By Gabriel Ewepu, Abuja

AS Nigeria’s educational system is still in limbo, the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof Tunji Olaopa , yesterday, lamented Nigeria’s higher education predicament rooted in the dysfunctionality of certification.

Prof Olaopa made the assertion in a lecture titled ‘Who and What is a Teacher? Issues, Challenges, and Prospects of the Institutional Reform of Colleges of Education in Nigeria’ being the 25th Convocation Lecture of the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun State,

While congratulating the entire governing council, the provost, deputy provost, registrar, management staff, faculty members, and rank and file, for keeping the institution’s flag flying high, he pointed out that the professionally certified teacher continues to constitute the foundation for building a functional and relevant human capital development architecture around which the country can concretize the structure for an optimal national productivity policy.

He also maintained that this alone will drive the building of inclusive and sustainable economic growth that will in time galvanize the much awaited national economic transformation.

However, he expressed displeasure and worries over the teaching profession turning out to be an all-comer affair, hence the degradation of the teaching profession brought about the establishment of the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN.

He said: “Unfortunately, our national malaise has played out to undermine that flexible relationship of responsibilities among the critical institutions, in favour of just one of them

“The import of that is that we assume that the universities alone can produce the manpower that Nigeria requires for her productivity turnaround; and that it can do so without the full participation of polytechnics and the colleges of education.

“And so sadly, and in spite of the dysfunctionalities that this structural disconnect has created for manpower planning and utilization, most COEs are trailing behind in the shadows of the universities.

“In terms of producing the human capital that Nigeria urgently requires, when the reality of national manpower requirements dictates otherwise. And what are the statistics saying to validate this worrisome reality? In 2021, out of a total of 1,351,284 candidates that sat for JAMB, only 1.7% (15,747) chose COE. It fell to 1% (24,062) in 2022, and in 2023, out of a total number of 1,595,773 that applied for JAMB, a total of 141,976 only applied for admission to both the polytechnic and COE.

“One, despite the worrying statistics that put universities at the forefront of manpower development, Nigeria is still confronted with the challenge of certification without competence, the whole issue of a low-skills equilibrium that is at the root of the seemingly irresolvable structural unemployment of youths in Nigeria

“In other words, Nigeria has a higher education predicament rooted in the dysfunctionality of the irrelevance of its structure of certification to her national human capital requirement.

“A conundrum that is at the root of the deep structural and seemingly unresolvable unemployment crisis in Nigeria.

“The dilemma in Nigeria’s education policy is therefore that we pay lip service to skills and competency, a dynamic compounded by skills pricing and government pay and compensation policy which is skewed to white collar jobs, and which needs significant reprofiling if we are serious as a national in the race to be a critical player in the Fourth and Fifth industrial revolution.

“Therefore, it will be critical to bring some measure of innovation to curricula designs in institutional recalibration for the dual-mode college transition. This is essential, in order to achieve the required equilibrium between theoretical learning and practical skills to function as a certified teacher in every sense professional

“The objective should therefore not be to weaken or supplant the NCE certification but to strengthen it by cultivating a cohort of educators who possess a formidable blend of scholarly expertise and practical teaching proficiency.

“Indeed, if indeed the dynamics are managed well and the required balancing is achieved between more practically proficient NCE holders and straight B.Ed certification, the transformation of COE into dual-mode institutions might indeed mark a paradigm shift in teacher education in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile in his conclusion, “Let us therefore embark on the transformation journey with the spirited aim to develop an institutional platform to birth a new generation and cadre of educators who do not only excel academically, but who exemplify.

“The genuine essence of the teacher and the teaching profession that molds minds, shapes the future, and indeed serves as a veritable fulcrum and catalyst to crystallize real sustainable national growth and economic transformation of Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the Provost, Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Dr Rafiu Soyele, speaking ahead of the 25th Convocation Lecture of the Federal College of Education, Osiele, appealed to the federal government to discard calls to scrap Colleges of Education, while pointing out that if scrapped the right methodologies of teaching would be destroyed as well, hence the negative impact on national development.

The Provost also earlier announced that the Chairman, the Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof Tunji Olaopa will deliver the Convocation lecture.