30 September 2013 ,
Source: This Day At the last count, there
were 124 universities in
the country. Of this, the
federal and the state
governments own 37
apiece, while 50 others are privately owned.
These institutions were
set up, primarily to
provide access to the
teeming number of
Nigerians seeking higher education with a view to
developing themselves
mentally and morally. This desire for higher
education also came with
an explosion in admission
leading to enormous
pressure on existing
facilities. For instance, in its report
to the Federal Executive
Council (FEC) on
November 1, last year,
the Committee On Needs
Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities raised
the alarm that over 1,000
students now get packed
in lecture halls that were
meant for less than 150
students in a number of universities in the
country while over 400
students barge
themselves into a
laboratory originally
designed for 75 students. It added that "Students
cannot get
accommodation, where
they get, they are packed
like sardines in tiny
rooms," and "No light and no water in hostels,
classrooms and
laboratories." Efforts to reach the
Executive Secretary of
the National Universities
Commission (NUC),
Professor Julius Okojie,
proved abortive as questionnaires sent to
him through the Public
Affairs department of the
commission were not
returned even after
several follow-ups. In this report, Collins
Edomaruse takes you on
an excursion of some of
the federal universities
across the country and
submits that more than any sector; the education
sub-sector is in dire
straits that needs
desperate, honest and
patriotic action of all
stakeholders to address. Additional reports were
provided by Uche Nnaike,
Yinka Kolawole, John
Shiklam, Samuel Seriki,
Adibe Emenyonu,
Hammed Shittu, Segun Awofadeji, Christopher
Isiguzo and Funmi
Ogundare. Photographs
courtesy: Needs
Assessment Committee
Report, 2012 ABU... Beautiful
structures, empty labs
and workshops The
Ahmadu Bello University
(ABU), Zaria was founded
by the defunct Northern regional government in
1961 following the
recommendation of the
Ashby Commission on
"Post-School Certificate
and Higher Education in Nigeria". A Law establishing a
Provisional Council for
the university was
passed by the Legislature
of Northern Nigeria in
April 1961 to give its establishment a legal
backing. As stated in the law
establishing it, the
university to, among
other things, produce
high level manpower,
secure the diffusion of knowledge, research and
community service in
Northern Nigeria and
Nigeria in general, and to
function as a centre of
excellence. However, today the
university, like many
others in the country is
going through trying
moments as a result of
the crisis that have continued to bedevil the
education sector in
Nigeria occasioned by
dwindling government
funding and increasing
population. At the Samaru main
campus of the university,
THISDAY noted that
although ABU has very
solid, beautiful structures
all over the place, its greatest challenges are
congestion in the
classrooms, lack of
laboratory equipment,
outdated books, and
poor hostel accommodation for the
about 50,000 students of
the institution. Most of
the classrooms were
designed to
accommodate 30 students, but today
between 200 and 250
are squeezed into such
classes to receive
lectures. The hostels that were
constructed to
accommodate one or two
students in a room, now
accommodate between
six and 10 students. The hostels are in a terrible
state of decay, without
windows and the ceilings
caving in. The toilets are
best fit for the use of
animals. Most parents will withdraw their children
from the hostels if they
see the horrible condition
in which they live. Some
parts of the hostel are
swampy to the extent that when it rains, it
becomes difficult to
access them. According to the Student
Union President of the
university, Mallam
Rafindadi Abubakar
Aliyu, lack of basic
facilities in the university is a great setback to
conducive learning
activities. Rafindadi said the main
problem facing students
in ABU is congestion in
classrooms, dilapidated
hostels and lack of
modern laboratory equipment. "You see a class that was
meant to accommodate
only 30 students in those
days, today you find out
that over 200 students
are using the class. These classrooms were built in
the 60s and 70s when
the university was
established. Since then,
there had not been any
expansion to accommodate the
increasing population of
students. "Many of us hang outside
by the windows to
receive lectures. In my
department (political
science), we seat on bare
floor to receive lectures in the lecture theatre. We
are 312 in my class. "You can imagine one
lecturer teaching 312
students, marking 312
scripts and each of the
scripts, in an
examination, none of them is less than 10
pages. "Some students seat on
the podium where the
lecturer is standing. Most
of the seats are broken
so you put your books
on your lap to write. There are no fans in some
of the classrooms and
when it is hot, you will be
using the same book to
fan yourself and taking
down notes at the same time. During the raining
season like this, the
classrooms leak. "The books in the
libraries are outdated,
the equipment in the
laboratories are
outdated. You will see a
large number of students lining up to use one
microscope in the
laboratories," Rafidadi
said. He further disclosed that
hostel accommodation is
one of the most serious
challenges facing the
students of the
institution. He said there are no beds in the hostels
and the students put
mattresses to sleep on
the floor. According to him, the
hostels are overcrowded
with six to eight students
in a room that was
initially meant for one or
two persons. "The students are exposed to
all sorts of health
problems because they
also use the rooms for
cooking and washing in
front of their rooms as there is no laundry
where they can wash. "The toilets are bad, they
have no doors and
students have to queue
to take their bath or ease
themselves," he said. He said the university has
a population of about
50,000 students but only
about 13,000 of them
have hostel
accommodation, meaning about 75 per cent of the
students stay outside the
campus and facing more
problems. Also speaking, the
branch Chairman of
Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) in the
university, Prof.
