Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Akoka, Prof. Tolu Odugbemi, in this interview, tells GRACE EDEMA that the government should make the economy viable for parents to afford school fees
How would you describe Nigeria’s state of education in the 60s and now?
We are moving slowly and steadily. The only thing is that we are not moving as fast as possible. Years back the quality of education was very important in a few places but nowadays we have many quantities but with diminished quality. Some will say it’s beautiful we now have many universities while others will say after training students, they are not as effective as they should be. Whereas the fewer universities were very good; the other thing is we are not doing things step by step because we are so much in a hurry. Family structure is very important for education.
Not paying parents properly and if you’re not paying them properly both father and mother are running around looking for money. And allow the nanny to take care of their children. If we’re to talk about education, family is very important. Then you move over to primary school. What do we have in our primary schools? We have many but the quality is not good. And for you to train people, for them to be useful for the community, there must be a good environment and the teachers must be well satisfied. Once you entered the primary schools in those days, the toilets were useable and clean. At least that’s what it was in the 50s. Headteachers were respected while the primary school teachers did their work honestly and diligently. But now, because the pay is not good enough, you see all the teachers running around looking for money. It is in the news that they take money for all sorts of things.
This means that we build a better society starting from the family. We just have to ensure we have a good family structure because that will affect education in the long run. We ensure that we have physical structures at schools because the environment will affect the school children. Let good structures be available and let the teachers be compensated with excellent wages. Most of them who are hungry will be tempted to steal. Most of our secondary schools were well-equipped in the olden days.
Schools in 1960s
Christ School Ado-Ekiti, Saint Paul in Zaria, CKC Onitsha had equipment far superior to some of our universities nowadays. This means there were fewer institutions but well equipped. The system will have many institutions because we like to be deceitful and by the time teachers are not well trained, they will be problems. In the olden days, people who took teaching as a profession went for good practical training and some of them went to teachers training colleges where they had lots of materials to teach the younger ones.
But nowadays, it’s mass production. Anyone who says he can teach is allowed to teach. That’s the same way down to the university level; poor equipment and poor salary. I read somewhere that some of these institutions abroad would be poaching into our universities. It’s common sense. Just like the days of the Saudi people, they had teaching equipment, so they attracted people with good salaries. Even in our own system years back, we had Ghanaians, Americans, Canadians, and Indians but by the time the salary was bad, they went back.
It’s a matter of reorientating ourselves. If the salaries are good, allowances are good, laboratories are well-equipped, and the environments are decent and secure, everything will go to the highest level. Many Nigerians when they go out are among the best. That’s why I don’t want to blame anyone. We need to put all our resources together to make the system better.
What are your suggestions for the stakeholders on how to revamp the education sector?
From the primary level to the university, from the family level, the government should make sure that parents have the means to feed themselves. The mother will have more time for the kids at home. Then we won’t have children who are not well-behaved when there’s parental supervision. Happy families raise happy children. And by the time they move to primary schools, they should have a decent environment in primary schools.
When we have teachers who are focused and not looking for extra business, life will be better. We should allow for merit and recruit well-trained teachers. And we should try to minimise this issue of ethnicity and religion.
Performance should be the primary goal. If you do very well, you should be given an award as a teacher or lecturer, irrespective of your tribe or religion. It’s a form of incentive. There was a time I was at the University of Lagos, we made sure that any department working very hard should be recognised. We gave the persons who had the best publications, laptops. We forget that if you train someone and the person is well-trained the person will build a building that won’t collapse.
Teachers want to work but the environment is not conducive. All hands must be on deck to allow merit to be the overriding factor. Pay whatever it is that is commensurate with what we have elsewhere. Nigeria is an oil-producing country. We don’t need to be going to Saudi Arabia, or UAE. It’s a shame. We are all producers. We should put the money where quality people can be supported.
Recently the government said universities shouldn’t increase school fees?
We are back to square one. Parents who are not well fed, where do you want them to get enough to pay school fees? As an oil-producing country, our parents and children should not be suffering. Our schools should not hesitate to increase fees, which means parents would be able to pay the school fees. So, we are in a vicious cycle. Parents that haven’t got enough to eat and you’re increasing school fees. But in the institutions, too, teachers need to survive. Therefore, the only way they can survive is to introduce school fees because most students going abroad are paying fees there too.
What should the government do?
Some of these students are protesting.
For now, let the government make sure that parents and workers are well paid and let money be readjusted to where it’s supposed to go so that an average worker will be able to feed and pay school fees. Our problem is misplaced priority. We human beings too are not productive because people are not paying enough attention to agriculture. We need to change our policies so that people can be more productive.
What areas do you suggest policy changes?
We should start effective teaching of ethics and dignity of labour and people should show a good example by working. And the money they earn should be based on what they’ve produced, not because of free access to the government’s money to the disadvantage of others. There must be total orientation of the entire citizens of Africa so that we can be more focused and make this system work better. Instead of complaining let’s put our resources together on how to produce and solve the problems of education. Our religious houses should teach people how to be more productive. If you’re fair to others you won’t cheat them.
What’s your book, ‘A Practical Approach to Contemporary Tertiary Education Management in Nigeria,’ about?
Eminent Nigerians came together to produce this work so that Nigeria could create better tertiary institutions. We covered how to make teaching more realistic. We also covered areas related to ethics. We suggested that we should have more practical in science and engineering. We also spoke generally about issues in private institutions and we also spoke about how to market institutions so that those abroad will patronise us. Then, how do we go about financing these institutions and indigent students? How do will handle our library services? How do we also make postgraduate students conduct research that will make the community better? Also, what’s the essence? Making our teaching relevant to the needs of society.
What should the government do to tap into herbal medicine?
We spoke a lot about how to make things better and that’s why the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, now has a centre on how they make the best use of these leaves. I have about six acres and UNIMED is trying to have about five acres. By starting in a small way, others will start learning. Let us look inward instead of complaining all the time. Something is wrong with our general orientation right from the O level, and family level. I like that Biblical passage that ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’. But in this country, people are not contented. Some people believe that killing others will make them rich overnight.
Your advice for the government
We need to have experts based on merit to advise the government. No ethnicity or religious bias when picking people who will serve. If they do that, they won’t get the best. And the earlier we put that behind us and start to love one another as ourselves we’ll be able to get more food. Poverty doesn’t discriminate against religion and ethnicity. We need to start educating ourselves. Don’t let us blame anyone again. We’ve blamed and not got any results. Why don’t we look inward and work together? Let’s know we have shortcomings and make the country better. If we’re generating a lot of money, are we spending it the way it should be? Why do we have our people migrating to other countries? It’s because the environment is not conducive for them to stay. Whoever is in government should make it a priority that people are safe and secure and they can feed without any fear or favour.
-Punch
