The Vice-Chancellor of Summit University, Offa, Kwara State, Prof. Abiodun Musa Aibinu, said that if private universities could prove themselves up to the task, some of the major challenges facing Nigerian universities would belong in the past.
Aibinu made the claim during a lecture on an online professional platform: “No Dull Moment Islam” on the theme: “Private Universities in Nigeria and the Nigerian Education System: Prospects and Problems”.
The new Vice Chancellor listed many challenges facing Nigerian universities including growing population and demand, inadequate infrastructure, outdated teaching and learning materials, poor implementation of learning curriculum and poor quality primary and secondary education.
Others, he said, include malpractice and cheating in exams, lack of funding and brain drain, cultism, flawed leadership selection process and know-it-all attitude.
The mechatronics engineering professor added that the lack of a mentoring system, the culture of zero innovation, the poor reward system, the non-availability of an innovation ecosystem and the annual end-of-project rituals years are among the challenges facing the sector.
He lamented that due to the challenges, no Nigerian university is among the top 1,000 in the world in the recent University Rankings.
“It is the only university in Ibadan that has been ranked 1,231 in the world and 19 in Africa, far behind universities in South Africa, Egypt and Ghana.
“It is not a compliment for a country presented as the giant of Africa with a population of more than 200 million inhabitants”, he lamented.
According to him, “as of March 30, 2022, only 217 universities exist in Nigeria with 111 private, 49 federal and 57 state”.
To revive the decadence of the university education system, Aibinu said private universities could do so with adequate funding, adequate facilities and equipment and retain the best brains in the system.
Aibinu, who was appointed vice-chancellor in March 2022, added that there must also be zero strike action, a corruption-free system, a modern education system, zero worship activities, no malpractice in exams, zero plagiarism and cheating.
The Vice-Chancellor believed that the future of education over the next 20 years must involve knowledge and learning, while educators must be enterprising.
Others include space-time diversity, free choice, data interpretation, student ownership, increasingly important mentorship and field experience, and personalized learning, among others. .
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