Mohammed Kabir Aliyu, said: "During my
university days (in ABU),
we were nine in my class
and the lecturers knew
all our names and faces.
They knew how all of us were performing and
they were able to
monitor our performance
and how to intervene if
we needed help. "But now I teach 250
students in the same
space that nine people
were taught. I teach in
the Faculty of Arts and
since I came here as a student in 1983, no single
class has been added and
the number of students
keeps increasing more
than 100 times. "By the National
Universities Commission
(NUC) minimum standard,
I am supposed to teach
30 students in a class,
now I am teaching 250. This means I am doing
the work of about seven
lecturers. This is where
the issue of allowances
for excess work load
comes in. So, lecturers are also being overstretched. "Go to our classrooms,
you will see how our
students will be hanging
on the window to receive
lectures because the
population is too large. Go to the hostels and see
how they live. A room
that is meant for two or
four people, you will see
10 or 15 people. The
toilets are overstretched to the extent that you
cannot even use them. "The equipment that
were purchased decades
ago which have become
obsolete are still being
used today. If you go to
the biological sciences, you will see students
queuing to use an
outdated microscope for
their practicals. "It is the same scenario in
the engineering and
other science and
technology-based causes.
If you go to all
universities in Nigeria, the story is the same. Bad
hostels, bad laboratories,
congested classrooms
and so on." He argued
that those who are
criticising ASUU for embarking on strike to
address the bad state of
things in the universities
were doing so out of
ignorance and challenge
them to visit the universities and see
things for themselves. According to him, what is
urgently required in ABU
is expansion in terms of
construction of
classrooms, more hostels
and equipping the laboratories with modern
equipment. Although the Vice-
Chancellor of the
university, Prof.
Abdullahi Mustapha, was
not available for
comments as he was said to have travelled for an
official engagement, the
university's Director of
Public Affairs, Dr. Isma'ila
Shehu, attributed the
challenges of the institution to poor
funding by the federal
government. UNIBEN... 'It's decay is
beyond the Nigerian
Prisons' rot' Perhaps one of the most
devastating cases of
university rot is the
decay in the University of
Benin. "There are actually
three situations. Teaching, learning and
living: Teaching on the
part of lecturers, learning
on the part of students,
and living on the part of
both lecturers and students. But in all of
these ramifications, the
situation is terrible. It is
worse than the situation
in Nigerian prisons or the
Police College, where the president visited
unceremoniously
sometime ago after a
documentary by a
television station," was
how the Chairman of the institution's branch of
ASUU, Dr. Anthony
Monye-Emina, described
the rot in the school to
THISDAY last week. UNIBEN, one of the pride
of the nation, is a moving
story of a university in a
dire need of attention
from the governments at
all levels as well as from its array of alumnae. "For instance, if you go to
the libraries, the books
there are old and
outdated. So more or less
what we teach students
and what they go to read are old and out-dated
materials. And in terms of
sciences, especially those
that require practical,
there is no equipment to
conduct such, and what we do is what we call
alternative to practical or
theory of practical by
telling the students, if this
is not available, this is
what you do; and this is not learning. "That is why many of
them upon graduation
are half-baked because
when they go to the
outside world, they
cannot function or perform on the job which
is the major reason we
are on this strike," the
ASUU boss added. Giving further insight
into the state of affairs at
the university, the ASUU
leader painted a more
gloomy picture of the
institution when he said: "For instance, if you go to
Faculty of Engineering,
when we got there
during the visit of the
NEEDS assessment
committee, we were told that those equipment
were supplied in 1975 or
thereabouts when the
faculty was established.
