University of Abuja: 23 Years of Suffering and Learning
A forty minute leisurely drive from the picturesque town of Abaji would lead to you into the enclave, Gwagwalada. Apart from a bustling night life and blossoming market which attracts merchants from far and wide and, perhaps, the government owned hospital, nothing may hold the attraction of any tourist who is visiting the capital city […]
A forty minute leisurely drive from the picturesque town of Abaji would lead to you into the enclave, Gwagwalada. Apart from a bustling night life and blossoming market which attracts merchants from far and wide and, perhaps, the government owned hospital, nothing may hold the attraction of any tourist who is visiting the capital city for the first time for long. However, Gwagwalada hosts one of the nation’s universities, which explains why students troop into the town on a daily basis.
The town has at its centre the mini-campus of the University of Abuja and has served as the institution where lectures are held for thousands of students, year in, year out. Ironically, while one may look forward to an architectural masterpiece, flamboyant buildings and lush surroundings befitting a an academic institution located in the Federal Capital Territory of Africa’s acclaimed giant, disappointment and disillusionment may turn out to be the outcome of such optimism. A visit to the mini-campus of the school presents a stark opposite of such lofty expectations.
Perhaps, one would have a glimpse of the infrastructural decay and challenges facing the campus through the summation of Nathaniel Ojelabi (real name withheld), a Master’s student who once visited the campus in the hope of starting a programme at the institution but who eventually had a change of mind based on what he saw on ground in terms of infrastructure and facilities. He calls the university, “a glorified secondary school.” In his assessment of the challenges facing the institution, the fact that quality teaching takes place at such premises puts a blight on any such educational output. “My first impression when I got there was that I was on the grounds of a public secondary school. That was my sincere assessment. But like every good researcher, I just didn’t base my impression on the surroundings. I decided to see the classrooms.
“I was appalled at what I saw. Students battling for every available space, some peeps through the windows, some even muscling one another for a vantage view of the lecturer and the chalkboard. But, as a Master’s student, one should not be overly concerned about the state of the classroom, but the quality of teaching, I said to myself. But I had a change of attitude when I visited the office of a lecturer on the premises. What I saw put me off totally.
“The office was in a mess. The walls were cracking in different places, the window sill was rusty and the painting was already peeling off. I looked at the ceiling of the little cubicle serving as office to two lecturers, and almost choked. The ceiling was one mass of dirt, smudges and was already loosening in various places. No one needed to tell you that the office needed a facelift and an urgently intensive one at that. That was the office that a lecturer had to stay on a daily basis.
“Will such a lecturer be in a vibrant state of mind, transferring knowledge to hundreds of students? I suddenly had a rethink about having my postgraduate studies in the school. I felt that if lecturers who are bastions of knowledge would not be given a conducive environment to stay, in order to transmit knowledge to their students, then the quality of teaching may be marred in the long run, no matter how noble their intentions may be.’
Today, Afolabi studies at one of the European universities, but still hopes that when he visits the institution someday again, it would be in a better position to stand amongst premier institutions around the nation in terms of infrastructure and teaching aids.
Online records reveal that “the University of Abuja was established on January 1, 1988 (under Decree No. 110 of 1992 as amended) as a dual-mode university with the mandate to run conventional and distance learning programmes.”
The first university in Nigeria to assume such a dual mandate, it is thus committed to and seeks academic excellence, while ensuring equal education access to a diverse constituency, thus preparing its students for productive roles in the society. The motto of the university is “For Unity and Scholarship” which ultimately translates into providing practical and innovative education for service to humanity. In the pursuance of this broad objective, the university programmes are geared toward relevant training of students and staff for imaginative, innovative and creative performance in the fields of human endeavour.’
It adds, that “the university runs regular degree, diploma, and postgraduate programmes. Due to its strategic location in the Federal Capital Territory has a Centre for Distance Learning School which provides university education to those who cannot acquire such education through the regular university system and those interested in acquiring new knowledge and specialized skills.
“The university runs a consultancy services, sub-degree programme and an iInstitute of Education to cater for the professional needs of teachers and specialized needs of government education bodies; it provides avenues for the establishment of linkages on education matters with organisations and institutions in and outside Nigeria. The university is temporarily located in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria with the permanent site covering about 11,824 hectares under construction along the Kaduna – Lokoja – Abuja Road.” In spite of the glorious verbal tags enumerated till date still buffeted by many infrastructural challenges.
