IMO State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, has set a new task before Nigeria's ivory towers. At a time that the country is mired in multi-dimensional challenges, he wants the 170 universities in the country comprising 79 private, 43 Federal and 48 state to lead the way to a new Nigeria.
Governor Uzodimma, who started the clarion call at the 52nd convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka UNN, last week, said it was time our universities started producing employable graduates and and hammering out solutions to our societal challenges as being done in some developed countries.
In the 7,207-word lecture, Uzodimma noted that Nigerian universities had produced academics who made their marks even at global level, acknowledged the debilitating challenges of the institutions and averred that with adaptation of modern technology, the varsities have the capacity to lead the way to a new Nigeria.
The governor, who was visiting Nigeria's first indigenous university for the second time in six years, having delivered the 14th Eni Njoku Memorial Lecture in 2018, said that a university is the brewer of fresh ideas that facilitate the development of societies, and plays a pivotal role as a generator of ideas for development.
This, he said, was the reason he settled for "Why Universities Should Lead the Way To a New Nigeria" as topic of the lecture, where he examined the role universities play, through research and technological inventions, in the economic development of nations and why the universities in Nigeria must do the same.
He also challenged Nigerian universities "to become drivers of social change and lead the way to a new Nigeria."
Pressing Nigeria's needs
According to the governor, a recent survey on the needs and desires of Nigerians identified the following: better leadership, good roads, improved health facilities, constant supply of electricity, affordable homes, security, good quality education and great human capital to drive the realization of these desires.
He said the new Nigeria desired should be known for a higher level of productivity driven by advances in technology; be prosperous and industrialized with ample employment opportunities for our graduates; be functional and dynamic; and devoid of such ills as corruption, inequality and poverty.
He noted that the above are not too much to expect in a society like Nigeria with a very high degree of literacy that currently exports highly skilled manpower to developed countries of the world.
He said: "My postulation in this lecture is that our universities should provide the compass that should lead us to that new, prosperous and great Nigeria that is also capable of addressing the emerging challenges such as the challenge posed by climate change.
"The job of universities in this regard should begin with the right diagnosis of where we ought to be as a nation of 200 million people after 63 years of independence. Universities need to also search within to identify the factors that are keeping us down from achieving the potentials inherent in our vast human and material resources (what is responsible for our stunted growth)."
Nine nagging questions
To fashion the way forward, Uzodimma sought answers to nine posers: Why do we still have a relatively low level of industrial production and export? Why have we continued to export mostly raw materials?
Why is our economy still overtly dependent on the export of crude oil? Why do we still have a high degree of poverty and inequality? Why have we failed to integrate the ethnic groups in Nigeria into one united nation? Why do we have a degree of crippling corruption in our public institutions, including universities? Why do we have such a very low degree of patriotism among our people, including those who have benefited immensely from the country? What excuse do we have for the poor state of road, power, health, educational and municipal infrastructure across the country? Why has our GDP stayed relatively low at $374 billion and why is our economy growing at such a ridiculously low rate of 2.51 per cent?
Averring that the University of California is a major contributor to the GDP of the State of California, in the United States of America, he wondered where we got it wrong in Nigeria
"As Nigeria's oldest and purpose-built university, I expect the University of Nigeria to lead the way in this rebirth or renaissance," he said, arguing that the role has fallen on the shoulders of the universities because "the political class, our leaders have variously under-performed."
Recalling the history of universities in Nigeria and how the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe struggled to found the UNN, the historical role of universities in the development of Europe, America, and the Western world, and the correlation between skilled manpower and early industrialization, he said universities are agents of development.
His words: "This explains why universities are considered the bedrock of development, because they develop the human to acquire advanced skills for the benefit of society. University education goes beyond the mere accumulation of knowledge. It is more about nurturing critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills.
"We can go further to contextualize national development as the process in which citizens are improved and, in turn, improve their nation. Make no mistake, the sequence cannot be broken. The people must first be improved and optimized before they can optimize their nation. Thus, the new Nigeria, which we all seek, is like a rock in the hands of a sculptor. If the sculptor is learned, skilled and disciplined, he can turn the rock into a monument to behold. But if he is uninformed and undisciplined, he will turn the rock into a nuisance to deride. The rock therein becomes an obstacle or hindrance to humanity.
"I posit that a university is the place where citizens learn how to turn a rock into a monument and not a nuisance. When universities accomplish this role, they serve as the compass that leads nations to development. I have no doubt that this was the main reason for which Dr Azikiwe laboured against all odds to establish UNN when he did, and thereafter charged your forebears and you, 'to produce the highly skilled men and women that will fulfill the manpower needs of the newly independent Nigerian state."'
Uzodimma recalled the contributions of universities to development all over the world through the ages of which he said "our pioneer universities such as the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of Ibadan also stand as beacons of academic excellence and national development" and produced generations of skilled professionals and made substantial contributions to the socioeconomic fabric of the nation," and said that a recent study on the economic impact of the University of California got him thinking of how we can improve the economic impact of our own universities.
