The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, has called on universities in the country to show more commitment to education rather than criticising government policies.
Rasheed expressed the need for the universities to review their dedication to the growth of education in the country.
He spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the inauguration of the World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence for Oilfield Chemicals Research, a project financed by the World Bank for the University of Port Harcourt.
The NUC boss explained that the country stood to gain a lot if the universities tasked themselves and focused on what was required of them for national development.
He noted that Nigeria’s underdevelopment might be traced to her failure to identify the relationship between quality knowledge and economic growth.
Rasheed also pointed out that the nation might not achieve the desired growth if there were no policies that would utilise the efforts of the universities.
He said, “We must review our commitment to education. If the universities task themselves and ask themselves if they are doing what is expected of them, then they will move forward.
“We are quick to criticise government, but we have seen some lecturers absent themselves for half of a semester. Tertiary education has been recognised as the centrepiece of knowledge and countries must make policies to make use of the efforts of the universities.”
Rasheed expressed gratitude to the World Bank for choosing UNIPORT as one of the beneficiaries of the Africa Centre of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals research, adding that the centre was already helping in the area of boosting human capacity.
In her remarks, the Co-task Team Leader for Nigeria, World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence Project, Ms. Aisha Garba, noted that education was essential to the transformation of Nigeria and Africa in general.
Observing that the number of graduates had doubled within the last five years, Garba noted that access to tertiary education remained at five per cent, describing it as one-fifth of the 25 per cent global average.
