Poor Funding, Poor Staff Skills Identified as Bane of Nigeria’s Education Sector

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

A former Dean of Faculty of Law at Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife,Osun State, Prof. Ademola Popoola, has identified poor funding, low research, skills of staff, among other factors that are hurting Nigeria’s education system.

Popoola made the submission over the weekend while delivering a speech as the convocation lecturer at the combined eighth and ninth convocation of the Kwara State University, Malete, which was held at the institution’s Convocation Arena.

He noted that academic institutions across the country were characterised by decrepit infrastructure.

“On the quality of teaching, the gap to attain world-class status is narrower with a magnitude of -28% when measured against the UK world-class university,” he added. “This gap is accounted for largely by inadequacies in the use of technology for teaching and learning; deficiencies in using modern methods of teaching; inadequacies in the up-to-dateness of content taught and reduced commitment to meeting teaching and evaluation responsibilities to students.”

Popoola added that the staff with skills in modern research methods “are few and infrastructure for ground-breaking research is weak.”

The lecturer also mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made the hybrid mode of online and in-class learning imperative, should be considered an ‘eye-opener’ regarding online learning prospects even in normal circumstances.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not showing signs of an early exit. Our institutions at all levels will therefore have to continue to evolve means of coping with the pandemic. For now, the hybrid mode of online and in-class learning will have to be intensified. The open and distance education mode also need to be deepened if only to broaden access to higher education.” added Popoola.

According to him, Nigerian universities have failed to meet the requirements that will get them included in the list of world university rankings because they lack the attributes of world-class universities.

“A world-class university must also generate innovative ideas, produce basic and applied research in abundance and produce ground-breaking research output recognised by peers and prizes like Nobel laureate price,” added Popoola.

He, therefore, urged the fresh graduates in the country to continue to use their talents gathered at the universities to transform the nation’s national development.