Our higher institutions plagued with poor research, corruption, brain drain – FG

The Federal Government says Nigeria’s higher education sub-sector is plagued with inadequate funding, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of academic staff, strike, brain drain, poor research, weak governance and insecurity.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, called for the total overhauling of the higher education system to put the universities and other tertiary institutions at par with others around the globe.

He spoke in Abuja yesterday while declaring open the 8th edition of the Libsense Open Science Symposium, with the theme ‘Advancing Open Science and Collaboration: The role of Stakeholders’.

The event was organised by the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) in partnership with the West and Central African Research Education Network and other partners.

Represented by the Director of University Education in the ministry, Rakiya Ilyasu, he said the ministry was committed to fostering the role of science through partnership from shared knowledge.

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The minister said this informed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to increase the education budget to 25 per cent with the right policies in place.

“We need to understand that before we can harness our human resources, we need to be sure of what we need to do to fill in the gaps that have, over the years, inexplicably pulled us back.

“We need to know the extent at which we have met contemporary demands of tertiary education globally and if it is not sufficient, how to address them.

“I passionately appeal to the roadmap committee of the Vice-Chancellor of Nigerian universities to provide the committee with quality memorandum of how our education sub-sector can be competitive in all ramification,” he added.

Also, the Secretary General, CVCNU, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, said there was need to explore innovative ways on the scientific future of the country.

Represented by Vice Chancellor, Kaduna State University, Prof. Abdullahi Musa, he said the conference was apt as it would help uncover innovative ways toward research development as well as foster collaboration to new opportunities. (NAN)