The Executive Director, African Capacity Building Foundation, Harare, Zimbabwe, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, has urged the Federal Government to meet United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s benchmark for educational spending to revamp higher education system.
The scholar made the appeal during the 3rd convocation lecture of Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State.
Nnadozie said the Federal Government must allot 26 per cent of its annual budget to the education sector as stipulated by UNESCO to seriously tackle the myriads of problems militating against education in the country.
“Universities and other categories of higher education are struggling under this financial squeeze, which has adversely affected the growth of the system in Nigeria and Africa.
“Allocating 26 per cent of the federal budget will also ensure that the problem of infrastructure being experienced in universities, among others, will be solved to create a conducive environment for teaching and learning.
“Critical infrastructure needed for conducive learning, such as science laboratories, workshops, students’ hostels, libraries and power supply, among others, will in turn be provided to achieve desired goals,” he said.
The professor noted that such funding would also solve the problem of inadequate teaching personnel experienced in higher institutions for effective teaching.
“Universities, for instance, lack lecturers needed to adequately handle teaching loads, which result in overworking of such lecturers. Research capacities have also been impaired due to limited grant support and weak mentoring capacity by senior academics due to brain drain,” he said.
He noted that the frequent labour disputes and closure of higher institutions could be checked with effective funding to halt the incessant disruption of the academic calendar.
“There is hardly an academic session that passes without disruptions in the tertiary institutions’ calendar by academic and non-academic staff unions,” he said.
Nnadozie said that revamping higher education in Nigeria could be promoted through collaborative efforts by government, business sector, civil society and academics, among other stakeholders.
“Appointing a qualified person for the job of Minister of Education will be a positive step towards the revamping process, as this should be linked to network of academic and practical excellence in education.
“The government should also stem the tide of emigration to higher institutions in Ghana and other countries and increase efforts to transform the country into the continental and global educational hub,” he said.
He noted that the higher education system was expected to contribute in individual talent development, which would meet societal future needs and demands of the labour market.
“The teaching curriculum and learning approaches should be periodically assessed to determine their usefulness to the
graduate.
“Quality education must recognise that the labour market requires employees and entrepreneurs with problem-solving skills, the capacity for effective teamwork, creativity and professional knowledge. Higher institutions should maintain current communication with their graduates and use their feedback mechanism to revamp curricula and teaching methods,”
he said.
In his remarks at the ceremony, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, appreciated the Federal Government for approving financial resources for payment of salaries and capital development, especially through the Tertiary Education Trust
Fund.
“We are grateful for energising the education programme by which the rural electrification agency is currently working to install a hybrid power plant (1MW) that utilises solar energy to energise power in the University,” he
said.
