Policy focus and value systems in higher education
By
I feel highly honoured and privileged to be considered worthy of the award
of an Honorary Degree by this great citadel of learning. It is a double privilege for me also to be requested to respond on behalf of my colleagues and friends,
the fellow Honorary Graduands of today namely:
His Excellence, Alhaji Ahmadu
Adamu Muazu, Executive Governor of Bauchi State; and
These are eminent citizens whose
lifetime achievements, so humbling yet so enthralling, have put them in a league that cannot easily be ignored. On behalf of all of us, I wish to thank the
Council and Senate of this University for this astounding honour done us and of course our respective families, friends, colleagues and well-wishers. In my own
particular case, I wish to thank our dear President of the Federal Republic, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR for identifying me for my present position, which no
doubt has further thrown my modest contributions to nation-building to a limelight sufficiently fascinating to attract the attention of the Council and Senate of
this University.
To be nominated for the award of
an Honourary Degree is a rare privilege and honour. It symbolises the acceptance of a recognised contribution of an individual to the growth and development of a
sphere of endeavour in the society. The various citations read have done more than enough justice in highlighting our varying contributions to nation-building and
the society in general. We all started from humble beginnings. If today, we are perceived as being, not just successful but, distinctly successful to be singled
out for honour, it is largely because through the grace of God, our accomplishments which are being celebrated today were the products of sound secondary and
university education, as well as the cherished values that were from childhood inculcated in us. It is this sound education and the cherished ethical values that
enabled us to face the challenges of our times in our individual endeavours.
In considering a theme for this
acceptance speech which will both provide a common ground and focus for my fellow recipients and myself, as well as do justice to an occasion of this importance,
the issue of the state of our education sector today had lent itself to me for exposition beyond all others. It is not a difficult task to appreciate why both the
government and the overwhelming majority of Nigerians identify the need to place the education of about one-third of the population among the highest priorities
of our nation, for it represents our lifeline for national survival, the best guarantee for genuine human and material development, and the surest avenue for the
achievement of the values of social justice. A major decline in the nations educational system and failure to achieve these basic objectives, among others, will
obviously impact adversely on all other indices and hinder our march towards, prosperity, progress and stability. Conversely, an educational system well grounded
in high ethical values, structured around the genuine needs of our nation, designed to turn out the highest quality of products in terms of character and
learning, and reasonably insulated from some destabilising and perverting social influences, will guarantee a solid base for national survival and development.
I thought one possible way to
raise some of the major issues I have in mind, may be by an analysis of the nature of our policies in the area of education at key stages in the evolution of our
nation, and placing them in the context of the basic values which have informed and shaped them. This way, I hope I would have raised some basic questions on the
contemporary state of education in Nigeria, questions to which I fervently pray we will find good answers.
Our history has basically
chronicled colonial education policy as aiming to create a group of Nigerians sufficiently literate and skilled to achieve further integration of the colony into
the mainstream of the colonial economy and administration. Schools served the dual purpose of imparting knowledge and skills to, as well as, to a very large
extent, inculcating high ethical values in the students. Fundamentally, colonial education policy targeted the competitive nature of our indigenous social
systems, and made the acquisition of western type of education a key element in individual and social mobility. In most parts of Nigeria, the response was
overwhelming, and where it met resistance it was, significantly, because it was opposed by a value-system which saw it as basically subversive. In the first four
decades of our nations pre-independence existence, the policy was to produce a class of Nigerians educated through the combined resources of state, community,
private and religious organisations, which nevertheless, in terms of the quality of its products and the moral and spiritual elements was quite good. To this day,
many of us who were products of that system and era find it difficult to live outside some of the strict moral codes inculcated in us. It can be said therefore,
that colonial education policy in the first half-century generally achieved its objectives. Ironically, liberal western education also afforded the nationalists
the means to challenge the very foundations of imperialism
The success of the
decolonisation process unleashed major new initiatives towards expanding the frontiers of education. Encouraged by the positive impact of western education in
terms of the development of the individual and the newly-independent nation, and sensitive to the challenges of nation-building, our new leadership embarked upon
a massive campaign for, and investment in time was both to widen the bracket of Nigerians who benefited from the knowledge and skills which modern education
system imparted, and to create a strong middle-class through which the tasks of nation-building and economic development could be sustained. All levels of the
education system received massive expansion largely through state resources, with four new universities established between 1960 and 1962 alone. We can safely say
that the immediate post-colonial period right up to the mid-seventies marked the glorious years of public-funded education; expansion was matched by quality, and
this quality was manifested both vertically in terms of the whole system, and horizontally in the universal acknowledgement that the products of our schools and
universities were as good as the worlds best. Again, here, there was substantial congruence between a value system which placed emphasis on individual merit,
reward for hard work and enterprise, and education as a means of both individual progress and social development.
