Stakeholders seek govt.’s intervention to reduce mass exodus of lecturers

Stakeholders in the education sector have called for urgent government’s intervention to reduce mass exodus of skilled professionals in the sector, particularly the lecturers.

The stakeholders, who made the calls in separate interviews with the newsmen in Ibadan on Friday, said the intervention had become necessary in order to stabilise the sector.

Supreme News reports that like other sectors, education witnessed some challenges in 2023, just when it ought to regain stability after the eight-month strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which ended in October 2022.

The Head, Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan, Prof. Oye Taiwo, said that the percentage of budgetary allocation to education had been low and far from the recommended benchmark.

According to Taiwo, the funding issue is still there.

He noted that most of the promises made by the government which ASUU struggled for in its last industrial action were yet to be fulfilled except the issue of IPPIS.

Taiwo also noted that increase in the salaries of lecturers – 35 per cent for professors and 25 per cent for others – had yet to materialise.

He said that the some of the federal government’s economic policies, especially subsidy removal, had impoverished many lecturers, hence the increase in their mass exodus.

“The university is greatly affected, as you hardly see young lecturers coming in and if they do, the moment they see opportunities outside the country, they leave,” Taiwo said.

He said lecturers had hoped that their welfare would be prioritised by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

Taiwo also stated that the establishment of private tertiary in Nigeria was a welcome development, as the nation needed to absorb the high number of the candidates seeking university education.

Also, the acting Vice-Chancellor, Trinity University, Yaba, Lagos, Prof. Clememt Kolawole, said despite the promises by governments, both federal and state, of showing more commitment to provision of qualitative education, nothing had been done.

“This shows that government does not understand the need for using education to drive development in the country.

“There are some state governments that pay teachers’ salaries on time while others don’t care whether teachers are paid on time or not,” Kolawole stated.

According to him, the implication of poor and/or irregular payment of teachers and lecturers’ salaries is that there will be poorly motivated teaching force in the system, which will invariably affect their productivity.

“This is not peculiar to the current government or the outgoing year, but it is an issue that should have been addressed by successive governments.

“In addition to teachers’ poor salaries, the education system in the outgoing year has not received adequate attention in terms of provision of adequate infrastructure, particularly at the primary and secondary school levels,” the don said.

He, however, noted that tertiary education had performed better in this regard owing to regular intervention by TETfund regarding improvement of infrastructure.

Kolawole said it was difficult now to believe that government was committed to proper funding of education, going by the several allocations made to the sector but which were never released.

“It is, however, my belief that constant comments on the problems of education will serve to remind the government of the need to pay adequate attention to the sector.

“Nigeria cannot attain excellence and fully tap into the potentials of its citizenry if education is not adequately taken care of,” the acting vice-chancellor said.

In his own assessment, the immediate past Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Prof. Biodun Olaniran, said education sector had continued to face myriad of challenges.

Olaniran listed such issues to include: inadequate funding, insufficient infrastructure and shortage of qualified teachers, all of which, he said, had contributed to the decline in the quality of education in the country.

“It is essential to address these challenges and take proactive measures.

“For instance, government should prioritise education and allocate more funds with a view to improving infrastructure and enhancing the quality of education.

“Government should also focus on integrating technology into the educational system so as to improve access to learning resources and facilitate online learning, especially in remote areas where physical infrastructure may be lacking.

“Efforts should equally be made to train and recruit more qualified teachers to address the shortage of teachers in the sector, while continuous professional development programmes should be implemented to enhance the skills of the existing teachers,” he said.

Olaniran further stated that the curriculum should be regularly reviewed and updated to align with current trends and meet the needs of the changing job market, adding that emphasis should be placed on practical skills development and critical thinking.

“Efforts should be made to improve access to education, especially for the marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

“Scholarships and financial aid programmes should be provided to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive quality education,” he said.

The don stressed the need for collaboration among government, the private sector and civil society organisations for the development of education sector.

Also, Mr David Afolayan, the Chief Executive Officer, GIS Konsult, Ibadan, described as unfortunate a situation where Nigerians had to be leaving the country to study abroad.

“Another striking thing is the alarming rate at which lecturers are leaving Nigeria in their numbers. This will, no doubt, have effects on the administration and management of education in the country.

“Many lecturers have left the country and this is due to the unfavourable teaching and learning environment as well as economic hardship, with its attendant effect on outputs,” Afolayan said.

He called for government’s intervention to reduce the mass exodus of lecturers in Nigeria.

“There is also the need for relevant and applicable knowledge because most of what is taught in our schools prepares students for work outside Nigeria rather than the reality in the country.

“It is not news that several industries have shut down, cutting across those producing goods to those in pharmaceutical and manufacturing.

“These are problems that may likely occur when students were not prepared for Nigeria but for other climes that need their knowledge.

“That means we are preparing people to develop other countries. These are the problems that I see as evident in the outgoing year,” he said.

Afolayan urged policymakers to map out ways of addressing the challenges so that young people would be equipped for opportunities within and outside the country.