The Pro-chancellor and founder of Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo state, Prof. Jide Owoeye says the Nigerian educational system is not as bad as it is being portrayed, adding that it is a system worth celebrating.
Owoeye stated this on Friday while delivering the 13th foundation day lecture at Achievers University, Owo, entitled, “Challenges of Re-inventing Quality University Education in Nigeria”.
He said the Nigerian educational system being a microcosm of the society, is undeserving of the periodic bashing it receives from some Nigerians.
“We should decipher the merits of the system and celebrate it while working assiduously towards replacing sloganising and politicking with realistic analysis of the nature and scope of its problems with a view to rebranding within the context of available resources,” he said.
Prof. Owoeye also corrected the notion that Nigerian graduates are unemployable, saying there is no scientific basis for such an assertion.
“A high school graduate from a cosmopolitan environment may prove more capable in customer relations position than a university graduate from less enlightened background.
“The purpose of higher education is to expand the horizon of God given innate skills rather than to manufacture them. Moreover, good grammar or comportment not internalized at the lower rungs of educational ladder cannot suddenly emerge at the college level,” Owoeye affirmed.
On funding of education, Prof. Owoeye observed that public or private university must choose between perpetual subvention from its proprietor and self sustenance to perpetuate itself through careful planning and execution that leaves a margin for self-protection, maintenance and expansion.
“The historic private universities like Harvard or Yale, have survived over the centuries because they are run profitably.
“To envision a Harvard or Yale status, our private universities must chart a viable course for profitability so that they can plough back for growth and expansion that will be enduring,” he said.
He congratulated the founder of Achievers University, Dr Bode Ayorinde for the expansion in academic curriculum and infrastructure in the last 13 years of establishment.
Earlier, the chairman of the event, Prof. Ademola Popoola praised Achievers University for sustaining the culture of the foundation day lecture.
The vice chancellor of Achievers University, Prof. Samuel Aje while welcoming guests to the event, said the university as come of age, with notable expansion in infrastructure and human development.
Also speaking, the Pro-chancellor of Achievers University, Dr Bode Ayorinde noted that the economic challenges facing the country are enormous, adding that such could affect the quality of educational system.
Ayorinde believed that industrialization is the longterm solution to the growing unemployment in the country.
“As the expansion of education is going on, the expansion of the market through industrialization should also be going on. Each senatorial district should have at least one industry that would cater for the unemployed youths,” he said. (The Precision NG)
*picture of story courtesy Technocrat Media.
Study @ Achievers University
