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Japa: Varsities must be rewarding for young academics, says CU VC

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The Vice Chancellor of Covenant University, Professor Abiodun Adebayo, in this interview with JOHNSON IDOWU, speaks on the impact of the ban on some foreign universities operating in Nigeria and the suspension of degrees from some African universities among other issues affecting the education sector

What impact do you think the ban on some foreign universities operating in Nigeria and the suspension of degrees from some African countries over the issue of certificate racketeering could have on Nigerian students in these countries and the broader education sector?

What the Federal Government has done is suspend the evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from Benin Republic, Togo, and a few schools following a report published in The Daily Nigerian, which exposed a thriving certificate racketeering syndicate in these neighbouring francophone countries. It is a welcome development that will help to address the challenges posed by ‘degree mills’ across the continent. We have a lot of graduates today who have certificates they cannot defend; they also lack the required capacity that meets the demands of their roles.

However, there is a need to investigate further and differentiate genuine institutions from those involved in these sham practices. The outcome of such an investigation should be published and made available to the public, including the Nigerian embassies, to guide Nigerian students seeking admission outside the country from becoming victims.

I see the impact of the suspension on Nigerian students in those countries as a positive one. It’s an interim measure pending the conclusion of investigations. Also, a stitch in time saves nine. It’s better to acquire a recognised degree than a worthless certificate.

Equally, it’s a clarion call for the Association of African Universities (AAU) to expand its scope and begin to look into issues of quality assurance and academic standards, as well as the accreditation status of universities across the continent.

What can be done to keep our campuses safe in the face of rising insecurity in the country?

The present security challenges in the country, especially on university campuses, have necessitated the need to institute proactive measures and ensure vigilance by all stakeholders. Universities must invest in covert video security surveillance systems and build reliable security architecture on campus. There should be regular security briefings and enlightenment of all stakeholders on campus.

Every university should have an active security committee with membership drawn from faculty, staff, and students and vested with the responsibility of ensuring efficient campus security, safety, and surveillance. Furthermore, there is a need to maintain a regular and harmonious interface between the University security apparatus and external security agencies for proactive campus policing.

Moreover, it is important that universities work and partner their host communities and form joint community security networks, which will further strengthen effective policing, thereby ensuring safety on our campuses.

The education sector in Nigeria is under the stranglehold of poor funding. How do you think this issue can be addressed to improve the quality of education in Nigeria?

I entirely agree with you that the education sector in Nigeria has been contending with persistently poor funding and low budgetary allocation from the government, which has negatively impacted access, quality, and sustainability.

One had expected budgetary departure in this current dispensation, going by the promises made by President Bola Tinubu to prioritise education by committing at least 25 per cent of the national budget to the sector, to benchmark global standards, but this hope was dashed with the release of the 2024 national budget.

We can address the challenge of improper funding through strict adherence to UNESCO’s prescription of 20 per cent allocation of the national budget to the education sector.

The current funding approach is grossly inadequate, and what we need is a multi-stakeholder approach and strategy, that will increase budgetary allocation and surge domestic and international resource mobilisation, as well as the integration of SDG4 into all the national development plans and education policies at all levels of governance.

To this end, there should be strategic and robust partnerships between the government and private sector, to inject innovation, creative solutions, new technology, sustainable business practices and implementation of more calculated corporate-social responsibility programmes in education. The private sector’s collaboration will also be critical in bridging the existing funding gap.

Furthermore, international donor agencies are key players in education financing globally. The government should create an enabling environment to encourage them to prioritise our national education in their development assistance portfolio, especially in capacity development and mobilising resources.

The government should as a matter of urgency put the necessary machinery in place leading to the amendment of the relevant act of the parliament that will allow private universities to benefit from the grants given by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), to fund research, staff development and project management. This becomes necessary, as the private universities and their staff remit their taxes to the government in fulfillment of their civic obligations. Moreover, the graduates of private universities add to the manpower development with attendant socioeconomic benefits to the nation.

