The Vice Chancellor of the Caleb University, Imota, Ogun State, Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju, may have physically left the public university system, he definitely still holds on to his voice. Unlike many of his peers who seem to have lost their voices on crucial national matters, especially those pertaining to education, Olukoju remains outspoken and still calls a spade a spade.
For instance, on the question of what some experts call indiscriminate award of first class in most private universities in Nigeria, Olukoju believes something may truly be fishy somewhere. And whenever such an issue is being discussed, the one-time dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lagos is a candidate to listen to. Apart from being a VC of a private university, he also bagged a first class from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1980. So, he should know what a first class is worth.
He says on the allegation that the private institutions awards first class to impress fee-paying parents, “I cannot make any general statement. But I will give you some hints. I graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1980 with a first class. My faculty then produced only two first class candidates. From the no fewer than 2, 000 students, there were only about 14 of us that obtained first class in the university that year.
Perhaps one thing that buttresses Olukoju’s argument is that Caleb University has not really been having an orgy of first class. In 2011, of the 92 graduates it produced, two had first class. In 2012, eight of its 231 graduates had first class while three of the 158 graduates produced in 2013 had the choice grade.
He adds, “As a rule of the thumb if you produce 100 graduates and 20 are in first class, there is a problem somewhere. Look, first class is a unique grade. It is like a pinnacle. It is pyramidal. The apex must be narrow. If you are inverting the pyramid, then that is not right. It is not an all comers grade. It does not happen anywhere in the world.”
He is one of the people who believe that things are no more the same in Nigerian universities. According to him, in a nation as huge as this country, with no fewer than 170 million people, and over 100 universities, one simply will expect a mixed grill of actors, institutions and products.
“ I will say as a rule of the thumb that surely our university system is not what it used to be some 20 to 40 years ago when we were undergraduates,” he says.
Noting also with a touch of exasperation that all is no longer the same, he adds that the proliferation of schools, students and academics cutting corners, among other issues have impacted negatively on the sector.
The VC, while calling for a saner academic environment, notes that the tertiary sector is not just the talisman of the education system but also the alter ego of the nation.
He says, “I am focusing on the tertiary sector because that is the mascot of the education system because if you do not get it right there then there will be problems. That sector responds to the dictates of labour market or to global economy. If you have a school certificate result, you are not yet a threat to the nation’s image internationally.
“So I think that at the tertiary education level, the number of universities which has not been matched by the number of the quality of PhD holders, seasoned scholars, and academics are all contributing to the challenges that the sector is facing.”
Calling for a culture of merit, he notes that the request is an elixir for quality service delivery. To achieve this, he recommends the American university system where, he says, professors in the same department earn different salaries. In his thinking, therefore, one’s profile should determine what one earns.
He adds, “For that to happen in Nigeria, we need to have a national culture of merit and fairness. What I mean is that you do not judge a curriculum vitae or paper based on a person’s religion or ethnicity, judge on the prima facie, on what the eyes can see. You may raise other issues about ethics, maybe that someone just got his PhD last year but that does not stop us from looking at what is on the ground. The problem here is that we bring sentiments into everything. Objectivity is lacking even in simple things, such as assessing a paper for publication, or assessing somebody for promotion. So sentiments and other sundry considerations have watered down or undermined standards in such a manner that one wonders the type of standards that we are maintaining.”
But are the private universities helping in any way to alter this complexion of university education in the country? Olokoju’s response is in the positive. He says apart from providing quality education, he opines that they are instrumental in bringing a stable academic calendar, halting capital flight and contributing to labour mobility in the country.
He explains, “The private universities have made a great deal of difference in the sector. They have demonstrated the possibility of having a stable academic calendar. People can now go to the university and study for four or five years without any disruption.
“Second, but for private universities in Nigeria, maybe at least 45 per cent of Nigerians students would have been in Ghana by now. It is because we have given them a local alternative that some of them are still here. Private universities are contributing to checking capital flight. They are also subsidising education. I can tell you categorically that no private university in Nigeria has started making profit. What the government would have spent on education, the private universities are taking care of that bill. Three, we are making significant contributions to the human resource pool in this country.”
The academic, who shows his disapproval of the manner many Nigerians consider foreign universities, notes that many Nigerians prefer to spend so much on house-warming and other social activities to investing in their children’s education.
He reasons that although the economic condition in the country is not favourable, many prefer sending their children to Greece, Ukraine, Ghana, among many other countries.
He asks rhetorically, “How many of public officers, ministers, among others, have their children in public universities in Nigeria? Many of their children are overseas in top universities. Also, there are many who say that they cannot afford to train their children in private universities here, but they have them in Ukraine, Greece, Ghana and in many other countries. The tuition in many of these schools is costlier than what we have here.
“So, that we appear not to be attracting a large number of students could be because of perception. It is not necessary that the cost is so much. It is because of misconception. Nigerians spend a lot on things that appeal to their sentiments instead of rationality. Many Nigerians have failed to understand that an investment in education is the best form of investment
“People also think that private universities have not developed as brands. We are indeed just developing the brand. I do not think there is any private university in the country today that is up to 20 years. Another thing is that in Nigeria, the government is the economy. If any institution, no matter how worldly it is, has the backing of the government, people feel it will not collapse or fail. So they have confidence in such government institutions. These are some of the assumptions that becloud the judgment of some parents.”
He continues, “We are only exaggerating our own frailties. And one expression captures this problem and I call it culture cringe. The moment some people hear Harvard, Oxford, Liverpool, they begin to cringe. The trouble is that the problem runs from top to bottom. Our leaders and people who are supposed to be role models have inferiority complex. I am not saying that studying abroad is bad. It is, however, not the ultimate. I am only saying that we go to the extreme of denigrating our own system.”
On violence, protest and agitation that are gradually becoming the status symbols of private universities, Olukoju blames the trend on parents, multimedia and peer pressure. He argues that to check the excesses of youths, who he describes as adventurous, there is the need to return to the basics of life.
“Let us go back to the family. For one, parents have neglected their duties. Some parents do not have control over their children. A good number of students come from broken homes; some come from parents ’ who are busy pursuing career progression not knowing that their children have started embracing anti-social behaviour.
“Some of these children are susceptible to peer pressure, online culture, and social media. Even with the Facebook, they do not face their books any more. The influences that impinge on these young people are different from the ones my contemporaries faced.
“Again, many parents send their children to private universities thinking that they are reform institutions. That is not true. What magic do you want a private university to perform within two or three years in a child that you have failed to take care of for between 15 and 18 years that he has stayed with you?
“Also, some parents are not straightforward with us. This boy that they are bringing to us a lamb was actually a lion of a cult in a university somewhere in Afghanistan. You know a leopard does not change its spot even after it had received a gunshot. So you can see these are some of the dynamics that we face in this environment,” the former UNILAG lecturer concludes.
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