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He is the JAMB registrar. He claims Nigerians are over-educated. He was reacting to a plea to reduce JAMB’s fee from 3,500 to a lower fee. Let me give you the background. In an interactive session with senior journalists, editors and columnists in Lagos, participants drew the attention of Oloyede to the fact that some parents could still not afford N3, 500 fee for JAMB registration due to grinding poverty to which many Nigerians are subjected to recently.
Recall that the form was initially sold at the rate of N5, 000 before President Muhammadu Buhari, out of magnanimity, approved the recommended reduction to N3, 500. JAMB under Oloyode did well for the recommendation. And for those who think our President has achieved nothing, this fact is against them. Nevertheless, many parents could still not pay!
But Oloyode, the no nonsense administrator who discovered a huge sum of money that was domiciled in a snake’s mouth and was able to block some of the loopholes through which moneys were swallowed and siphoned, rejected any attempt at further reduction of JAMB’s fee. Before we call Oloyede a tightfisted sadist, let’s not forget that his transparency, accountability, and subscription to some unique moral ideals actually transformed JAMB from a money-devouring to a money-generating government board. We should not also forget that the initial reduction was at his instance.
Now let’s discuss Oloyede’s arguments against JAMB’s fee reduction. He expressed what I hold as a conviction concerning university education as if we share ideas. While I am not personally against reduction in JAMB’s fee since my position is always tilted to the side of the poor masses, Oloyede’s arguments put a smile on me as I realized that I am not alone. One, he argued that university education should not be a do or die affair. This is where many parents get it wrong. We have instilled into our children this skewed and destructive notion that it is either university education or suicide.
Where did we get the notion that we must go to the university to be relevant and successful in life? Education that is basic is the ability to read, write, and understand your mother tongue; and perhaps the official language (which is English in Nigeria) or/and language of religious instruction which in the case of the Muslims is Arabic. Except because our standard of education has fallen to the lowest of the low, secondary education is overly enough for what is considered basic. Again, this basic education need not to take place formally within the four walls of the school. It can be learnt informally.
Two, for a country to develop, argues Oloyede, its entire youth population does not have to acquire university education. “How many percentage of the UK youth population has acquired university education or fighting tooth and nail to get one? How many in the US? Are these not the best economies and most powerful countries in the world?” Oloyede! You are right.
He went further to say “the larger percentage of people in their best universities are mostly Nigerians.” What is even worrisome is the cost involved. In one analysis, tuition fees for undergraduate or graduate degrees in UK generally range from $17, 000 – $25, 000 per academic year (depending on the exchange rate at the time of study). Let’s assume it is even $17, 000 and convert it to Nigerian Naira at, let’s say, N550 per dollar. That will amount to N9, 350, 000. Then multiply this by three (3) assuming the program (Ph.D. for instance) is a three year program. This will give us N28, 000, 000. This is superlatively humungous! Note that this does not include feeding, accommodation, and other expenses.
All in all, one might end up spending at least 40-50 million Naira to earn a Ph.D. in the UK. Mind you, this does not factor in the cost of first and second degree programs. This is also a conservative estimate. It could be a way higher than this. So if a parent invests this huge sum of money to train their son or daughter in the UK and they return home to work in any Nigerian university with the current disgracefully ridiculous salary scale, the money invested in them can never be recouped till they retire even if they were to work for forty years. Where is the financial literacy and sagacity in this? This why we are not developing. We invest in what apparently cannot bring returns.
Lastly, Oloyede argued that the current fee is okay as it is. He added that no where in the world is the form to seek university admission is as cheap as Nigeria. This could also be true of the cost of university education ifself: it is very cheap in Nigeria—no doubt. But the irony is that degree certificates in Nigeria lead to backwardness, economic woes, and retrogression as a result of unemployment. Reacting to my article last week, many considered the years they spent in the universities as a waste due to their inability to secure a befitting job or any job. This is touching; yet real.
But are we really over-educated in Nigeria? Why is our hungry for certificate so irritating? I have met a business administration student who could not distinguish between plus and minus in simple arithmetic. I have seen a science student—undergraduate—who could not spell Mathematics after several attempts. I have also interacted with an undergraduate student of Political Science who did not know the state capital of her state of origin in which she had lived through out her existence before the encounter. So how are we over-educated? Except if over-education means sheer ignorance.
I think what the respected Prof. should have said, rather, is that Nigerians are over-certificated. This, to me, captures the reality of the import we attach to certificates. This is in spite of the obvious fact that one only needs to finish secondary school to be president of Nigeria. Why the worry for degree certificate?
I wish Prof. Ishaq Oloyede a successful completion of his renewed tenure. He emphasized that what we need is talent development and skills acquisition. This is also true. May we get it right in Nigeria.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
