By Jonathan Onwuka
One of the challenges facing the Nigerian state is the provision of quality and affordable higher education for the teeming number of young people who seek post secondary formal training. This advance education provides career and skill development.
In the last two decades, tertiary institutions across the country have been experiencing myriads of challenges including geometric rise in the number of qualified applicants as against the available spaces.
This dearth of admission spaces has damaging consequences on the propensity of the nation to attain greatness as access to formal education and skill acquisition opportunities have become requisite indices.
With this admission hiccup, the private universities raised their tuition and other fees to a level that is not within reach of children and wards of middle income earners. More worrisome is the sad reality that these private institutions place no premium on improved facilities commensurate with the high fees.
Aware of this great challenge and its negative consequences on the society, the Senator Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration in Delta State last February opened a historic chapter for tertiary education when the Delta State House of Assembly passed an executive bill upgrading three existing institutions to full-fledged universities.
They are the College of Education Agbor, now University of Delta, Agbor; the Anwai Campus of Delta State University, now Dennis Osadebey University; and Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, now Delta State University of Science and Technology
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This audacious decision is aimed at repositioning the institutions in line with current realities. For instance, prior to the upgrade, College of Education, Agbor, was draining the mean resources of government as there was no return on investment. In most departments of the then colleges, the staff strength was far higher than the number of students.
This is because of growing aparty to teaching and NCE Certificate. The other state owned Delta State University, Abraka, had long reached it’s maximum capacity in terms of students admission.
As a result of the non availability of admission spaces at the Delta State University, Abraka, students from the state have no other option than to get spaces in private universities that charge exorbitant fees. In most cases, they are coerced to study courses against their wish or programmes that are not accredited by the regulating agency.
The upgrading of these three institutions to universities will definitely help to broaden access to quality tertiary education for the huge number of our young secondary school leavers who are yearning for affordable and guaranteed but quality higher education.
The benefits of the new universities cannot be over-emphasised as they have the advantage of focusing their resources into producing high quality human capital in areas of specialization, as well as proffer solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the state in particular.
As pointed by the governor, the upgraded schools will not require enormous additional financial burden as there already exists almost enough staff and infrastructure.
As centres of excellence, the universities will drive development in agriculture, technology, healthcare and provision of high-quality teachers for the State’s primary and secondary schools.
It is also expected that there will be increased employment opportunities as universities have more operational organs compared to their hitherto statuses.
We all know that most universities engage in commercial ventures as well as set out entrepreneurship development programmes for the university community in a bid to expand revenue base. The new universities, in my own opinion, will definitely not be an exception in this regard.
To ensure that the three new universities meet the criteria of the National Universities Commission, the Project Management Committee which was set up by the state government to work out strategies for the smooth transition of the institutions have done great work in that light as Deltans will become utmost beneficiaries of these universities.
It is important to state that the Delta State government is intervening not only in tertiary institutions, but equally invested massively in Technical and Vocational Education, in a bid to provide medium level manpower for the service industry, as well as provide young school leavers with requisite skills to function in our ever changing society, after leaving school.
The gains of the state government’s investments in education cannot be overemphasized. The gains also will be better seen and appreciated in the years to come, as most people who will pass through the skill acquisition colleges established by the state government, will be well positioned to provide meaningful employment for themselves and others.
It is in the light of this understanding that it becomes pertinent to applaud the Delta State Government ably led by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, for the proactive approach in boosting education in the state.
Jonathan Onwuka, is the Special Adviser to the Delta State Governors on Community Newspapers. He writes from Asaba, the State capital
