By Emeka Mamah

ENUGU—FORMER Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Prof Peter Okebukola, Thursday, thrilled staff and students of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, with a breakdown of categories of university professors in the country.

Okebukola said that there were five star professors, those above average and the mediocre (bolekaja) professors and asked vice chancellors to raise standards and  produce five star professors.

Okebukola spoke during the presentation of three books written by three ESUT lecturers, including Professors Ethel-Doris Umeh; Ngozika Mariam Mbajiorgu and Chike Anibeze, respectively.

Prof. Ngozika Mbajiorgu, Prof. Chike Anibeze and Prof. Ethel-Doris Umeh – the three authors

Five star professors

The publication of the books including Basic and Applied Insect Science written by Prof. Ethel Doris Umeh; Basic Neuro Anatomy by Prof. Chike Anibeze and the Handbook of Science Education: A Cognitive Science Approach, by Prof. Ngozika Mbajiogu was sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND.

He, however, commended the authorities of ESUT for producing highly qualified graduates saying that products of the institution were highly valued.

Speaking during the event which was attended by representatives of TETfund, Okebukola, who was chairman on the occasion, said that there were three categories of professors in many tertiary institutions across the country.

According to him, “there are the five star professors, who are known in the academic circles all over the world because their works are published in the best academic journals while there are others who were not even known in their fields even in their own environment, not to talk of neighbouring countries like Ghana.

Okebukola further said that the third grade professors are promoted by their vice chancellors, probably because they belonged to the blocks that put them in their various positions and therefore needed to be compensated.

“For you to make mouth that you are a professor, you must publish your works in international journals. The third rate professors are those their vice chancellors push and push until they become professors. They are the mediocre. We have a lot of them going on in the system. I am happy that the professors who wrote the books we are presenting today did excellent jobs. Their manuscripts passed the plagiarism tests which is why we are happy with the quality of the text books they have published. The vice chancellors are the academic leaders in their institutions, so they should ginger their professors to write books and contribute to international journals,” Okebukola added.

He further regretted that university students in the country were more interested in browsing their telephones instead of reading their books, saying that this was the reverse in other advanced countries of the world.

Also speaking, the representative of the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Dr. Salisu Girei, said that the growth of most advanced countries were tied to the quality of their educational system, pointing out that, this was why TETFund was funding research and book publications by lecturers to ensure high quality Nigerian graduates.  Girei also praised ESUT for blazing the trail by being the first university in the country to access TETFund money earmarked for free publications of books in tertiary institutions.

He, however, asked universities and other institutions of higher learning to establish e-libraries as most of their libraries would be empty in the next 10 years due to lack of patronage.