Since then, nothing new
was added. Even at that, a number of the
equipment have broken
down. The university
cannot repair or
rehabilitate them. Now, it
is all theory and nothing to demonstrate to the
students. "Then if you go to
chemistry department,
you meet an empty
laboratory filled up with
empty bottles. In my
secondary school days if you go to the laboratory,
you see bottles filled with
chemicals. But the
chemistry department in
University of Benin is all
empty bottles. There is even no Bunsen burner.
What they use is
kerosene stove to heat
up chemical when they
are conducting
experiments. In the same department, there is
equipment used in
processing uranium for
nuclear called centrifuge.
I was even surprised that
the university has such equipment. But today it
no longer functions and
has been turned to a
refuse dump. "At the physics
laboratory, there is
nothing on the table. It is
only electric bulbs, rulers
and so on. Nothing else! "In the Faculty of Social
Sciences, what you have
is overcrowded
classrooms and broken
down chairs and tables,
dilapidated board, etc. The situation is so bad
that sometimes if
examination enters into
the night, the students
will be forced to light
candles or make use of the torchlight from their
handsets. "Recently, I went to
Covenant University and
saw that they use audio
visual equipment to teach
their students, large
television screen. So a lecturer can be in the
office and be teaching
students in the
classroom. That is what
teaching and learning has
become these days. You don't have to be
physically present in the
class. But no public
university can afford
such teaching aid because
of poor funding. "To the student of the
university, I say they are
ingenious enough in my
assessment that if
exposed to the right
teaching and learning condition, many of them
when they graduate, will
not want to look for
white collar jobs, but to
set up their own which is
possible. Unfortunately, what they learn is mainly
theory. Government can
curb employment by
making sure that
students are taught with
adequate teaching materials."

University of Ibadan (UI)
Bugged down by
outdated equipment,
messy hostels Most of the
buildings on the campus
of the premier university were in dire need of
renovation when
THISDAY visited as they
looked old and worn out.
For instance, a block of
shops adjoining one of the hostels (Tedder Hall),
which was said to have
been razed by fire some
months ago, was yet to
be rebuilt. Besides, the hostel
infrastructure also
showed glaring effects of
overcrowding, thus
leaving the students in
poles away from decent and comfortable home. It
was further gathered
that the over population
in the hostels coupled
with the visible poor
maintenance of the facilities made the halls
largely over-stretched -
the taps no longer run,
while the sanitation
facilities are in a terrible
shape. Also, the third floor of
the Faculty of Arts
building, housing the
Department of
Communications and
Language Arts, which was burnt a year ago, is
yet to be renovated.
THISDAY learnt that as a
result of the incident that
affected six offices, the
affected lecturers now share offices with their
colleagues. The building housing the
university press is
outdated and in a bad
shape, as well as some of
the residential buildings,
especially the junior staff quarters. THISDAY
gathered that the houses
have deteriorated
"because the houses are
highly subsidised and the
occupants do not pay commercial rates. The
rent generated is
therefore insufficient to
maintain the buildings." Electricity is also a
challenge at the
institution, the hostels
and offices do not enjoy
uninterrupted power
supply and the power generating sets do not
work round the clock. Though the buildings
housing some of the
laboratories are in good
condition, some of the
facilities in the
laboratories are outdated. Electricity was
identified as a major
challenge in the
laboratories, which
prevents students from
completing their work in most cases. It was gathered that the
lecture rooms are
inadequate for the
number of students that
use them and that
students stand by the windows to receive
lectures because of the
limited spaces in the
classrooms. At the 200 level Physics
Laboratory, THISDAY
learnt that the terminal
board, which helps to
regulate electricity, had
been bad and has not been replaced, the
laboratory also require a
power generating set to
enable students complete
their work whenever
there is power failure. A lecturer in the
Department of Chemistry,
who preferred
anonymity, said the
laboratory lacks major
equipment like the mass spectroscopic and the
nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR). He said
the mass spectroscopic,
which is used in
characterisation, is not available in the
university. According to him, Ph.D
scholars conducting
science-based research
require the equipment to
successfully complete
their work, adding that most of the students are
compelled to go abroad
to analyse their
specimens. He said the
NMR costs more than
N250 million for installation alone and also
expensive to maintain. A Ph.D scholar, who was
seen carrying out his
research, told THISDAY
that the challenges
students encounter in the
laboratories include shortage of basic facilities
like Bunsen burner, gas,
electricity, outdated
equipment and shortage
of chemicals. He said some
laboratories use kerosene stoves, instead
of gas and that Ph.D
scholars buy the
chemicals they use for
their research, as there is
no provision for that by their respective
departments. University of Ibadan VC
Speaks... Explaining the
cause of the problem, the
Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Isaac Adewole, said all
institutions are not at the same level of decay,
adding that the
institution's vision is
different from the visions
of the others. He said the university's
major challenge has to do
with its age, adding that
the federal government
does not fund them
based on needs. "We are just given envelopes; I
think that is the concern
of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities
(ASUU). So we want to
see budgeting being tailored to 'needs.' "Being a 65-year-old
institution, the university
needs a lot of
maintenance. What we
will like to see is to
address some of our challenges due to age,
our cables are old, our
water pipes are
outdated, the water
treatment plant that was
commissioned almost 30 years ago, will need to be
updated. "It was established at the
time when the population
was just about 12,000,
now we are dealing with
a university with a
population of over 40,000, not to talk of
dependants and so on.