By the mid-seventies, our
education policy attempted to address issues of weaknesses in the education system particularly disturbing disparities in enrolment between geo-political areas.
This concern informed the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE), a radical policy instrument which aimed at addressing fundamental inequalities as
its goal. When the history of our many efforts at redressing the fundamental elements of social imbalances of our nation is written, the failure of the UPE to
take root and flourish as originally envisioned and planned will rank among the most spectacular and painful national tragedies. Today, we look back to its
abandoned vision in terms of large numbers of young people whose right to education was denied, but whose poverty and hopelessness in meeting their legitimate
aspiration to fulfilled lives now threaten our collective sense of security. It is therefore a national imperative that we support the new Universal Basic
Education (UBE) programme as the policy instrument with tremendous capacity to achieve the vital integration of a major segment of our society into the
mainstream: the young, and the underprivileged. It is vital that we understand that those of us on dry land, so to
speak, who had the benefit of sound education are not doing a favour, through the UBE, to those still in the wilderness. In
fact, enlightened self-interest will dictate that privilege and affluence are severely circumscribed by the fact that they have to co-exist with the poverty and
marginal existence of the majority in society. To the extent that we have to continue to live together, extremes of inequalities between and within regions,
groups or classes are very dangerous, and no sphere of our lives has more capacity to widen these inequalities than lack of access to/or refusal to embrace modern
education. Already, there are clear divides between the more affluent parents who can afford to acquire expensive, largely private, quality education for their
children, and the poor parents who send their children to low-quality, largely public, schools. We encounter the tragedies of these divides daily in our lives: in
the escalation of violent crimes, in the spreading hopelessness and alienation among the young, and the declining influence of social values of hark work, honesty
and respect for high standards of conduct and integrity in our society.
The failure of the UPE to
address fundamental structural weaknesses in the system, particularly in its lower levels, ironically coincided with a massive expansion at the secondary and
tertiary educational levels, without commensurate expansion in terms of the infrastructural and requisite teaching facilities. As schools and universities
expanded (both in size and numbers), resources became more and more stretched, and less and less attention was paid to quality. At an era when the nation needed a
coherent and cohesive education policy consistent with its place as a potential industrial power and a leading nation in Africa and the world, our policy became
fragmented, and in a real sense, became subverted by the very forces which had crept into our value systems: crass materialism and the pursuit of power and
influence by all means as ends in themselves.
As we expand our educational
institutions, and recorded the highest numbers of enrolments, we also began to witness major crises in the system, manifested in massive brain drain, and
near-total collapse of standards. Our education system became a near-perfect mirror-image of our national lives: a paradox of affluence and extreme poverty, a
pious people living in abject moral bankruptcy, and the emergence of conflicting value systems which detracted from the efforts to focus attention and energy on
the task of social regeneration, genuine economic development and a sustainable democratic system. Our undergraduate students took an average of 6 years to
graduate from four-year degree programmes, and in many instances were even lucky to do so without indelible scars from cult activities or a viciously cynical
teacher-student relationship. Standards became arbitrarily and capriciously set; and both employers and foreign universities began to question the validity of our
degree classifications and the quality of the products of our universities.
Worse still, while academic and
non-academic staff institutionalised periodic strikes for higher pay, structures, facilities and services in our universities became dilapidated beyond
imagination. Regrettably, students became pawns in a game no one could win. The level of decay of the past which this administration seeks to reverse, has
manifested itself in a number of many negative forms. Our universities and other tertiary institutions, far from producing men and women of character and
learning, merely produce in many cases young people of little learning and questionable characters. Most of the products of our universities had no capacity or
training for self-reliance. In an economy dominated by government, they had to wait for up to 5 years, post-NYSC, to secure employment. Far from producing job and
economic opportunity-creators, our higher institutions produced high class dependents, and the universities themselves, while constantly harping on the need for
autonomy, became increasingly dependent on government for all their funding.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished
Guests, if I have painted a harsh picture of the state of our education, it is because I believe that only a frank acknowledgement of the problems of the system
can provide some insight into how it can be properly and realistically tackled. All the same, I do not believe that I have said anything which is not already
widely acknowledged by all stakeholders in the education sector.
