Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

Prof Isaac Olayinka Oyewole is the Provost, Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun. Until his appointment, he was senior lecturer, Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State.

A professor of Biological Sciences, Oyewole in this interview declared that Nigeria’s education system is appalling and called on the government to rescue the sector. He also spoke on other sundry issues.

What is your general assessment of the education system?

Nigeria’s education system is appalling because we are not yet there. The standard is there but the implementation of the standard is the problem. The teaching profession is not made attractive by the government, it is has been turned to begging profession. Teachers should be rated like their counterparts in other professions. Education should be well funded by the government and teachers should be paid regularly with attractive salaries. Nigeria is far behind in the education sector. We need to promote research work if the system will grow.

What is the situation in the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun?

We have been working with commitment and dedication to ensure that the institution develop. We hold regular meetings with staff to make them know what academic structure entails. After a series of meetings, the staff know what academic environment entails. Although the resources are not there, we have been able to forge ahead. To the glory of God, we have been able to correct so many vices in the college. We now operate in line with the best global standard. We have corrected many lapses and we are forging ahead in our desire to be the best. We have been able to get intervention fund from TETFund and we are lucky. We have put new structures in place. We have restructured the college and the bursary in particular. Students registration is now done online, same with payment of tuition and other fees.

How far with the accreditation of courses offered in the college?

The last time accreditation was done in the college was in 2006. However, we have been able to accredit all the programmes we offer now. Accreditation is important in any tertiary institution and we were assisted by TETFUND to finance the accreditation process. The money for capital projects was diverted to get materials and equipment necessary for full accreditation of all our 24 courses. We were commended by the regulatory body that came for the accreditation. We have benefited immensely from TETFUND.

How would you assess TETFund in the education sector?

TETFund has been of tremendous blessing to tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It has assisted tertiary institutions in no small way because the presence of TETFund is in all tertiary institutions in the country.

What are the major sources of fund in your institution?

The college is owned by the Osun State Government, so, the state government is our major financier. We also get financial aid from TETFund and some philanthropists, especially those who are indigenes of the host community often come to our aid whenever the need arises. We contacted the traditional ruler of Ila-Orangun, the host community sometimes when we needed financial assistance and through him, we were able to reach some prominent indigenes of the town who came to our rescue. Also, we rely on school fees for our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) although our IGR cannot be compared with our expenditure.  We have poultry, fishpond and farm which are sources of IGR for the college. We have also approached TETFund for support in entrepreneurship and they have helped us in the areas of the bakery, water production and woodwork in no small way. Our belief is that all these will improve the IGR of the college and help the students by enhancing their skill acquisition.

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What are the reasons for the low enrolment of students in colleges of education in Nigeria?

There are so many reasons. The colleges of education are made less attractive by the government and society. There are low job prospect and low remuneration for graduates of the college of education in Nigeria. Many people today want to go to university because of recognition and remuneration. There is also the problem of proliferation of tertiary institutions in the country and this brings competition among them.

How differently are you doing things in the college?

We have restructured the entire system. The bursary, for instance, has been restructured and all payments are now through an automated system. We have sound Information Communication Technology (ICT) system and registration of courses are now done online.

We also have a functional e-library, which is helpful for all staff and students doing research. We equally have projectors in all the classrooms and recently we distributed computer tablets to all our teachers through the support of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC). Besides, we now have a partnership with the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, to run National Diploma programme concurrently with the NCE programme, so our graduates will now bag both ND and NCE in their chosen disciplines.

Would you say that the proliferation of universities in Nigeria is a blessing or a curse?

It is supposed to be a blessing because it gives the opportunity for our children to be educated, unlike when students struggled to get admission. But the question is that do these universities have needed facilities that will promote the standard of education? Many of them don’t have equipment for practical works. The number of universities is not enough, but the quality of the university is more important. University should not just be established for the purpose of making money alone, but to impact knowledge on the people. In any way, the proliferation of university is a blessing.

What then is the way forward?

The government should allocate more funds to the education sector and teaching should be made more attractive. We should be more serious with education in Nigeria. Also, teachers should be well paid and they should be seen as professionals. The necessary teaching equipment should be adequately provided.

What is your take on the low-quality graduates in Nigeria?

It is garbage in garbage out. Teachers that are not well paid cannot give out their best. The question we should ask is that are the teachers given good equipment to work with? A teacher is not supposed to be relegated to the poor level. Nigerians are intelligent but the environment is the problem.

How would you react to incessant cases of sex-for-grade in the tertiary institutions?

It is a function of indiscipline. A lecturer that is not discipline will take advantage of a female student that lacks moral and not prepared to study. The situation is bad and it is condemnable. It is an act of indiscipline and lack of fear of God. Lack of fear of God will make a lecturer demand for sex from his students.