In one of the activities held to commemorate the 49th
anniversary of Nigeria independence from the clutches
of colonial despondency, I had a sparkling tête-à-tête
with some Nigerians who were grossly dissatisfied with
the country’s state of haplessness. The thematic
spotlight of our discussion was wide-ranging, but, it
was soon narrowed to education because it held on one
of the citadels outside the shores of Nigeria. While
flogging budding issues on the awful state of
education in Nigeria, one of the contributors made a
scathing remark about Nigerian education, which
perhaps drew my terse response. He remarked, “Nigerian
education never made me, it is my sojourn abroad that
has placed me in a good stead for purposeful
scholarship.” He went as far as saying his professors
are better than those at home, thus raising question
about Nigerian intellectual human resource competence?
I shouted him down and insisted that he desists from
such misleading and generalizing claim. However, I was
able to articulate some points which won me the
attention of those on the other side of the talk.
Since that moment I have been restlessly battling with
the bitter parting shot, yet genuine poser which the
younger chap left us with, when he said, ‘with the
foreign search for education lies the hope of reviving
the almost faded flavor of Nigerian Education.’ Can
this be accepted as a statement of fact or should it
be accepted on its face value? The following
observations and lines of thought been verbalized will
foretell.
Starting with a statement credited to one erudite
professor, a political scientist of note, will make an
interesting prelude into the gist of this article.
This widely published man of knowledge had once worked
in Nigeria as an expatriate lecturer for about 13
years before leaving for another country. That was in
the golden days, when our universities were attractive
to foreign lecturers and students. While in the middle
of a very lively and highly charged class, the grey
haired professor paused as if he was lost in thought.
Suddenly, the man put up a cynical look, only to
deliver a bomb shell which sent shock waves across the
minds of Nigerian students who were seated in the
midst of other nationals. ‘The Nigerian students that
I am seeing are those who have run away from the
academic rigours in their country. They are not the
best of the students’ in Nigeria,” the aged professor
said. After delivery his mouth-to-air missile, the
widely read scholar put up a sigh of relief and went
ahead with his lecture. What could have made this man
of knowledge utter such statement given the fact that
those Nigerian students to whom he directed his
statement were his best students? Can it be
ill-motivated or be a factual comparative assessment
of what the aged professor know of Nigeria and what he
has seen? To provide an objective response, one may
need to, on the one hand take a look at the caliber
and categories of Nigerians studying abroad alongside
the circumstances that surround such search for what
will be tentatively called foreign education. On the
other, is to look for any connection between the
preceding and the complexus associated with securing a
visa which qualifies someone to travel out of the
shores of the country for whatever purpose.
Based
on informed opinion, there are three categories of
Nigerian students studying abroad. There are those who
are lecturers or employees in Nigerian Universities,
who, for very cogent reasons have decided to pursue
doctorate abroad, although a few are running masters’
programmes. They will henceforth be referred to as
category A. Next to this, are those who are not
university staff, but have chosen to pursue further
education or begin their first degree overseas.
Forthwith, they will be referred to, as category B.
Those in category C include those, whose foundational
and first degree educational instructional medium was,
say in French, Arabic or Chinese, and have enrolled
for higher degree with a different instructional
medium. There is the last category, which for the
purposes of convenience will be referred to as strayed
students.
The
dearth of functional library, poor state of learning
infrastructure, lack or limited access to recent
advances in various spheres of knowledge, length of
time required to complete a PhD, are some of the
factors which have compelled most lecturers to enroll
for doctorate abroad. While some are on study leave
with or without pay, others are placed on study loan,
scholarship, (either from their university, government
or other sponsorship agencies). The first question
that comes to mind is how some of these lecturers got
employed in the first instance. A number of factors
come to bear here. There are those employed based on
merit, due process, the man-know-man factor and some
based on quota system. The squalid condition of
service in our universities have made lecturing
unattractive to quality and first class students, so,
most of them do not bother to seek for job as a
university lecturer. Few who stay back to lecture may
have resorted to this option may be as a result of
some elderly intervention, personal decision or after
various attempts to land a better offer have failed.