We need to look at
power and water. In fact,
my number one challenge
in this university is electricity. Water is also a
major challenge and then
I want to retool the
laboratories to make
them better than what
they were when I was a medical student and will
rival laboratories in
Europe and US,"he said. Adewole added that
some members of staff
don't have offices, "it is
not unusual to find two
members of academic
staff sharing the same office; the hostels are
begging for renovation,
the last time we
renovated the hostels
was about 10 years ago
(painting, making sure the water runs, doing the
plumbing work and so
on)." He commended the
federal government for
releasing the N100 billion
revitalisation funds to
universities, out of which
N3.2 billion was allocated to our university. "What we want to see is a
situation where what the
government has done
now can be repeated on
a yearly basis for the
next five years and the story will change. What
we need is sustained
commitment, not just
what I call burst of
support, let it be
continuous," he said. He recalled that in 2009
when the university got
a special allocation, his
immediate predecessor
had set up a committee
that looked into the needs of the university,
adding that the
submission from across
the university then was
between N13 and N15
billion. "In other words, what
we got now is nothing
compared to what we
needed in 2009. I think
all over the world, we
should see education as an investment and we
should continue to put
money there because it is
education that will drive
national development. It
is education that will give us the human resource
that we need to move
into the 21st and 22nd
century," the VC added. He called on the
government to revisit the
issue of tuition fees in
higher institutions and
award scholarships to
indigent students. UI ASUU Chair... The
Chairman of UI branch of
ASUU, Dr. Segun Ajiboye,
attributed the rot in the
university to long-term
neglect. He said the union had over the years, been
calling on the
government to increase
the annual allocation to
education to 26 per cent
of its annual budget. "But as things are now, the
government has not
been able to reach that.
So, long-term neglect is
what has led us to this
stage. Even in this year's budget, government
voted 8.4 per cent of the
budget to education. "It is really sad the level
we have found ourselves
in the university system.
When you go round the
university, you discover
that being the oldest university in the country,
there are a lot of things
that have deteriorated, a
lot of facilities have
deteriorated in the
system. Look at the number of hostels on
campus and the student
population; you will
agree with me that there
is a big shortfall in the
number of hostels," he said. In the area of teaching
and learning, Ajiboye
said: "Most of the
laboratories are old and
there is nothing there,
most of them are empty, no chemicals, no reagents
to the extent that
researchers cannot carry
out effective research in
the laboratories. And
even when you want to publish your materials
outside the country, they
will ask you the
laboratory you used, if
you tell them that you
conducted the research in Nigeria, they know
that we don't have the
facilities for cutting-edge
researches. So it is
important that
government should address this issue. The
rot in our laboratories is
enormous and we have
reached a stage where
attention should be
focused on our laboratories."

University of Ilorin
(Unilorin) An epitome of
orderliness, consistency
University of Ilorin,
Kwara State, is one of the
second generation universities in the
country. It was
established in 1975, and
initially affiliated to the
University of Ibadan.
