An online rating of Africa’s top 50 universities featuring on 2015 University Web Rankings Africa was released on May 18. Surprisingly (though not unexpected), Nigerian universities rank abysmally low.
Only six Nigerian universities make it on a list dominated by universities from South Africa and Egypt. The University of Lagos is the highest ranking Nigerian school at 20th position.
Others include Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (23rd), University of Ibadan (38th), University of Ilorin (41st), Covenant University (43rd), Federal University of Technology, Minna (57th), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (74th), University of Benin (81st), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (86th), and University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (88th).
South African universities dominated the top five, followed by Egypt from 6th to ninth.
The University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania took the 10th position to break the sequence of South Africa and Egypt’s dominance which appear again from 11th to 15th.
Morocco’s Universite Mohammed V – Agdal is 16th; Burkina Faso (18th) and Kenya (19th).
As usual, reasons are being adduced for Nigeria’s poor outing, with analysts citing persistent crises in the higher institutions of learning.
They argue that the Nigerian university calendar is often disrupted by industrial actions and that the government starves them of funds.
But a greater peep into the problems will unearth factors which transcend persistent disruptions and poor funding.
At the root of qualitative education is responsible leadership in the university community and the larger society. From the family level to the local, state and federal governments, the type of leadership that can drive good ranking for universities must be a priority.
A society where families send restive wards to the university cannot expect their rebellion to give way in a flash because the children have changed environment.
Besides, no society whose political leadership misplaces priorities and hawks irresponsibility like sachet water should expect to reap good result from a painstaking ranking on university performance.
We must address our minds to the quality of teachers parading themselves as lecturers. Who recruits them? How are they recruited? Do they meet international best practices for their hiring or are they simply brought into the system on political recommendation?
Why would a responsible university leadership not place greater emphasis on research knowing that in it lies the hub of tertiary education? How many vice chancellors in federal, state or private universities have resigned as a mark of honour because research fund or university education is treated with levity?
Do vice chancellors who have served out their terms return to the lecture classroom in preference instead of seeking appointment into another highbrow office regardless of where the office is located?
How many ranking university lecturers return proudly to pick the chalk and lecture after a leave of absence for political jobs? What type of pro chancellors are in our ivory towers?
Why won’t the quality of university education go down since experience and age, which used to make university learning more meaningful and enduring, have been sabotaged in the quest for inordinate ambition?
Over the years, our university system has been left unattended to, not just by the government but by everyone who should contribute to preserve its sanctity.
We live in a society where parents, rather than admonish wards to study hard to pass their examination, buy their admission, and buy their result from lecturers who are supposed to provide leadership on campus.
Because it takes two to tango, families, wards and lecturers collude to downgrade our universities.
The worse thing that can happen to Nigerians is to allow anybody to take us for a ride. It is because we have allowed our political leadership to mess us up for too long that those we used to lead in a race are now telling us to run fast. What a shame? What a pity?
What can one say about the lip service unification meeting of governors on Monday, May 18 after nearly two years of using the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to politically foul the environment?
The meeting, another charade where they stand Nigerians on their heads, was the first since May 24, 2013 when crisis broke out in the NGF because of its election in which Plateau Governor, Jonah Jang, who scored 16 votes, was recognised by the Villa over Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who scored 19.
I watched the highlights of the NGF unification meeting, which of course still did not have all the governors in attendance, the same day the ranking of universities was released.
It dawned on me that the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration must rise to the challenge of dealing with a clique of governors who do not know the importance of their office.
“We are hereby reconciled and united as a single united umbrella association of the 36 state governors of Nigeria regardless of party or region,” Amaechi told his audience in a most unserious meeting ever attended by unserious fellows after all they caused the country due to their selfish disposition and irresponsible leadership.
Even though the governors tout Peer Review as the main reason for banding together, it is yet to be seen what they have achieved in education.
If they paid any attention to education, they would have noticed the free fall in the Nigerian university system and fix it. Instead, they send their wards to universities in Europe and America and provide money for family members and girlfriends to get admission in more stable academic environments in Africa.
We have a leadership problem that affects the position of tertiary institutions and other sectors.
That none of our pride of universities of old – University of Ibadan; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Ahmadu Bello University; University of Lagos; Obafemi Awolowo University – is among the first 10 in Africa calls for inquiry in the institutions.
Buhari must take another hard look at the leadership of tertiary institutions, including ensuring that those who have something to do with them are people who at least can read and write.
The world over, university education is a serious business. It cannot be different in Nigeria.