SHOULD  we continue to produce graduates whose certificates cannot get them good jobs or secure admission for higher degrees in other tertiary institutions across the globe?

Almost all our tertiary institutions in Ogun State are sick. They are also grossly underfunded. Their total monthly subvention is not up to what either Lagos State University, LASU, or Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, gets. For example, while all our 10 higher institutions get a total of N340, 019, 508 monthly, LASU alone gets N302, 000 million salary subvention, while the Lagos State government funds many of the on-going capital projects in the institution’s campuses.

Of course, Lagos State with about 1,500 percent more monthly revenue than Ogun has only one university in addition to four other tertiary institutions. That means Lagos State has just 50 percent of the number of higher institutions that we have in Ogun State, a case of the rich dad with a small family compared to a poor dad with numerous children.

You can guess what the situation will be in both families. Ogun State has the highest number of state-owned higher institutions, perhaps in Nigeria. While Oyo and Ekiti have four each, Osun, like Lagos, has five, Ondo, an oil-producing state, has three. Edo has two. It is a known fact that Ekiti and Osun have commenced a process of rationalsation. Ekiti is now merging its three universities to become one.

In Ogun, we have four other federal government-owned higher institutions with eight privately-owned ones. Just two weeks ago, the Federal Government again approved the licences of two private universities to be located in Ogun State.

For those who continue to argue that TASUED is self-sufficient, has been attracting contributions from philanthropists and is the only university of education which should be sustained by all means for the sake of the students, I believe these points are not supported by facts on the ground.

It bothers me when people who are members of the elite argue that TASUED which does not have viable consultancy and thriving business arms like University of Lagos is self-sufficient. Even UNILAG still depends on the Federal Government for payment of staff salaries and other expenses.  TASUED generates whatever funds that are ascribed to it by indiscriminately admitting students, whether qualified or not. The interest is not in the academic development of the students but in the school fees they will pay. That was why the authorities of the institution borrowed N500million from a bank, using the anticipated school fees as collateral. The half a billion naira was allegedly used to pay salaries. We all know that any business venture in which loans are used to defray salary cost is not fit to continue to exist. Apart from this N500million loan, TASUED has other pending loans. That is why its student population is almost more than that of OOU.

Again, what quality of facilities is being provided by the donors? Do they include the type that should enable TASUED to run courses like mass communication, petroleum and chemical sciences, transport management, tourism development, business administration, accountancy and many other non-education courses which this University of Education now offers to thousands of students? It should interest all of us that contrary to Statute 13 of the enabling law of this university and the founding objective of TASUED which is to produce teachers for our secondary schools, approximately 31 per cent of the courses in that school are non-education courses and will not deliver the type of teachers that the state needs. We are waiting to be told whether mass communication is a secondary school subject. We need to be told if secondary schools now offer subjects in transport management or tourism or petroleum and chemical sciences.

The population of students running part-time programmes in TASUED stands at almost 50 per cent of the total university population which exceeds the maximum of 25 per cent recommended by the National Universities Commission, NUC.

Ogun State government has continued to argue that it is better for us to have fewer higher institutions, increase funding in these schools and strengthen supervision with a view to improving on quality of teaching, research and administration. The emphasis in Ogun State should shift from quantity to quality. Our focus is now on development, not politics, personal aggrandizement and ego massaging.

In taking the decision on how best to reduce the number of our higher institutions, we based our judgement on merit. OOU is a 30-year-old multi-disciplinary institution. TASUED is a uni-disciplinary institution.  Having decided that we can only cater for one university, we chose the former over the latter because what TASUED was established to achieve, a better funded, equipped and administered OOU can achieve it through its Faculty of Education.

For those who argue that the rationalisation will deny more students some admission slots, our answer is that we are already reforming our primary and secondary schools so much that their products will perform so well in both WASCE and JAMB examinations.

Mr. YUSUPH OLANIYONUis Commissioner for Information & Strategy in Ogun State.