What measures can be implemented to address the numerous industrial actions by tertiary institution-based unions?

Recent experience has shown that numerous industrial actions by public tertiary institution-based unions have negatively impacted all aspects of our university system. The unions may have genuine reasons to embark on strikes, but when such industrial action is mismanaged, it becomes detrimental to disputants and the entire industrial ecosystem. Industrial actions have become more frequent in our universities and other higher educational institutions, but this has been proven to be ineffective.

However, it appears that the government would not listen until these unions embark on industrial disputes. To prevent such incessant disruptions in academic activities in our universities, the government should provide satisfactory funding, grant workable autonomy and ensure that the appointment and recruitment of heads and staff of tertiary institutions are based on competence and professionalism devoid of ethnic and political consideration. Also, the government should learn to honour its agreement with the unions and monitor implementations, while unions should reciprocate the government’s gestures by ensuring judicious use of resources and showing genuine interest in the growth and development of their universities. The government will need to create a conducive learning environment for all our public institutions. Seeing the deplorable conditions under which students learn in public tertiary institutions is appalling.

How can the government make the Nigerian education sector more attractive to retain varsity lecturers leaving Nigeria for other countries?

Most universities in Nigeria are facing a dearth of qualified lecturers with PhDs because many young academics have left the system in droves, to seek greener pastures abroad. The situation is worsened by the non-replacement of aging professors, especially those who have retired due to employment embargoes.

To reverse the trend, we need to make our university system more rewarding and fulfilling, to attract and retain young academics. This can be done by improving the welfare of academic staff and enhancing staff development packages, stimulating research and innovation, promoting staff-industry linkage, and investing in infrastructural development and tech-enabled facilities for effective delivery of teaching, research and administrative support services.

Over the decades, Nigeria’s education sector has undergone a lot of reforms. In your opinion, what further reforms are necessary to enhance the quality of education in Nigeria?

Since independence, we have had many education reforms; some have failed, while others were successful. I have discovered that such interventions often fail due to a multitude of issues associated with funding, implementation, evaluation and sustainability.

In my opinion, all we need is the political and economic will to align our existing national policies with the sustainable development goals especially, SDG4. This alignment, backed with proper funding and monitoring mechanisms, will help address the rising number of out-of-school children in the country. Some statistics from UNESCO show that we have become the epicentre, with about 20 million children out of school. It will also address the issues of funding, access, quality and arrest of brain-drain syndrome.

Also, we need to build a reliable data bank on available educational resources, enrollment, and access and formulate valuable metrics to capture and track progress and learning outcomes at all tiers of education.

What measures is Covenant University taking to ensure the integrity of its certification process and to combat the issue of certificate racketeering?

To guide against certificate racketeering and ensure the integrity of our certification process at Covenant University, we have adopted the following measures:

Firstly, all student academic results are processed and approved by the Departmental Boards, the College Boards, the Senate Business Committee and the University Senate. This rigorous process ensures that only students who meet the prescribed graduation requirements graduate from the University. Also, we adopt strict verification procedures to ensure certificates are only issued to qualified students who have met all graduation requirements.

We also ensured that our certificate printing method is highly secured, and the paper has security features such as watermarks, holograms, or tamper-evident seals to prevent counterfeiting. In addition, all related printing materials, particularly the printing papers, are adequately secured and only authorized personnel have access to them. We maintain centralized records of all certificates issued by the University to enable easy verification and monitoring of certificates. Likewise, we ensure that the University’s database systems are secure against unauthorized access or tampering to prevent fraudulent issuance of certificates, and we conduct regular audits of the certification process to identify any weaknesses or vulnerabilities that could be exploited for fraudulent activities.

Lastly, all our certificates, as packaged on our portal, contain other security features such as QR codes which contain verification links, digital signatures, accessibility, scan-ability and customization features.


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