Latest News | News Break Nigeria As expected, everyone felicitated with me on the successful completion of my first degree in one of the famous second- generation universities of technology in Nigeria. Text messages poured in from right, left and centre – calls from people that supported my degree pursuit as an engineer. There were Facebook congratulatory messages, tweets and other means of rejoicing with the freshest graduate in town. But, I keep asking myself, “am I really worth what they call me now”? “An engineer”. Do I have the inbuilt attributes of an engineer? Can I practise in the field without any cause for panic? Can I compare with my counterparts from the western world as to what I know regarding the course I studied? Well, some readers might raise eyebrows concerning some of my inquisitions, but relax and read along as I take you through parts of the reason why I adjudged what was supposed to be my dream ambition a wrong one. You have been offered a provisional admission to study a particular course in our university for five years, please, accept my congratulations, says the registrar of the university. A certain amount of money had to be paid for acceptance of admission that was offered me. Of course, who will not jump at the offer? Especially someone that has waited at home in pursuit of admission. Offering thousands of admission seekers such a life –long opportunity to come and study in their university, one would think that the school management has what it takes to accommodate the thousands of students they admit every year in terms of hostels, health facilities, well -constructed lecture theatres, well-equipped laboratories and workshops, good libraries, an ultra- modern sports facilities, well qualified lecturers, etc. But it is rather unfortunate that the reverse is the case, not only in the university under analysis, but in all the universities across the states of the federation, federal and states-owned polytechnics and colleges of education. My uncle in his late 70 snarrated what school life was for me in the late 60s and 70s at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University . From his narration, one would come to a reasonable conclusion that indeed, we had a university that was up to the task, the one that could stand tall amongst its counterparts from the west. He recounted that the number of foreigners they had in the university to the number of Nigerians was at the ratio of 30:70. The state –of- the- art facilities, conducive hostel accommodation with only two students per room, the well –equipped laboratories stocked with functioning equipment, the highly experienced lecturers comprising both Nigerians and expatriates, the free meals they benefited from, the scholarship they enjoyed among others are no more present in the nation’s institutions of learning, no thanks to poor budgetary allocations to education. The challenges faced by my alma mater include near -empty laboratories, workshops without modern equipment, paucity of accommodation for students, inadequate lecture rooms which scare most students off lecture in their first and second year in the university, over-population and aged infrastructure among others. My school’s central laboratory has challenges and our junior lecturers carry out their experiments outside the country since the institution’s chemistry laboratory, agric engineering, metallurgical and mechanical/civil engineering workshops have no working equipment. The hostel accommodation is a no go area as there are six legitimate bedspace owners and eight squatters. Toilet facilities are unsanitary and some students are toilet disease carriers. Power supply is nothing to write home about as power is restored only when the students are in classrooms. Death centres as medical centres are derogatorily called by the students only have paracetamol and Vitamin C tablets to offer students no matter the type of their ailments and the severity of their injuries . The school shuttle system is in bad shape. In the words of Chief Afe Babalola, “Many of the nation’s universities are not much better than secondary schools. Students undergo a five-year course without once getting to the laboratory. Language students do not ever step into a language laboratory. Chemistry students do not ever set eyes on a burette, computer science students only see pictures of the system and never have an opportunity to lay their hands on it. In some cases, medical students are only taught the theories, they hardly ever have the chance to put into practice what they learn”. A graduate of metallurgical and materials engineering that cannot join two metals together, same that can’t identify different types of welding electrodes. A civil engineer that cannot mould a single block, not to talk of supervising the construction of an apartment. An electrical engineer that cannot wire a single room without being supervised. A mechanical engineer that can’t identify a piston of an automobile component. An agric engineer that has never seen what an harvester looks like. Should all the people that fall into these categories still parade themselves as engineers? I doubt so. To correct these anomalies, the Federal Government should start by increasing budgetary allocations to education towards equipping the laboratories and libraries with good books that students can have access to, offering better remuneration to both teaching and non-teaching staff among other needs. The higher institutions have their own roles to play as well. I am of the opinion that the undergraduate project should be given to students right from their second year in the university. Imagine a student in the department of forestry and wood technology that has a project to plant a particular species of wood. We are all aware that trees don’t grow within one year, they are meant to be planted and monitored by the student from his second year in the university while the final phase of the project will be in the final year. This technological and agricultural incubation approach can be extended to other courses in the university. Local consumption of technology is also a very good approach of improving the decay of infrastructure in our universities. Metallurgical engineering students are supposed to handle all metallurgical constructions in the university, welding and fabrication of classroom chairs, street light poles and other fabrication works; electrical engineering students are meant to handle all the electrical installations in the institution with help from their technologists and professors. By so doing, even investors can invest in the most viable projects. Until I can learn to apply my classroom experience to solving real life situations and positioning myself amidst competent engineers in the society, I can authoritatively say that I, as well as other graduates of the 21st century Nigerian higher institutions of learning, got the wrong education. Oluwaseyi wrote via ephisy@yahoo Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng
Posted on: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 02:09:01 +0000
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