On this note, our universities are left with the
option of employing the availables. Based on this, it
can be said the percentage of high quality students or
first class brains who seek job or get employed in our
universities have reduced beyond the marginal. So, one
can proceed to suppose that a sizeable percentage of
high quality students or first rated brains who are in
the system, more so recruited based on merit and
through due process constitute a fringe of the young
lecturers in Nigerian universities. So, this leaves us
with dearth of quality hands as lecturers in our
higher places of learning.
Those
employed on the basis of man-know-man somehow overlaps
with those smuggled into the system through the quota
system, but, there exists delineating distinctions
between the two. The man-know-man beneficiaries may
get employed based on a contact with a well-placed
figure, who can get anything from the establishment.
This may be through a contact person within the system
or based on a special request by a god-father
elsewhere. The god-father may be one olori-ebi-
head of the family, head/member of fraternity, king,
emir, obi, political figure, pastor, imam, business
magnate, or what have you. Such intervention is often
sought in getting a relative, or any associate
employed as a lecturer or member of staff. The
percentage of those recruited through this channel,
who truly deserve a place in the university are also
very small. But, this is one of the easiest means of
getting into the system. Thus, this increases the
percentage of the undesirable hands who are in our
academia. Also, the quota system involves some element
of lobbying, and hardly prioritizes merit, so, the
overlap with the man-know-man basis of getting
recruited into the system. This is more predominant in
state universities, where certain percentage of the
staff to be recruited are ceded to local governments,
towns or even, the place where the university is
located. Some conservative states in the Northern and
Southern region take the lead here. Here again, merit
surely suffer. In this quota system brace, there is
also the unsolicited tribal, racial and religious card
put to play by highly placed members of the university
while recruiting lecturers into the system. With all
this, it can be said that quality or merit is not
major determinant of who becomes a lecturer in our
universities, at least since the last 15 years. This
is part of the reasons why the quality in our
universities has dropped alarmingly. Given the
veracity of this analysis, it can be said that, the
percentage of our lecturers seeking PhD abroad who are
fit for real academic work have also dropped. So,
there is the high probability that with whatever
training they receive abroad, they may not be able to
feel the void in their profession as a lecturer. This
will become clearer when it is treated, the aspect of
this piece which focuses on what people do to earn a
foreign certificate and the interacting factors that
work things out.
Those
in category B, which embrace those who left Nigeria
not as employees in any of the Nigerian universities,
could have decided to do this for a number of reasons.
This might be as a result of reasons which range from
the need to acquire better education for academic to
non-academic purpose, to the struggle for survival.
Some of those in this grouping are enrolled in foreign
universities by their parents as ease out option,
especially, those children that have become the black
sheep of the family. This, in effect increases the
number of the undesirables. Also, in this assemblage,
is a fair percentage of those brilliant students who
have refused to solicit lecturing job. This is for the
simple fact that they are less bothered traveling
abroad since they are having nice time with banks, oil
companies, communication industries, multinational
companies and a number of places where they are hotly
chased. Very few amongst them may have a rethink to
either return to the academe or resign their job in
pursuance of higher education abroad. Even, if they
do, at least, the stark truth is that most of them do
end up as consultants or simply return to the private
sector as big boys. To the exception of these set of
people and those from financially well off families,
the remaining set of people in category B, do rely on
personal income or assistance from friends and, at
times, on struggling relatives, to acquire a damn
expensive education abroad. Within this bracket, there
also exists the very few who also have amassed the
means required to sponsor their education. On this
ground, one can easily surmise that the bulk on those
in category B are financially constrained and may not
be the better candidates for further studies,
especially at the Ph.D level.
So,
most of those in category B find it difficult to foot
their academic and day-to-day expenses abroad,
especially those who have the left the country with
the members of their nuclear family. In other words,
they are often lurked in survival battle. As a result,
added to the question of their fitness for higher
degree is the problem of financial detraction, hence,
the reason why they are always one-leg-in and
one-leg-out student. Therefore, the only option is to
seek for job that can make them survive, so, in the
process, another reasonable percentage do end-up
leaving studying for a journey of no return. For those
in this group, who are fortunate to combine the
struggle for survival and academics, they hardly
concentrate on their studies. So, it can also be
concluded, that a greater proportion of those in
category B may not be able to optimize the opportunity
to acquire a good education abroad. One thing with
foreign education that is often at the mercy of this
category of students is that, the system is somehow
flexible. Eventually, with late hour efforts, these
sets of students, that is the financially constrained
ones, may end up making it in one way or the other to
pass their exams and eventually badge a certificate.
