Expert faults Nigerian varsities curriculum
By Dayo Adesulu
The Director of Leadmode Resource Centre, Dr Fakunle Odifa has said that for Nigeria to compete among the comity of nations, the degree obtained from the universities should be tailored towards developing the economy of Nigeria.
Odifa, a former don at the University of Leicester, whose centre represents some leading United Kingdom universities in Nigeria told Vanguard that if something is not done about the way students acquire degrees for having sake, it could be disastrous for the country.
“Education should be planned within the context of the economy so that the education is relevant to the development. We are not talking about a nation whereby people get degrees, just for the sake of getting degrees, students must obtain their degrees for the sake of developing economy,” he said.
Odifa observed that in the last 20 years, there had been mad for degree but it has led the country to nowhere. ”After graduating from universities, half of the degrees are worthless .You have to retrain them for the employer in order for them to fit into the economy.”
The former don said there is the need to re-orientate Nigerians whereby the emphasis would be on relevant education-the education that is relevant to self, society, groups and individuals.
He stressed the need for the education to be tailored toward creating path and targets. “If this country wishes to produce the next Africa car, the education should be tailored towards how many engineers are needed. How many chemists are needed. How many electricians are needed, so that in the next 5 years, people would have developed the path.
He wondered why the country is still importing rice when there are universities of agric almost everywhere in the country. “We have universities of agric. Yet we spend lots of money importing rice.
There must be something wrong with all of us, if there is nothing wrong with all of us, why are we doing the same thing every time and nobody said wait a minute, it is not working. If it is not working there is no shame in saying let’s find an alternative. In fact wisdom is when know something is not working and you accept that it is not working and find an alternative solution.
