Okojie Seeks Repositioning of Nigerian School System for Global Competitiveness

Kasim Sumaina

The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, has stressed the need to re-position the Nigerian School System for global competitiveness.

He said the poor state of education in the country was as a result of poor quality of teachers, infrastructure and inadequate funds at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Okojie made this known while briefing the Senior Executive Course 37, 2015 National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Group Five, Kuru, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

He said there is need to re-brand the Nigeria university system and as a body, there is a limit to which we can go on this. “Teachers’ quality is a big problem in our school system and there is need to build capacity for efficiency in order for our graduates so compete globally among their peers.

“I am more worried about the ‘next generation student’ and this has been our biggest challenge as a commission because, a child that had a very poor start could hardly make it. So, there is need for the introduction of quality assurance into our school system.”

Okogie explained that when the federal government took over the regional universities in the country, there was need for a regulatory function at that level through the NUC and admitted that the commission has come a long way in addressing issues as it relates to students in tertiary institutions.

“I must say we have come a very long way and we have more than 140 universities among which 61 are private universities which means that we now have a different architecture in the university structure and gave way for a function.”

Okojie added that the problem confronting the education system is not applicable to Nigeria alone, as there are poor universities everywhere in the world but for the country to achieve success and stand tall in the midst of its peers, there is need to go back to basics whereby education should be free and made compulsory.

“We must go back to the old system where education must be free and compulsory. The problem we are facing arose as a result of government closures of our boarding houses because government cannot afford to fund boarding school system. This has led to poor students being admitted into the university. The federal government should establish education bank where students can safely obtain loans. Also, states government should ensure good universities governance structures without interference of any sort.