In the report, The University of California was described as an essential economic engine for the State of California because it contributes about $82 billion annually to the economic output of the state.
Challenges of our varsities
However, Senator Uzodimma identified reasons our varsities are not performing to their potential and proffered solutions.
His words: "It is self-evident that the current state of Nigerian universities is fraught with challenges that hinder their ability to contribute effectively to national development. Prominent among the challenges is the absence of minimum facilities and standards for learning and character moulding.
Most, if not all universities lack basic facilities such as modern classrooms, laboratories, and libraries. The result is that students are crowded into small available classroom spaces and are denied access to modern laboratories, libraries and even online resources which are essential for studies and research in the 21st century.
"A classroom meant to accommodate 50 students now takes over 150 to 200 students in most federal and state universities. Besides, truly devoted lecturers are now in short supply. Many of those who teach in our universities today have no passion for the job. Some who had the passion have lost it, while some have no genuine interest in academics. They just see it as a means of survival. Hence, they engage in all manner of unethical practices ranging from extortion of students to 'sorting' and sexual harassment to make extra money and lower the standard of learning.
"Our universities have also become more of the hub of cultism than of knowledge and excellence. It appears that cultism has become the unofficial new faculty in most universities. Students spend more time in cult-related and other clandestine activities than in studying. Not surprisingly, many of them fail to match the expectations of the society. Instead, they graduate into different forms of criminality thus constituting a serious menace to society.
"In addition, it is impossible to produce refined young men and women in the kind of environment under which these students are accommodated. In the light of all these, not many are surprised that a good number of our university graduates do not exhibit basic knowledge of the subjects for which they were awarded degrees. Some cannot make correct sentences. This is no longer surprising because many of them are products of 'sorting.'And some of the lecturers are those facilitating this sordid aberration. So how can such graduates drive innovation?
"Another challenge is the issue of corruption, unethical practices and misplaced priorities characterized by an excessive focus on appearances and administrative tasks rather than research, teaching, and community engagement. "Nowadays, it has become customary for universities to introduce new dress codes or focus on banning certain items of clothing, while neglecting the development of research and development goals that could positively impact society.
Many university authorities also spend more money in buying expensive cars, funding palatial quarters for officers, and sponsoring themselves and their cronies on expensive foreign trips that yield no fruits, than they spend on the improvement of teaching and research facilities, such as libraries, laboratories and workshops. "The process of recruiting new staff is no longer based on merit, and the best brains are rejected in preference for friends, lobbyists and those who are willing to pay a bribe.
How can such a staff deliver at the highest level of excellence? What kind of role model would such a staff be to the young and impressionable students? "Sadly, the admission process has also continued to diminish the place of merit at the expense of nepotism and other considerations. I often wonder what our universities would turn to if the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) does not insist on a certain degree of merit in the admission process.
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"It is, therefore, little wonder that cultism, internet fraud, and sundry other crimes have become commonplace in our ivory towers today.
"I believe, however, that the greatest bane of our present- day universities is that many of them are still living in the past, either refusing or unable to embrace modern - day digital realities.
"The advent of technology has made the world more interconnected and interdependent thus putting added pressure on universities to transform into Smart Learning Centres. This implies that the universities must intensify efforts towards developing sufficient skilled human capital required for driving the digital economy. Therefore, the imperative of Nigerian universities transforming into smart knowledge centres is non- negotiable.
"As we speak, universities in advanced economies have taken the lead. They have transformed into smart learning centers'. Sadly, Nigerian universities are yet to adapt to this fast-paced knowledge economy driven by technology. The truth is that Nigerian universities are ill-prepared to perform their roles as sources for producing the type of knowledge that can service the ever-evolving technology sector with the requisite manpower and expertise.
Poor funding, inadequate infrastructure, the dearth of skilled ICT personnel, and the absence of engagement with industry and government have remained the major challenges hindering our universities from contributing to the global expansion of emerging technologies and innovations.
"It is evident that Nigerian universities lack the resources and mindset to add economic/social value to their graduates and communities. Consequently, instead of being job creators, graduates end up as job seekers because they do not receive sufficient trainings in entrepreneurship and innovation.
"The truth is that our universities are yet to align with the fast-emerging technologies presented through artificial intelligence - blockchain, big data and algorithm; robotics, 5G, quantum computing,
biosensors/biometrics, virtual/augmented reality and gamification, among many others. This is why I believe that our universities are still living in the analogue age. Our universities need to migrate to the smart digital age if they must lead the way to the new Nigeria we desire.
"In 10 years time the learning environment and workplace expectations will change considerably. These would be caused by future technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), climate change, diversity and inequality. Are our universities, including our first indigenous university, the University of Nigeria, on whose grounds I stand, ready for these changes?"
