Nigerian universities are underfunded, lack infrastructure

Can you tell us what you do in brief?My office helps qualified Nigerians to get qualitative education of their dream abroad by placing them in different universities in UK, Europe, USA and Asian countries depending on their choice. We have been running this service in the last 12 years and we have assisted thousands of […]

Can you tell us what you do in brief?
My office helps qualified Nigerians to get qualitative education of their dream abroad by placing them in different universities in UK, Europe, USA and Asian countries depending on their choice. We have been running this service in the last 12 years and we have assisted thousands of Nigerians and have placed them in different countries. We have a lot of them who have graduated and are working in Nigeria and others who are staying back to work abroad meaning that we have been able to help so many Nigerian students to achieve their dream of going abroad to study and obtaining quality education which has impacted positively on them as individuals and to the nation in general.
 
Why the universities abroad and not home?
We are looking at quality. I am not saying Nigerian schools are not good but you cannot compare them with those abroad. We lack infrastructure development and facilities that should be here and the funding of institutions in Nigeria and developed countries is incomparable. You can see that most lecturers in Nigerian universities want to go abroad to study because the experience can only be acquired but not bought. Also, the time, duration, if you want to do a 3-year programme it will be 3-years, there is nothing like strike and the time table is there for you to manage all through with no academic disturbance. Someone who has N2 million to invest in education in Nigeria is not sure because anything can happen, if strike comes up you can’t graduate within 3 years and that N2 million will not serve, that means you need more money, but abroad you can pay once and know that within this period you can study and get out of there.
 
Is that not a way of taking away our capable hands from us?
No, it is not really, because it is not a must but an offer. I was also given an opportunity to lecture in one of the universities abroad but I declined because I wanted to do something for my people at home. Some people want the job to have an experience so that it can help them when they come back home because most universities need experienced people.
 
What are the major challenges that you face in running such venture?
The greatest challenge we are having is the issue of insecurity in the country. My office normally takes responsibility for bringing the university officials to Nigeria to conduct interview for students round the country but due to insecurity in the country most of the major schools cannot come; they are scared despite assuring them of safety. It takes strength in us to bring few of them here based on trust. That is a huge challenge for us and it is not so good for the image of the country.
 
What are we not doing right in our educational system in Nigeria?
Lots; one is funding; government needs to fund education system very well because there is no limit to funding of education. The lecturers need to be trained and re-trained, we need to have more professors and more PhD holders and they need to be exposed. We need infrastructural development; we don’t have enough universities in Nigeria and the ones we have need funding to be able to expand.
In University of Ilorin about 105,000 students came for their post UME and 25,000 passed but the school system can only admit 8,000 now where do you want the 17,000 students to go. If such a school has the capacity of expansion in terms of infrastructure and facilities they should be able to absorb all the 25,000 students or about 60 per cent, and this is peculiar with every institution in Nigeria. So you end up seeing somebody who has met all requirements, with good result ending up not getting admission.
We have over 100,000 Nigerian students in Ghanaian universities because they couldn’t get admission into Nigerian universities so the schools are not enough.