Former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Wande Abimbola, has called for far-reaching reforms in the university system in Nigeria as a way to boost the capacity of institutions to attract funds and generate revenues.
Abimbola who has taught in American universities such as Harvard and Boston University, said many of those institutions had vice-chancellors who were not professors but mere first degree holders.
He spoke while featuring on the popular online interview discourse, Boiling Point Arena, hosted by a media professional and public relations strategist, Dr Ayo Arowojolu.
Although Abimbola did not emphatically state whether he approved non-professors as vice-chancellors in universities in Nigeria, he said the federal government should urgently set up a commission of inquiry to make recommendations capable of radically reforming the institutions.
His words: “I have taught in 10 American universities and others. When I was at Harvard and also at Boston University, I discovered that they called their own vice-chancellors president. That university’s president was retiring and the person appointed to replace him had only a Bachelor of Arts degree.
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“So, I was wondering, how come somebody who doesn’t even have a Master’s Degree become the president of the university?
“The truth is that in America, they put much premium on who can reach out for the university, who can raise funds, who is well-connected with governments, who is well connected with industry and who can really help the university.”
Abimbola argued that, faced with the current state of low funding from the government, it was a tragedy for any vice-chancellor to just sit down idly without possessing requisite skills to command goodwill necessary to mobilize financial support to bail out their respective institutions.
Hear him: “The university system is slowly dying before our own very eyes. And, it is looking like it’s going to be a permanent or long-term problem if the funds are not coming from government.
“But, I dare say a university vice-chancellor should know what to do to bail in the present circumstance and make things better.
“One of the areas where we can look at is in the ranks of the alumni. The biggest asset of any university are the people they have graduated. Such people will contribute money since it is expected that the institution must have done something wonderful for them while they were there.
“For wealthy Nigerians generally, it’s a lack of understanding of what a university is supposed to be. It seems that it is not part of our culture in Nigeria to encourage people to help the society and our institutions. The society must act like the parents of the institutions because an institution in that regard is like a child. Every child needs to be fostered. The parents are there, but the larger society is also there.
“I don’t know of countries like Russia and China, but in Europe and in America, the university is like a baby of the society to which it is located. We all should find a way to contribute to help. But it’s a pity that giving is not our culture in Nigeria. People who have lots of money don’t really think it is their responsibility to give to institutions, to give to society, give back to what nurtured them to be who they are.”