At this juncture, it can be said that, there is the
low percentage of quality students in this group as
well as the dominant percentage who are not
financially well off to sponsor their education
abroad. This is the first defect and challenge with
those in this group.
The
second defect with those in category B is closely
associated with those who are on good financial
footing, especially the children of the wealthy ones,
whose parents might have acquired such wealth legally
or illegally. The money at the disposal of these set
of students is always too much, so, one reason why
most of them pay less attention to their academics.
Abroad, part of the unwritten law, is that, students
hardly fail, especially those who are not defaulters.
This reality dawn on Kate
Eliza O'Connor,
so, why hepronouncedthat,‘Universities treat
overseas students as cashcows.’ There
are some universities who may penalize their lecturers
for failing students of this sort, because
universities now combine business making with
scholarship. Alderman in a speech delivered at the
University of Buckingham partly substantiated this
when he said, “I have heard it seriously argued that
international students who plagiarize should be
treated more leniently.’ The special treatment in
actual fact transcends the aspect of plagiarism as
this concept of cash cows plays significant role in
the overall grading exercise. At whatever rate, the
money making drive of universities can be said to have
relegated scholastic pursuit to the second fiddle,
hence, the leveraging pad for these set of students to
have their way, without bribing.
For
those in category C, that is, folks seeking higher
degree with an instructional medium that is different
from their previous education, the greater percentage
of them share the defects of those in category B.
Although they do undergo a language bridging course
aimed in getting them switch to the new language, the
simple fact is that, one or two years is not enough
for those involved in researches or studies leading to
the award of masters and PhD to acquire the needed
proficiency level. What often provokes this switch is
the fear of being accommodated into the labour market
back home, so, the duress to learn in the language
recognized by the market and employers. Most of those
in this category must have either had their
foundational education in Francophone or Arab speaking
countries. While a small percentage may scale the
language-switch hurdles, yet, with serious defects,
many hardly acquire the language required for
conducting researches, demystifying sources, advancing
the frontiers of knowledge and worse still, may not be
able to communicate in simple, intelligible and
academic language that is deserving of their pedigree.
To meet up with the challenges and rigour of acquiring
such degree, PhD inclusive, they do rely on friends to
submit assignments. For those with the financial
muscles, their last resort has often been the
assignment/term paper/thesis mill, where anything
academic paper is up for sales. This may be on the
internet or by engaging the services of those on
ground. often times, they do get whatever they want
because with minimum effort and the unwritten code of
students’ hardly failing, the grace door to becoming
and achieving their dream is widely opened to their
favour. A finding by the University of Alberta which
identified sources of cheating to include dearth of
proficiency in writing and research skills, external
factors (e.g., family commodification of knowledge and
education, places our argument in context.
The
last category, labeled as strayed students comprise
those who have no business in the four walls of the
university, but, secured student visas to get out of
the country. To secure admission, they rely on forged
documents such as doctored transcripts, forged
certificates, bogus WAEC certificates and spurious
testimonials. A fair percentage of those in this
category graduated with a third class or pass from the
university and some went to polytechnic, monotechnic,
only to cook up a university degree so as to secure
admission for further studies. Even, some of them are
NCE graduates, and of the schools of Agriculture and
Nursing respectively. This is not often detected
because most universities abroad do not confirm
whatever document is submitted to them. To get these
fake documents, they may co-opt with an insider,
relate with the oluwole boys and some just do
that within the pleasure of their homes.
Based
on the aforesaid, if one is to take the average of
those studying abroad, it will tilt towards the side
of the least qualified Nigerians. So, our grey hair
professor seems to get it right. Now, attention will
be turned to how and what people do to get masters or
PhD abroad….to be continued
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