A visit to the mini-campus of the school reveals that indeed infrastructural decay and ill-conducive atmosphere for learning still pervade it, a year after Afolabi visited the campus. Authorities say, however, that with the massive investment of funds into the permanent site located miles away from the mini campus succour may have arrived for students, lecturers and staff of the university.
The permanent site: not yet out of the woods
On this particular hot afternoon, hundreds of Part-Time Economics students are milling around an uncompleted building in preparation for their examinations. On their faces are signs of the expected pre exam strains. But astounding is the fact that most available spaces around the building have been taken over by these students who are doing their last reading before the exams. The grasses provide ample space for them to read.
The window ledges are also utilised in the mad scramble to absorb a little more knowledge before they are handed exam scripts. Many who own cars simply carry their books and place these on the car bonnets or roof. In the exam hall, white plastic chairs and tables used at parties have been provided by the school to serve as reading tables. This, apparently is all the school can afford for now, until its financial status improves.
Pelumi Oluokun, one of the students, is miffed that the infrastructure even on the permanent site is not commensurate with the publicity hype given to the opening of the permanent site for lectures. “When we were informed that the permanent site would be open to us, Distance Learning students to use, we were initially elated. But months after, we have not seen anything to show that it is much better than the rented apartments they used to give us then for lectures in the metropolis.
“Many of us think that there is no great improvement from what we have been used to in the rented lecture rooms in ‘town.’ We still have cramped lecture rooms here and in uncompleted buildings this time around, the classes are really not conducive for learning. They are stuffy and we have to scramble for chairs to seat at times. This does not befit the status of a federal school. And even though they do not treat us as they do the full time students, we believe that we deserve equal treatment too.”
Stanley Andrew, another Part- Time Student, has same concerns too, and this he expresses heatedly, despite the fact that he is preparing assiduously for his exams: “you can see the sitting arrangement here for yourself. Can one perform optimally in this kind of atmosphere? Of course, not. But this is what we are made to face as students on this campus. We have to read in uncompleted buildings.
“The problems are even deeper than most people think. Most of the time, we have to inhale harmful building substances in these uncompleted buildings.
“We are tired of their promises that the buildings would soon be completed. When will that be? You can see most of us reading in virtually every available space we can find. We are calling on the authorities to complete these buildings on time so that we can study in pleasant surroundings. The speed of development of the infrastructure is very slow, and this is affecting every facet of life on campus.”
He also appeals to the authorities to reduce the school charges for distance learners as not every student can afford this. “We pay between N41,000 and N56,000 per session, and this is not convenient for most of us who do not have well-paid job to support us. They (the authorities) should assist us in this regards.”
A bouquet of complaints
Oreghie Usman, a student, perhaps, summarises the challenges of most students of the institution. He says that the conditions for study for most students, regardless of programmes, are appalling. “The authorities have caged the student union. So we do not have a voice. It is only once in a while that the press even remember us. The average student on campus is suffering. You can see the learning condition is nothing to write home about. This is always reflected even in the results they purportedly churn out every semester. How do you expect a student to perform well in exams when the learning conditions are bad? We average about 20 per cent success rate in most exams.
And this is not because we are not intelligent, but simply because there are no effective learning tools. The rate of infrastructural development is very slow. The management outlook to speeding the development process up is also dismal. Here, in this univerty, it has become a sort of joke when we banter that practically everyone. Student, teachers, staff, non academic and academic, even the management team-have one problem or the other.
Nobody is immune. But the one that affects everybody is the undeveloped infrastructure on ground and the lack of political will to bring the university to rank among the best in the country.’
The Nigeria Elites Forum, a group of intellectuals in its summation of the ordeals, of University of Abuja, paints a dismal picture of the infrastructural plight of the institution. It says: “University of Abuja was established in 1988, it is perhaps the only federally-owned university that is still conducting most of its activities from a temporary site, located in a suburb of Gwagwalada. That setting certainly is not where a student or teacher can aspire to be an international prize winner or a Nobel Laureate! You then ask, what was the vision and mission of our past leaders, with respect to educational infrastructural development in Abuja, the political and administrative capital of Nigeria?
“Take an inventory of the Abuja city landscape and skyline and you will be pleased and thrilled. From the fortified Aso Rock to the magnificent National Assembly that adores the three-arm zone. We also have the federal secretariat, the headquarters of Federal Ministry of Finance, then the International Conference Centre, the NNPC towers, the CBN head office, the National Stadium, the National Hospital, the National Mosque, the National Ecumenical Centre, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and many more. But where is the university on this landscape or any public tertiary educational institution of repute in the FCT?”
