Public universities used to be the desired institutions of parents for their children and wards when these government-owned universities were able to provide the needed standard required of tertiary institutions of learning.
Unfortunately, many of these government run universities are just shadows of their real self.
There were equipment in the laboratories; libraries were well stocked with relevant books and the lecture rooms were decent enough to provide the needed enabling environment for learning.
The university buildings had not begun to fall apart.
Lecturers were diligent in their work; they aimed at building and developing Nigeria through the availability of competent men and women.
The national decadence characterising public varsities was still many years away.
The universities after many years of poor policies and several other factors are just shadows of their existence.
Rather than rising to compete with other universities across the world, the public universities are caught in the web of drawing comparison with Nigerian private universities, most of whom are not more than two decades old.
Many of the privately owned tertiary institutions of learning do not consider the ones being controlled and financed by the government as competition; they aspire to be among the very best to be reckoned with in the world.
The decadence in our tertiary institutions didn’t start in the recent past.
It has been one long history of negligence and insensitivity on the part of everyone concerned in steering the wheel of education in Nigeria.
There are three levels or stages of education: primary, secondary and tertiary.
The presence of the private ownership of schools began to be felt at the first level; success at that stage influenced the launch of the second.
Truly, many parents and guardians, irrespective of their financial standing, prefer sending their children and wards to privately run schools because of the quality of education offered.
Governments at all levels obviously are not doing enough to arrest the continuous decline of educational standards in our schools.
Many public schools are now moribund; many provide accommodation for roaming animals.
The deplorable conditions of these schools have denied many children quality education and have therefore forced more out of schools.
The various government agencies saddled with the responsibility of providing the necessary equipment to foster quality in our schools should rise and do the needed.
We cannot continue to run our schools the way we have been doing.
Gradually, more private universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are coming on board to further unseat the public institutions.
While the institutions owned privately have new courses and programmes accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC), some of those being managed by government have issues with the commission.
Loss of accreditation notably in the public universities points to the decadence in the sector.
In 2016, the NUC released a list of unaccredited courses being offered in Nigerian universities.
A breakdown of the report showed 29 public (state and federal) universities affected.
University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Benin; University of Jos; University of Calabar and the University of Abuja were few of the affected schools.
Facilities like libraries, laboratories are in a sorry condition; outdated books, rusted apparatuses are what the universities can offer their students as learning materials.
Private-owned universities have been among the top ten schools in Nigeria for some years now and they have been consistent in their rise to the top of the list.
They are free of incessant disruption of academic and administrative work which often occurs as an outcome of unionism.
They provide the needed equipment to be on the threshold of international reputation.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) entered into an agreement with the Federal Government in 2009.
The agreement was aimed at revitalising the university education.
Apart from the fact that the agreement is yet to be executed, it has been a main determinant of many industrial strike actions embarked upon by the union.
The same government that cannot adequately cater to the existing universities is establishing more.
The Nigerian Army University, Biu, Borno State is just a duplicate of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) which has been serving the purposes of establishing another military school that has cost N2 billion so far.
Six months ago, the Federal Ministry of Education admitted that funding of education is below the 26 per cent UNESCO benchmark, spending from 6 per cent to 10 per cent.
Yet positive results are expected.
Nigerian universities are expected to outshine their counterparts in other parts of the world.
We all have a stake to play if we desire our universities to be the true reflection of our desire.
Timothy Faboade, Ogbagi Akoko, Ondo state
