Some universities in Nigeria sell degrees to their students for the right price. So also do some university lecturers exploit their students, especially the female students, and also molest them sexually.
Emeritus Professor Adebayo Sanni, pioneer Executive Director of National Centre For Technology Management, delivering the 7th Convocation Lecture of Bells University of Technology, Ota, said the practice is usually facilitated by unscrupulous lecturers who compel students to pay for grades and marks.
He did not list the universities where the practice exists, adding that not all universities are involved in the ugly practice but warned that the practice is “spreading like wild fire.”
Sanni, Professor of Chemical Engineering, speaking on the topic, “Bridging Education and Technology Gap In 21st Century Nigeria,” lamented the death of competent engineers in the country attributing the development to lack of innovation on the part of varsity authorities, sharp practices of lecturers and unwillingness of the students to learn.
In his words, “Nigerian universities are shadows of their past in terms of academic standards. Quality has been sacrificed due to the insatiable desire by some academic staff to accumulate wealth.”
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T) trained professor bemoaned a situation where the curriculum of “most colleges of Engineering in Nigerian universities are mostly those that existed in the 60s and 70s,” arguing that “teaching 20th Century curriculum in the 21st Century prepares our students for a world that no longer exists.”
He buttressed his point with an example that the equipment he bought as a lecturer in 1974 are still being used by his former employers.
The professor condemned the attitude of some university lecturers who exploit their students especially the female students who are also sexually molested.
“Today in Nigeria, some ruthless, heartless, unscrupulous and corrupt staff in our universities believe that the primary purpose of being in the system is to accumulate wealth.
“Accumulating wealth involves forcing students to pay money for grades. It is worse for female students because in addition to coughing out money, they are expected to sleep with these unscrupulous staff in hotel rooms paid for by the female student.”
-Leadership
