From Felix Ikem, Nsukka
Professor Jonah Onuoha is of from Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). He is also the Director, Centre for America Studies, UNN.
In this interview, Prof. Onuoha spoke on strike in the university system, what should be done to eliminate industrial action in public universities permanently and other topical issues.
Recently, academic activities in the universities were disrupted owing to strike by ASUU. What is the implication to university education in Nigeria?
The strike has destroyed the university system. I remembered when I came in 1981 as a first year student, we had people from Ghana, from America, somebody from Cameroun. University was meant for people from all parts of the World. But today, the whole thing look like a local thing. University has become something like if you look around, it seems like a community.
You know people study in the university. That is why you can see people from Obukpa, people from Ibagwa-Aka, people from Enugu, Anambra and Abia states. So, you can see that strike has changed the university system to the extent that nobody is sure of the university calendar. Those for sabbatical cannot do so because they are not sure of the academic calendar. Strike has destroyed the university system and I am really worried about this.
ASUU, NASU and other unions say strike is justified because the Federal Government failed to meet their demands, what is your take on this?
Let me tell you, the federal government has done so much in order to improve the quality of education in the country. But the education system is not responding to the treatment. If you look at how much money the federal government has pumped into education and the output, you will know that the input/output does not balance. If we understand the role played by the federal government in the education system, wev will appreciate it. Let me give background involvementin education.
(Cuts in.) Please do…
Okay, by 1960 when we had independence, there were three regions. There was Eastern Region, Western Region and Northern Region. Along the line, these regions established their universities based on their resources. We had palm oil from the Eastern Region, Western Region had cocoa and Northern Region had groundnuts. Each region was struggling in terms of manpower resources. But when the military took over after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war, the military established a central government. General Yakubu Gowon’s government took over all the federal universities. The government took over the responsibility of providing infrastructure, tuition fees and what have you. It has remained so up till now. Therefore, we now have education in Nigeria where people study Medicine without paying for anything.
Even what students are paying currently is what we call service charges. For exmaple, we have students studying Political Scienceand they pay N50,000, Medicine, N150,000 and others. Look, my point here is that federal government should not be made to pay those things any more. So, I demand for university autonomy. I want the federal government to grant universities autonomy to do three things.
What are those three things?
Number one. Federal government should allow Nigerian universities to charge appropriate fees commensurate to the services they render. Education is not free.
As a university teacher, what experiences you have garnered?
When I came into the university in 1981 as a fresh student. I have never seen a graduate in my life. When I came in to UNN, I told God that I want to live and die here. University of Nigeria was like heaven when I gained admission. I saw people from different nationalities and the quality of education was superb. If you use the refectory then, federal government subsidise your food. Everywhere looked like heaven. But today, everything has changed. It was shameful then for an undergraduate to eat the local bean cake (okap) not to talk of a postgraduate student. Those things were not thinkable then. But they are now feasting on it. Federal government took care of both the body and mind then. But now, the government cannot take care of the responsibilities and it is time to quit. I am not saying privatise; I want goverment to step aside and monitor the universities. It should grant full autonomy to the universities. Universities will determine the number of students to admit, the quality of staff to employ and how much to pay them.
At what level can you impart positively these ideas in the educational system?
I don’t know. All I advocate is that the federal government should grant universities full autonomy. But, if you ask me, I will suggest that the overhauling of the education system should start from primary school. Federal government has abandoned primary education and they are looking elsewhere. Today, primary schools are being handled by private individuals and they are making millions and they charge outrageous fees. We looked elsewhere and today, secondary schools are in shamble. And now, it it has moved to the university system. If federal government should take my advice, they should step aside and allow the local government to handle the primary school. The government should allow state governments to handle secondary schools. Then monitor the universities through National Universities Commission which is doing a wonderful job. The federal government should stop establishing new federal universities, let it manage the existing ones.
JAMB lowered cut off marks. Does this speak well of the education system?
It shows the fall in standard of education in Nigeria. As far as University of Nigeria is concerned, we will not take less than 200 marks. We have a wrong notion that once you have or know a professor and one has less than 200 marks, the person gets admission. But it is not true. My child scored less than 200 and she was not offered admission. But, people offer bribe that to enable them get admission, but it is not true. A professor cannot help you. And therefore, JAMB should be phased out. Allow the universities to conduct their exams and determine the quality they want to admit.
The issue of JAMB pegging cut off marks at 120 and the institutions insisting on 180 is wrong. Many candidates died while on their way to write JAMB and this should not t have happpened. And therefore I suggest that JAMB should be faced out. JAMB has failed now. Having 120 as cut off marks is a sign that our education system has failed.