Originally called University College, Ilorin,
the institution is about
300km from Lagos and
500km from Abuja, the
Federal Capital City. For a smooth take-off,
Professor Tekena
Tamuno, the then Head,
Department of History at
the University of Ibadan,
was appointed the first principal of the University
College, in September
1975. Shortly after
Professor Tamuno's
assignment as Principal of
the College, he was appointed Vice-
Chancellor of the
University of Ibadan. As a
result of this, Dr. O. O.
Akinkugbe, a professor
of medicine and former dean of the then Faculty
of Medicine, University of
Ibadan, was appointed
the new principal in
December, 1975. A visit by THISDAY to the
campus few days ago
revealed that unlike
several other similar
institutions in the
country, projects embarked upon by
Unilorin are never
abandoned. To mention but a few, the
new ring roads,
laboratories, sports
centre, new Faculty of
Pharmaceutical Sciences
building, the new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
and the new multi-
purpose hall, among
others, are some that
were initiated by the
school's leadership and equally completed to the
delight of all, including
the students. The University Speaks...
Speaking with THISDAY
in his office in Ilorin on
the infrastructure
development at Unilorin,
the university's Deputy Director of Corporate
Affairs, Mr. Kunle
Akogun, said: "Having
gone round the campus,
you can testify that there
is no single abandoned project at the University
of Ilorin". According to him, "This is
not a coincidence but the
product of a deliberate
policy of zero tolerance
for abandoned projects". He said: "As a policy, the
University of Ilorin would
rather not embark on a
project than abandon it
mid-way. We often
emphasise to our contractors that we do
not condone any project
delay or abandonment.
That is why we ensure
adequate mobilisation for
any awarded contract and we pay promptly on
job delivery". Akogun
added: "No facility here is
rotting away. We have a
policy of maintenance
culture such that all our buildings are well
maintained". His words: "Our campus is
one of the cleanest and
greenest in the country, a
fact often attested to by
all visitors to the
university. For instance, members of the Senate
and House of
Representatives
Committees on Education
spoke glowingly about
the academic excellence and environmental
aesthetics of the
university". The ASUU Chair...
Corroborating the claim
of the institution's
management, Chairman,
Academic Staff Union of
Nigerian Universities, Unilorin branch,
Professor Wahab
Egbewole, said: "For more
than 10 years now, the
Unilorin administration
has designed a strategy to ensure that whatever
project they embark on
is completed". According
to him, "The simple
approach is that before
the commencement of any project, the funding
is already ascertained". Egbewole further said: "I
suggest that government
at all levels should adopt
the approach. There is
however the need to up
the scale by paying more attention to aesthetic and
utility values of the
projects so that, it will be
ensuring and be able to
serve the needs of the
users better". The Students Union... In
his view, President,
Students Union
Government (SUG) of
Unilorin, Comrade Lawal
Hammed Abiodun, said: "As far as the University
of Ilorin is concerned,
there is no any
abandoned projects here
as the management
always award contracts based on the availability
of funds". University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN) Glittering
pedigree, but delivers
lectures under mango
trees As a first time visitor to
the main campus of the
University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN), you are
bound to be faced with
the myriad of developmental challenges
facing the institution. Top
of this is lack of adequate
hostel accommodation
for its teeming students
as well as paucity of classroom blocks. The
institution's foremost
Zik's Flat Hostel has
almost completely
dilapidated. As a result of
the paucity of classrooms, the students
now use the stadium as a
facility for teaching. On the dilapidated hostel
block, the Dean, Students
Affairs, Prof Kalu
Oyeoku, said as a result
of the dilapidated nature
of the Zik's Flat Hostel, the university will not
accommodate students in
it. He said he had already
informed the university
senate that the Zik's Flat
Hostel was no longer good for student's
accommodation. He said: "Zik's Flat Hostel
buildings are dilapidated
and there are many
serious cracked walls;
the continued using of it
will amount to risking the lives of the students. It is
only block 'A' of the Zik's
Flat Hotel that may be
used as hostel
accommodation by next
session." THISDAY checks further
revealed that various
departments in the
institution have
practically taken up the
Akanu Ibiam Stadium of the university as lecture
hall, and, most times, take
lectures under mango
trees due to the shortage
of classrooms in the
university. The worst affected was
the Faculty of Social
Sciences that holds her
lectures under mango
trees and the stadium.
The Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof.
Christopher O. T. Ugwu,
attributed the anomaly to
an increase in student
population "in the advent
of the new millennium." But the local chapter
Chairman, ASUU, Dr.