The major task ahead is to
identify some of the key issues and to evolve and implement policies which are both relevant and effective. This is no easy task, and it is certainly even more
challenging for this administration which does not believe in a superficial treatment of national problems to buy for itself cheap and transient popularity or
respite. It is also on record that this administration has demonstrated beyond doubt that education is one of its highest priorities. We have allocated to the
education sector significantly more funds for its recurrent and capital needs than all past administrations. However, this administration acknowledges that the
rot in our education system is of such magnitude that even with the best of intentions and massive funding, Nigerians do need to engage in a deep search for some
long-term answers to the problems. Our recent and current experiences clearly suggest that short-term palliatives will be counter-productive, and will only play
into the hands of those in the sector who have become accustomed to exploiting endemic crises for personal gains.
The time has come for a major
national dialogue on the way forward. It is important to acknowledge that there are no easy options, and that government is only one, albeit important,
stakeholder in the education sector. I would like to contribute to this dialogue by raising some fundamental questions which we should all address so that
emerging government policy is situated squarely in the context of our concerns:
The first issue which we must
address is to re-appraise the fundamental goals which our education system must achieve. Right now, I dare say that these goals are either not clear or they are
conflicting. A nation which seeks to achieve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in our Constitution must commit itself wholly to
the provision to its citizens, quality education, based on a core value system that includes equity and justice. Our education system should be such that promotes
quality education and not one that will tolerate the production of barely-literate young men and women, whose sole objective is to acquire a piece of paper by any
means necessary;
We also must discuss and make
some difficult choices in the area of funding of education particularly at the tertiary level. Given the competing demands for public resources, and in a
competitive corporate world of the 21st century, the university education sector, for example, cannot continue to maintain its current near-total reliance on
government funding and expect to survive. Rather it must begin, in earnest, to get sensitised to the imperatives of income generation, and some levels of self
reliance in line with the provisions in their various statutes. The current discussions between government and ASUU is one avenue being pursued to register this
key issue. What is needed is both realism and courage to acknowledge that we need to review some time-tested positions and existing inconsistencies in the system.
The funding gaps in our tertiary education is not likely to be completely closed by government alone for many years: Even where the issue of funding is addressed
properly, it should be understood that it will be only relevant if it is backed by positive attitudinal change and complemented by other key prerequisites, some
of which I have mentioned earlier. Indeed, Prof. O.O. Akinkugbe, a renowned academic, in an article titled The Piper, The Tune and University Autonomy
in the March, 2001 edition of the Nigerian Social Scientist said: ... If all the funding needed were provided today, it would still not lead to a
meaningful turn around because attitudinal factors are no longer largely driven by resource assurance and consolidation. unquote.
This further reinforces the
imperatives to internalise ethical values in our university system.
A third area where Nigerians
require to guide policy is the issue of autonomy of our universities. For the record, let it be stated that this administration will wish nothing better than to
see fully autonomous Universities, run under the guidance of the University Governing Councils while government sets policy guidelines and makes funds available
consistent with public interest and available resources. A key component of autonomy is a cultivated willingness and courage to chart a self-reliant and
sustainable course for an institution by its leadership. This administration will continue to honour its full commitment to the universities, but the universities
themselves have a responsibility to progressively accept that there is both privilege and responsibility in autonomy, and that total dependence has never provided
a sound basis of sustainable development.
Mr. Chancellor, Excellencies,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I have raised only a number of issues around which some hard choices must be made. I hasten to add however, that while no
issue that I have raised nor the suggestions I have proffered represents the official position of the present administration, they do represent tangible options
which consistent with our current democratic disposition, may provide the platform for the evolution of lasting policies for university education in our nation.
Before I conclude this
acceptance speech, I wish to lend my voice to those of eminent Nigerians, parents and students, and indeed certain academics themselves, who have appealed to ASUU
Executive to call off the on-going strike and let lecturers return to work while negotiations with government continue. The moral and psychological toll of the
strikes on the students leave, in some cases, untold scars which may remain with them throughout their lives. I am sure that the Academics are sensitive to the
effect of their too frequent strike actions on their students and the university system and should be favourably disposed to contribute towards finding lasting
solutions to the problems.
Chancellor, Distinguished Ladies
and Gentlemen, once again on behalf of my colleagues, I thank the Council and Senate of this university for the honour bestowed on us; I pledge on behalf of all
of us, our continued commitment to the upliftment of this university and indeed, our great country. I thank you all for your kind attention.
Being an acceptance speech by Chief U.J. Ekaette,
CFR, mni, Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, on the occasion of his conferment with DSC (Honoris Causa) and on behalf of honourary graduands of The University of Uyo.