By
Olanrewaju-Smart Wasiu
“Now that Nigerian
students are not guaranteed hitch-free education in their own country, why
won’t they think of trying other countries?”
The Nigeria university system has never had it so bad like this before; we are now at the
epicenter of a sectoral crisis as the only federal university in the Nigerian
capital cannot boast of good facilities and has no other solution than the
federal government transferring her students to other federal universities.
I
do not support the transfer of blame to the Vice Chancellor alone. I think it’s
a shared one between the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission,
NUC, and the university management because the university management could not
have overseen the university alone without its Senate, Governing Council,
Ministry of Education and perhaps the Visitor to the University (Mr.
President).
In fact, as at the
time of writing this piece, the social media has it that engineering students
of University of
Abuja were right in front of the National Assembly protesting
against their transfer to other schools.
Some of the placards read, “It is
embarrassing the only federal university in Abuja cannot offer engineering”; “we
cannot be transferred to boko haram state”; “save our future”; “they are not
discussing with us”; “after several years we cannot go anywhere”
My posers for the
Minister of Education, NUC, and UniAbuja Vice Chancellor are:
*Why would the
resultant effect of the inability of the federal government (proprietor) to put
facilities at the engineering department be passed on the students by same
government?
*Are the
President (visitor), Minister and NUC not part of the process of running the
university and ensuring its accreditation as at when due?
*Is it ethical to
transfer students to other institutions to complete their course of study and
still get the certificate of their former school?
*Why is it difficult
for the management of the university and federal government to put the
facilities in place since the university crisis started?
*Why is it that those
who, under their watch, could not avoid the problem are the ones pursuing a
personal vendetta?
*How did the
intervention committee led by Prof. Mafiana resort to transferring the students
and also insist that other students go on leave of absence ahead of next session
when they are expected to resume at the other school?
*Are there no moves
to rectify the accreditation problem before next academic session while the
students would take their leave of absence?
From my little
knowledge about the university system, you do not experience a deadlock without
previous signals.
There is no denied accreditation status without previous
failure which could have prompted NUC to give an interim accreditation or (as
the case may be) alongside directives to put in place some facilities before
the next accreditation exercise.
Since the problem is now compounded, I think
there are better ways out of it than inflicting pains on innocent Nigerian
students and their parents.
Now that Nigerian students are not guaranteed
hitch-free education in their own country, why won’t they think of trying other
countries? It’s unfortunate.
Wasiu
Olanrewaju-Smart, Abuja; @ler_smart, wasiusmart@gmail.com
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