Dr. Gregory Ibe founded the Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State some years ago. The university that has been waxing strong and big, is today the most outstanding private university in the South East of Nigeria through innovations
In this interview, he explained how foreign universities forced JAMB to lower cut off marks.
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
As education stakeholder, what do you think is responsible for the downturn in the nation’s school system?
The decay or decadence in our school system has to do with our fundamentals in management nd administration. And parents are partly responsible for that, because they have failed to do what was expected of them particularly in meeting their financial obligations to their children. Such absence of care had compelled the children to fight for self survival. Unfortunately, some of them even took up the financial responsibilities of their individual families.
In this kind of environment, what you get is divided loyalty and lack of concentration. If not, how could a parent send his child to the university to study without adequate care? You will even discover that some parents are even less concerned about these children. Therefore, the society should not crucify them when they abandon their studies for something else for survival. Regrettably, our system has made it compulsory for everybody to pursue formal education in disregard for skills acquisition. A good education system should de-emphasize “paper certificate” but promote knowledge and skill acquisition education system. Ideally, our education system should equip secondary students with at least a skill(s) that would be commercially useful for them and not the other way round. Perhaps, later in life, such persons could enroll in an Open University or other distance learning programmes to upgrade their education and knowledge. The belief that everybody must go to the university is unhealthy for our system and must be discouraged. Nevertheless, brilliant students from poor background should be entitled to financial aid to support their education. School operators and lecturers under whatever name should focus their energy on provision of qualitative education instead of persistent agitations for increased welfare. I suggest that government steps up strong checks and balances for these lecturers to ensure that their services correspond with their earning.
So ASUU’s demand for increased welfare was unjustified?
Absolutely unjustified; can they sincerely say that they are doing what is expected of them in terms of quality service delivery. Professors and lecturers in public universities are obviously less concerned about the academic life of students placed under them. Their approach in lecture delivery has become obsolete and boring, and majority of them have failed to adapt to 21st century world. That, undoubtedly, could be responsible for students’ lack of interest in attending class of some lectures. It is an indication that the lecturers are not doing what they are expected to do but consistently agitating for increased welfare amid poor productivity. In my sincere opinion, government should put a check and balance on the activities of these lecturers in order to measure their output with their regular demand. Better still, government could set up an independent body to critically and periodically evaluate the activities of these lecturers.
Are you fair in criticizing these lecturers when some of them are not motivated, financially and otherwise?
What are you motivating again? They are paid salaries and other entitlements. It might not be the best they could get but it is not a worst case scenario. Nigeria’s economy is obviously not in best shape now. This has compelled everybody to make sacrifices, academic and non-teaching staff of universities inclusive. The lecturers themselves ought to be more creative to earn more income from research and other resource materials, but that does not mean exploiting the students who are kept in their care.
You championed the campaign for the establishment of loan scheme for underprivileged students. What is the progress so far?
It was a noble idea that would have helped our students and entire education system. I sold the idea of financial aid plan to government but I am yet to receive reply from them. I know they might complain of paucity of fund but I am very sure that resources are there in TETFund that could be used to kick-start the plan.
It is unfortunate that TETFund for so long focused on physical infrastructure development in institutions which, unarguably, was in line with their mandate, but that is not enough. There should be a paradigm shift in our education system to achieve the desired result. There is no doubt that we need a financial aid plan to carter for the educational demand of the less privileged in the society. But good, efficient and reliable tax system is required to effectively run the loan scheme. Afterwards, a strong and efficient government system should know when students that benefitted from the scheme secured job so they could immediately begin the repayment of the loan so that others could also access it for their benefit.
How would your proposed financial aid plan solve the financial need of students?
The plan, as developed by my team and I has answers to the financial need of students particularly those from poor background. It will take financial burden off the shoulder of parents. All they are expected to do is to quietly approach relevant authorities with their up-to-date tax submission or papers. That would clearly indicate that they are responsible citizens who would not try to defraud the system. With that, they could access any amount of money required to offset the tuition fees and that of upkeep. The concept of the plan requires the tuition fees to be paid straight to the school account while upkeep allowances are paid straight to the account of the students.
What was your reason for supporting JAMB’s recent cut off marks?
I supported it because it was long overdue. Not only that, it was a step in the right direction. You might not be privy to the information but JAMB and the National Universities Commission (NUC) are facing serious threat from foreign universities. These foreign universities entice Nigerian students with good offers and less stress in gaining admission. It is also worrisome that hitherto, millions of Nigerian students are denied university admissions because they could not score certain mark in JAMB examination. But you will discover that these same students had excellent and amazing O’Level exams result. However, I am happy that our education managers have realized the importance of following the part of developed countries that have built a formidable education foundation for their future. Surprisingly, these institutions in developed countries only request for O’Level result to offer admission.
What are the challenges of running a private university in Nigeria?
There are numerous challenges militating against smooth running of private universities. At the bottom of it was finance. Many parents desire good and quality education for their children but they could not afford the cost. Only few who could afford it send their children to private universities. Many have criticized us, that we charge high fees but I believe they speak out of ignorance. The cost of running the institution is outrageous because of peculiar factors. We are still in business just because we are not after profit but service to the society.
In Gregory University, we have lowered our fees but only few indicate interest to study in such reputable private universities. Another challenge which is peculiar to us was the location of our school, we are not located in the city but in Uturu, in Abia State. But there are uncountable things that distinguish me from our contemporaries, in spite of our location. The good news is that the entire management and I are working assiduously to stand out and possibly become choice institutions for local and international students. We desire to equip our students with skills and knowledge that would make them global citizens who would birth the solution to world ICT, political, economic, environmental and security challenges.
How else do you think government could rescue the education system?
The government should first of all identify the critical elements that have the capacity to give the sector 360 degrees turn around. Funding and competent management are at the center of discussion. You could imagine that Nigerian government is spending huge financial resources on infrastructure and think less of human capital development. They should refocus and redesign their priorities. It is time to invest in people. Investors in education system should be encouraged by giving them tax waiver for the importation of education equipment. The government should also facilitate the implementation of the proposed financial aid plan. That would obviously be helpful to students particularly those from poor background to concentrate on their studies instead of fighting for survival.