It goes on: “A new federal capital city without a befitting public tertiary educational institution is a testament to the type of leaders we have had in the past years. Surely, Abuja deserves an architectural masterpiece with a designer outlay in the mould of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, equipped with modern gadgets and intellectuals to nurture a multi-potential youth in an ambient and academic-friendly environment, so as to help make Nigeria a genuine candidate for the 20 developed economies in 2020. Nothing less will be acceptable! And it is certainly not late to right the wrong.
Not when the President of the country, the Vice President, the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and most of those in the corridors of power today at Abuja are themselves graduates of our own Ivy League of schools.
To do otherwise is ungodly and unpardonable! Beyond infrastructure, University of Abuja appears to have many other challenges.
What else could be responsible for a federal institution, situated next door to the seat of power and influence, being denied accreditation for many of the academic programmes and courses?
The National Universities Commission (NUC), in an advertorial published in a national daily of October 7, 2010, confirmed that the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) of the University of Abuja had been closed down.
What is the fate of thousands of qualified candidates, ranging from regular students to bank executives, senior civil servants and private entrepreneurs that work in the FCT, who quest for higher intellectual development? Somebody must come to the rescue of the university!
For the records, the list of programmes denied accreditation at the University of Abuja, aside MBA, includes, Education Economics, Education History, Education Social Sciences, Basic Agricultural Economics, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Computer Science! A federal university in the capital city cannot train undergraduate students to become professional teachers, doctors and computer scientists in the 21st century?
In fact, the NUC has warned the affected universities not to advertise and admit students into such programmes. Where should our children go to?
Where do the children of our leaders go for their university education, and don’t they read professional courses?’
The situation is improving, say the authorities
The university, just like every other higher institution in the country, is faced with financial challenges, says Malam Waziri Garba, Principal Information officer of the University of Abuna, in chat with Sunday Trust. He adds that with time and with concerted efforts by the current management, the situation is set to improve before the targeted date of March 2012.
“The university is one of the few universities in the country that started without any specific grants and this has put a spanner in the works of developmental efforts for quite a long time. Every project you see going on now is as a result of dual efforts by the management and the Education Trust Fund. So as you can see funding is a major challenge for us here.”
He explains further: “the facts on grounds is this, despite all the negative comments so far: the projects and construction work on campus is over 70 per cent completed. This was independently verified by an assessment team put together by the school recently.
“But that is not to say that we are resting on our, oars as far as our efforts are concerned. The vice-chancellor has consistently insisted that most of these projects would be completed before the month of March 2012, and committees have already been set up to do this.
“Although the mini-campus will still be in use by then, most of the students and teachers would be relocated to the permanent site by then. The male and female hostels have been completed and it just awaits occupation.
By 2012 we expect all the pending projects will all be nearing completion. The law, Health Sciences and Remedial Studies Faculties will possibly be the only ones still at the mini campus by then.’
It will be recalled that recently his principal, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor James Adelabu, told journalists that concerning the welfare of students, the management had sunk 10 additional boreholes and provided storage facilities, adding that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) had energized the power station on the main campus and transportation had been subsidized to N50.
The Vice-Chancellor also noted that the management was developing infrastructural facilities for the four new programmes – Human Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Engineering which had accreditation problems with the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Waziri concludes that thestate of infrastructural in the school remains top priority for the current VC. “He is passionate about this and that explains why he has set up numerous committees to address the infrastructural deficit you see at present even the uncompleted Senate Building but it all comes down to availability of funding as at when needed. At present, most of the buildings have reached final stages of completion. What most require are simply fittings and electrification and these would be done very soon.’
He gives the administration a pass mark for the efforts so far: “For a university that started with no start up funds, but a few uncompleted primary schools as lecture rooms, we have advanced in no small measure. Our state-of-the-art laboratories would soon be commissioned. Many joint projects by the ETF and the management are ongoing at a decent pace.
“The mini-campus will soon be decongested. Our Part=Time students have now been relocated to the permanent site so we can monitor their progress well, as against the past when they were scattered around the city in rented spots. The university now offers shuttle bus services for its student from the town to the campus for just N50.
Our student hostels are completed including the university printing press and various faculty buildings are being put up. When basic challenges such as funding, accreditation loopholes, staff motivation and training, establishment of linkages, (foreign and local) and provision of needed equipment by the government including a determination by the authorities to harness the huge internal and material resources abundantly evident here, then we will achieve more. I think for now, we should be commended, not vilified for these strides and encouraged to do more…”
There are promises lecturers, students and non-acadeic staff are waiting to see their fulfilment.