Ifeanyi Abada, would not
like to be drawn into
commenting on the
obvious structural challenges facing the
institution. He would
rather concentrate on
the strike being
prosecuted by the union.
All efforts made by THISDAY to get across to
the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Bartho Okolo, did not
yield any result as his
phone did not go
through and no other official of the university
accepted to speak on his
behalf. Specifically, the
Director of Physical
Planning, Mr. Eze, said he
would not talk to the press except he was
given the approval to do
so. "I want to get across to
the vice-chancellor first
before talking to you,"
he said.

Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU) 'At oau,
12 students share rooms
meant for 4' So far, so
bad, was the summation
of a student, who pleaded anonymity on
the state of the rot at the
Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU) last
week. Like other public
universities in the country, the OAU is also
limping with heavy
bruises it has suffered
over the years because
of infrastructural decay
following the poor funding by the
government. A glossary of the
challenges of the
institution include near
empty laboratories,
workshops without
modern equipment, paucity of
accommodation for
students, inadequate
classrooms, over-
population, and aged
infrastructure, among others. Commenting on
the development, the
local ASUU chairman, Prof.
Akinola Adegbola Peter,
expressed sadness that
Nigerian universities are presently running far
below international
standard. He said: "The OAU's
central laboratory has
challenges and our junior
lecturers carry out their
experiments outside the
country ". He cited the chemistry
laboratory, engineering
workshop, mechanical
and civil engineering
workshops, buildings
and other major structures in the
institution as parts of the
major rot in the
institution. THISDAY
reports that the
institution's chemistry laboratory, engineering,
agric and mechanical/civil
engineering workshops
had no working
equipment. The ASUU chairman
decried the state of
students' hostel where
about 12 students live in
a room that should
contain four students. Even as the institution
battles structural decay,
the students are still in
quandary over what to
do to get their student
union government reinstated; a body that
was sacked by the school
authorities some four
years ago. They therefore appealed
to the vice-chancellor,
Prof. Bamitale Omole, to
reinstate the proscribed
body. However, Omole
was not in school when THISDAY visited the
institution last week. So
he could not be reached
to speak on the myriad
of challenges the school is
currently facing. Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa University
(ATBU), BAUCHI 'Zoos
better than our halls of
residence' A visibly
distraught student of the Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa University
(ATBU), Bauchi, said the
condition of
infrastructure in the
school has so ebbed that "even animals in the zoo
will reject any transfer to
live there." That position
of the student vividly
captures the state of
decay of infrastructure in the university. THISDAY was alarmed to
find out that the
institution's old lecture
theatre was not only in a
rotten condition, its
ceilings were dotted with leakages and when it
rains, the hall is flooded;
both the male and female
hostels are in need of
urgent attention. THISDAY investigations
further revealed that the
university's science
laboratories and
workshop equipment as
well as consumables are either absent, inadequate
or outdated while
kerosene stoves are
being used as Bunsen
burners in some. Some of
the engineering workshops operate
under improvised sheds
and trees, and the
science-based faculties
are running what is
referred to as "Dry Lab," due to lack of reagents
and tools to conduct real
experiments, even as
there are a number of
uncompleted projects
found to have been abandoned while shelves
in the university library
were empty. Speaking on the rot in an
interview, the
institution's vice-
chancellor, Professor
Muhammad Hamisu
Muhammad, explained that the major problem
confronting the
university is paucity of
funds which has
seriously hampered its
academic and developmental activities. He added that: "There is
no gainsaying the fact
that Nigerians are too
familiar with the
problems of the
university sub-sector of the country". Represented by the
deputy vice-chancellor
(Administration),
Professor Isiaka
Mohammed, the vice-
chancellor said: "The fate of our universities is very
pathetic and what we
seem to lack is the
political will to address
and redress the situation
because the academic community, ASUU and
other stakeholders in the
education sector, over
the years, have called on
the authorities to fix
some of these problems but unfortunately,
successive governments
have been acting in bad
faith". He added: "We find it
difficult to check the
students during
examinations because of
their population and you
know what that means. Some of the students
take their lectures sitting
on bare floors, some
through the windows, at
times, some under the
shades of trees and so on, and hostels, lecturers'
offices are not only
inadequate but in a sorry
state, and we are
incapacitated to solve
these serious problems". The chairman, ASUU,
ATBU chapter, Dr. Lawan
Abubakar, who also
spoke with THISDAY,
lamented that apart from
"the inadequacy of such vital infrastructure and
facilities for conducive
teaching and learning in
ATBU, the existing ones
are so rotten. "From the lecture theatre,
we have what we can
say our number two
lecture theatre, I think
you saw how it is right
now, whenever it is raining, students cannot
take lectures in that 300-
seater lecture theater
because there is leakage
all over and there is no
modern audio visual facility to even give
lecture, it is not available
there, so everywhere is
leaking, everywhere, all
the seats, most of them
are broken seats, in there, the windows are
all broken, so that is the
situation of the lecture
rooms". Also speaking, the Acting
President of the Students'
Union Government (SUG),
Comrade Umar Ibrahim,
said "our university
(ATBU) is in dire need of better lecture theatre
halls, functional
laboratories, functional
libraries, and particularly
our hostels are not
habitable as they are in a state of decay yet the
students who have no
alternative, pack
themselves in the hostel
rooms like sardines."

UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS
(Unilag) Beautiful, but
battling obsolete
equipment, over-
population Metropolitan
in location, yet not insulated from the cancer
that is speedily
destroying the ivory
towers in the country,
the University of Lagos
(UNILAG) is clearly one of the most grievous shocks
THISDAY got in the
course of this project. It
was a great shock
because not only is the
institution bleeding in infrastructure decay in
the face of the motley of
corporate interventions;
it also confirms the
proverb that "all's not
gold that glitters." A visit to the institution
may reveal a serene
environment; several
projects donated by
corporate organisations,
associations and groups, as well as individuals
either completed or
nearing completion, but
facilities in many
departments visited,
were either yearning for repairs, renovation or
need total replacement. For instance, the
Department of Mass
Communication still
houses obsolete
machines in its printing
laboratory. Also its radio/television studios
are non-functional and
have indeed been
converted to lecturers'
offices. The technologist in
charge of its printing
laboratory, Mr. Emmanuel
Oyelade, told THISDAY
that the department used
to produce newspapers and magazines, but since
2011 when the machines
stopped working, the
students had to go
outside the campus to
print the copies. Some of the lecturers in
the department
expressed regret about
the level of deterioration
of its facilities, saying its
machines started losing their functions since early
90s and most times
students do theory and
no practical. At the
science department, some
of the classrooms also revealed a level of
dilapidation as some of
the desks and benches
are broken and ceiling
fans non-functional. As at the time of this
report, neither the Vice-
Chancellor, Prof.
Rahamon Ade-Bello, nor
his two deputies, could
be reached on the cause of the decay of
infrastructure in the
institution. However, the President
of UNILAG Alumni
Association, Prof. Mojeed
Olayide Abass, affirmed
that 90 per cent of the
institution's budget in the last 10 years has been for
operational expenses
such as paying salaries,
adding that not much has
been released for
research. He said the science department,
especially, still boasts of
obsolete equipment that
have been there since
1970, adding that the rot
was as a result of neglect. "The deterioration of the
facilities started since the
time of Babangida in
1984, when the funding
of the university was
abandoned. Even when recurrent expenditure is
approved, funds are not
released. Most of the
funds generated by the
institution is basically
from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)
and every month,
UNILAG spends at least
over N60 million on diesel
to keep it running. We
cannot rely on PHCN," he stressed. Chairman of ASUU
chapter, Dr. Karo
Ogbinaka, who took
THISDAY through the
document of the
Committee on NEEDS Assessment of Nigerian
public universities said:
"With the assessment of
the committee, physical
facilities for teaching and
learning in Nigerian universities are
inadequate and have
been used beyond the
original carrying
capacity. Many lecturers,
including Professors, share small offices;
classrooms and lecture
halls are dilapidated with
poorly ventilated,
illuminated, furnished
and equipped. "Facilities are over-
stretched/over-crowded
and lecture theatres,
classrooms, laboratories
and workshops shared
by many programmes across different faculties;
there is improvised open-
air sports pavilion, old
cafeteria, convocation
arenas and even
uncompleted buildings used for lectures. In some
cases, workshops are
conducted under
corrugated sheds or
trees. "All these things boiled
down to funding. To
maintain an old
university is like
preparing an old woman
for a beauty contest university. The rot in the
institution was systemic.
The strike will last as long
as the federal
government wants a
good education system."

source- This day news paper

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