have sponsored researchers to find alternative uses of crude oil other than kerosene, as a result, he was able to lower his prices and make kerosene more affordable for the masses as well as the discovery of better uses of petroleum materials.

Thirdly, the national university commission (NUC) should have meetings to improve the curriculum for universities with the private sector to bridge the gap between university graduates and the workforce

Lastly, in Nigeria, Southern-Nigeria especially there’s a tendency to favour university education which I think is a result of the Late Obafemi Awolowo’s education policies and the financial stability a university degree offered in those days. But now those degrees don’t even offer financial stability anymore and graduates end up in vocational professions like photography, leather production/craft, carpentry, tailoring etc. The time and facilities spent in acquiring those degrees could have been used to pursue certifications in those vocational professions in polytechnics which would give the better experience with the profession making the quality of their products higher.