Lagos — Deputy vice chancellor (Academic) Nnamdi Azikiwe University, (NAU), Awka Anambra State, Prof. Sam Omenyi has worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Alabama, United States of America and the National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada. In this interview with Correspondent ODOGWU EMEKA ODOGWU, the professor of Mechanical Engineering, speaks on the challenges facing engineering education, teachers as well as sundry issues. Excerpt

What do you think is the problem of education in this country Nigeria?

The country appears not to have a properly defined direction. Today, we talk about a given system of education, tomorrow it is another and the next day it is something else. We keep changing the system. We are quick to implement whatever we discover is practiced in another country. Half the way through the implementation, we discover something else and then stop even before the new plan is ready for implementation. A new plan should be well understood before it is considered for implementation. If possible, one should visit where it is being implemented and learn it very well before proposing it. The workability of such plan in the Nigerian environment must be considered as an important factor. Whether such a system will benefit the country in the long run should also not be over looked.

Only recently many of the education reforms commenced by chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration have been rendered null and void. This probably means that the reforms were not well articulated though people were made to believe they were the best for the country. The initial resistance to the reforms showed that the people were probably not carried along. Normally, what obtains in a foreign country should not be imposed on another without proper study to determine the effects. Cultural differences must be taken into account. Anything imposed on people, whether good or bad stands very likely to be resisted. What is good for the United States of America may not necessarily be good for Nigeria. That is why in curriculum design, we talk of local content.

We design the curricula to serve local needs and not the needs of people in another country. So one of our major problems is lack of properly articulated policy that is widely acceptable. When training at the basic level is poorly delivered, the upper receptive level suffers. And that's why at the upper level (the tertiary level), students with poor lower level training are academically handicapped. You may notice that students are shying away from the sciences because of poor subject delivery in mathematics. For this reason, most science based disciplines do not have enough students.

Now, if the country has a focus educationally, it should address these areas of shortcoming. I know that when I was in Canada in late 70's, the country realized that at a certain future period of time, statistics showed that they were going to experience serious lack at a certain manpower level and they started planning on how to get the manpower that would be needed at the projected period. We appear not to have that kind of vision which requires proper planning based on real statistical data. The data are actually not there and so we cannot effectively plan. If you ask some one what would be a certain manpower need in the next five years, it is not very likely you will get a good answer. Staffing in certain specific manpower areas in the universities is low. So, a lot needs to be done to revamp our educational system.

Do you think proper remuneration of primary and secondary school teachers perhaps at par with their tertiary institution counterparts would solve the problem of education?

I know that in a place like the United States, the basic qualification for teaching even in the primary school is a degree. People with master's degree can even be found teaching in the nursery schools and yet they are well paid. And because of good pay, they are not kicking for a change in jobs. You will notice that in the primary schools in Nigeria, men are scarce because the salary is not able to support their family. This is a problem. You can attract qualitative people in a certain area if that area has proper remuneration. Even in the tertiary institutions, we started having brain drain in the early 80s until there was improvement in salaries, People are no longer thinking of going overseas to settle. In fact, some people are now returning home. If people in the primary/secondary schools are well paid , more men will opt for teaching.

Again, if you go down to the primary/secondary school level, you will find that even though the remuneration is not commensurate with what you get at the tertiary level, yet a lot of people, mainly women, want to be employed there to slave off unemployment. It has been observed that good number of teachers at the lower level have obtained higher degrees and so will not like to remain in that system because of poor pay. I am advocating that the minimum requirement for teaching in the primary school should be a degree in education and the remuneration should be enhanced to make the job attractive.

As a professor of mechanical engineering, do you think Nigeria has done well in that area and what are the challenges?

I wouldn't categorically say that Nigeria has done well in that regard. Mechanical Engineering as a discipline is an applied science. It is the application of what has been learnt in the sciences. It involves conception of an idea, design, analysis, material selection, construction, assembly, testing and maintenance. Research is also a major component. In Nigeria little attention is placed on research and design, while greater emphasis is placed on maintenance. You hear of collapsed buildings because of either poor design, faulty material selection or flawed construction. Some cut corners while failing to follow the specifications What I mean by that is that very few companies that do construction work have research sections and so less emphasis is placed on studying existing design and making sufficient inputs. I have equally noticed this with some of the students. In their design projects, they conclude the construction of the equipment before they commence the design analysis. Design involves series of calculations which require that the student must be mathematically inclined. It is unfortunate that there is not much job for the Mechanical engineer, indeed many other engineers. For this reason, you find engineers in banks, in the secondary schools as teachers and in the ministries as administrative officers. I think we still have a long way to go in Nigeria in the practice of mechanical engineering. If we have to practice it properly and be proud of it, the market should be there, proper research should be done and the design essentials put in place.

Does that mean those studying mechanical engineering have bleak feature?

Those studying Mechanical Engineering have a lot of prospects. The former chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration started looking at how to revamp the energy sector before the present administration came on board. The Umaru Musa Yar'Adua government understands the importance of energy to the industrial sector and has vowed to address it. If we start having power 24 hours in a day and if workshops and factories pick up, it means more business, increased expansion and more employment opportunities. It means that a business man has hope of making some gains and this will result in expansion. If the energy/power sector remains undeveloped, the problem will persist because engineering cannot thrive without power. It is the responsibility of the engineers to revamp the energy sector. But they have to be empowered to be able to do so. I would not rule out corrupt practices in the energy sector but with proper supervision and accountable leadership, the benefits will be high. I strongly believe that there is hope for Nigeria as we identify our problems and begin to address them. No country can develop without a well developed power sector.

So, once the sector is developed such that there is sustained power flow, reliance on generators will go down and businesses will kick off, power plants and workshops will begin to function again. You will see expansion taking place, businesses boom and engineering practice will even develop further. Tertiary Institutions would be encouraged in area of design.

If the government and bluechip companies fund engineering research, things may be better for mechanical engineers in this country. Knowledge comes through research and most of these engineers who have obtained advanced knowledge probably gained that through research. Grants encourage the lecturers to do research. Many lecturers in Nigeria can't do any research because they don't have research grants.

How would you assess the NAU vice chancellor, Prof. Ilochi Okafor (SAN) who will be bowing out in couple of months?

If somebody who visited this campus, let us say in 2001, comes here today, that person will understand it when you begin to chronicle the achievements of Prof. Okafor. I travelled to the United .States. in 1998 and returned in 2002. Then there was some progress within the permanent site but the university still maintained the temporary site forcing students to shuttle from there to the permanent site. But immediately this present administration came on board, a part of the vision was the closure of the temporary site.

This of course could not be done without facilities on the ground. And there was no take-off grant that could facilitate this. One thing with Prof. Okafor is that he was in the private sector and he has been using the private sector mentality to run the university. The private sector believes in judicious use of available resources, making profit, maximization of profit and accountability to remain afloat. Proper planning ensured that at a certain point in time, upward of over 22 projects were commissioned at a time, and that was when the then Minister of Education, Mrs. Obaji, visited the university. With some facilities on the ground, the temporary site was closed down and all the faculties were moved to the permanent site. Many of the facilities you see were put up using internally generated funds. Go round and see the Prof. Festus Nwakor Library that is under construction from internally generated funds. The faculty of Law complex being constructed also from internally generated funds has reached an advanced stage.

Apart from physical structures, there is peace on campus, staff are paid salaries on schedule, internet facilities abound on campus, the university calendar is normalized, examinations are taken when due under proper invigilation, etc.

The students union government (SUG) is very understanding and the students are involved in decision making in matters that affect them.