Many problems are facing the nation’s universities. These problems include poor funding, unstable academic calendar, brain-drain, cultism, examination malpractice and overcrowding, among others. Most of the identified challenges facing the ivory towers are management-linked in the sense that putting in place the right political-will and commitment to changing things, the future towards a promising academic climate in the universities becomes clearer.
A recent media expose gives a clearer picture of the parlous state of our institutions with particular to The Punch newspaper editorial titled, ‘Hideous federal universities’ facilities’ depicting this sorry state of the infrastructural facilities, describing them as an ‘an eye’, thereby reducing them to shadows of citadel of learning. Despicable of the poor state of infrastructure showed the campuses to be overgrown with weeds while heaps of refuse had taken over the places. Hostels are infested with the insects and terrible sanitary conditions that is not conducive.
Gross underfunding, monitoring, maladministration of the universities by the authorities who admit students beyond the carrying capacities of their institutions, quality assurance and non-enforcement of standards and regulations remain the main reasons why the universities are in a bad shape. Presently, the Federal Government owns 43 out of the 95 public universities while the clamour for more is ongoing.
Proliferation of universities, commercialisation, weak supervision and lack of basic facilities like water, electricity, bathrooms, halls of residence, office accommodation and bookshops, outdated libraries and poor health facilities. Unfortunately, the intervention agencies such as the Petroleum Development Trust Fund and Tertiary Education Trust Fund in funding to provide modern structures’, are minimal.
The reality of a new approach or response to the decrepit facilities in our public universities cannot be avoided anymore. There is need for the revamping of our system in the revitalisation project. This is a collective mandate involving the stakeholders for it to be achieved. There should be drastic increase in the allocation of funds, improved ethics and good maintenance culture on the part of students and members of staff.
For instance, the publication ‘acknowledges the imperative is expected of the former to mount sufficient pressure on the government to implement it. Unfortunately, the union appears to be fickle-minded and often self-centred. Calling off each strike when the government dangles a few arrears of the Earned Academic Allowances has become routine and defeatist. Its last fray ended in February with government’s promise to release N25 billion for this purpose, whereas at issue is the N200 billion annual payment for universities’ revitalisation project. Therefore, for ASUU, the larger interest of the system should be the compelling reason for action; and not for the EAA’.
Can they survive? Yes, when the subhuman environment under which the students study has national and international implications that should be active, noting that ‘there is the urgent need for the government and all the stakeholders to have a dialogue on how the universities could be best funded so as to bring them up to scratch. Some concerned stakeholders have suggested private sector partnership in the provision of some facilities like hostels, as is the case in some countries. This makes much sense. It would help in reducing the crisis in the accommodation of students, many of whom live in insecure apartments outside the campuses’
As variously canvasses, there is the need to put a stop to the licensing of more universities for now. Even though some stakeholders do not seem to like this option, but the truth is that there should be stock-taking rather than encouraging the springing up of new institutions. The issue of having a conducive atmosphere is germane to getting what universities are set up to achieve in any nation. This should rather be the focus of educational administrators. In achieving this, a way out is to embrace private partnership initiative, as the government is certainly not capable of providing the entire need of the institution in view of limited resources.
Generally, lack of infrastructure such as accommodation and power have remained the major challenges facing many universities across the country. Most campuses of tertiary institutions are laced with decayed infrastructure such as hostels, lecture halls, health centres and roads. They remain issues that have continued to elicit protests in federal and state universities. In most universities, the conditions of students leave much to be desired in both classes and hostels.
Students’ hostel facilities are an integral part of welfare system. Due to high demand for campus accommodation, more students require attention in this regard. What is usually observed is that this situation often linger on unnecessarily rather disheartening since students need comfortable accommodation in order to conveniently carry out their primary purpose of learning.
In many cases, there have been reported experiences of students falling sick in hostels because of poor sanitary conditions and infrastructure. The on-campus residence is provided by the institution within its premises, to cater for its students, while the more expensive off-campus residence are mostly private hostels and other forms of accommodation where students live by paying rent.
As mentioned earlier, there is need to provide sound infrastructural facilities on campuses for the promotion of reading and learning outcomes. Universities cannot certainly provide all without engaging in external investors and stakeholder in public-private partnership. This, we must admit.
