Dr Sani Jauro, the Pro-Chancellor and founder of the first private university in Gombe State, Pen Resource University (PRU), in this interview, explains why he left the lecturing job, how to address brain drain in the university system in Nigeria and more.
Nigerian lecturers are leaving the country in droves; how do you get lecturers despite the shortage?
Brain drain is certainly a problem in the Nigerian education system. What makes the lecturers leave is the way they are treated by their employers. Here at Pen Resource University, we value our employees, see their problems as our problems, and make sure we provide all the materials they need in order for them to work efficiently. We make sure we provide the right environment for them to flourish as academics so that they can teach very well in the classrooms.
Let me give an example, after the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government, there was inflation, and there was difficulty all over. We decided on our own to raise the salaries of our staff by 25 to 35 per cent. Professors got 35 per cent, senior lecturers and readers got 30 per cent and all other staff from labourers to lecture 1, got 25 per cent. And there was no single demand from any staff for a salary increase. If every university is going to do this, there will be little or no brain drain.
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Job mobility is normal anywhere in the world. People move from one job to another, but it will not be draining like that. I was once a university lecturer, but I left the teaching line. I was also one of the people who left the university because of the way the universities were neglected and everything was dwindling.
In the classrooms and laboratories, not even water was running in the taps, let alone chemicals. So, how can you operate in that kind of environment? No toilets in the universities were functional. A university that is supposed to produce people in whose hands the future of this country is going to be is being treated like this.
They have no knowledge of what the standard is. If you produce half-baked graduates, you should expect to have half-baked services. But if you produce high-calibre graduates, the nation will be good. There will be no brain drain, the teachers will remain, they will teach, and they will be happy because most people who take up the teaching profession are not after the money, but they are after satisfaction. They want to see themselves working in a good environment that supports research.
There seems to be growing acceptance of private universities in Nigeria. What could be responsible for this interest?
There are so many reasons for establishing private universities. Some are borne out of political or business-oriented reasons, while others are out of a passion for education. It is toward seeing that correction is made in raising the standard of education in Nigeria and even the whole academic system that the Pen Resource University (PRU), was established.
What do you adopt to distinguish your students from those of other universities?
Universities are generally regulated by the National Universities Commission (NUC), which sets the standards. In the past, it was the Benchmark of Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS). Now it is the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standard (CCMAS). All universities in Nigeria are supposed to adopt this standard.
Our university was the first to migrate to this CCMAS new policy. CCMAS entails the NUC providing 70 per cent of the curriculum while the university is supposed to develop the remaining 30 per cent. That is what makes it different from other universities.
Therefore, our 30 per cent is a problem-solving and development approach that will bring about development in our state, the North East, the country, Africa, and the world at large.
We give entrepreneurship training to our students and try to make them responsible citizens; those who will see themselves as people on whom the future of the nation depends, so they will look inward at societal problems and try to develop solutions to have the highest efficacy in problem-solving. This is what sets our students apart from those of other universities.
How are you harvesting the benefits of technology in teaching and learning?
Pen Resource University (PRU) is highly technology-compliant. We have a learning management system, which we call the Octopus. This learning management system is where students do their registration, and teachers upload the course content and notes. They can submit their assignment, and the teacher will grade them.
We also have an e-library system where they can access our library from anywhere on campus. We have internet service that can be accessed from anywhere on campus. We did not start in a lazy way; we started in a modern way so that we could implement the best practices in a university.
Private universities are accused of awarding first-class degrees too easily to attract students, how true is that?
If private universities are doing that, the NUC should wake up and check it. It is very unfortunate that universities are doing this. I read something on the internet that a journalist went to an African country and got a degree in six weeks. If private universities are doing that, the NUC should wake up and check it. It is very unfortunate that universities are doing this. This is criminal; this is how you produce criminals, and all Nigerians should fight against it.
There are calls to include private universities in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) interventions, do you support such calls?
Yes, I do. The most important thing is to give Nigerians quality education. Not to give only Nigerians who are in public schools qualitative education, but the generality of Nigerians. Therefore, TETFUND should build facilities for private universities.
They can set a standard by saying that universities must be of high quality before they build infrastructure or give them support. If they cannot build facilities for private universities like they do in public universities, they can have some funds for private universities to access in the banks as loans at a very low-interest rate, perhaps 2 per cent interest. That is how the universities can develop their facilities and repay the loan over a reasonable period of time if they cannot give it away for free as they do in public universities.
I want you to note that the mistake people make is seeing private universities as competitors, but that is not the case. Anybody who puts his child in a private university or in any private school is making a sacrifice because, as a Nigerian taxpayer, he is entitled to a space in the public school. He has left that space, which is a sacrifice.
Secondly, he is using his money to pay for his child at the private school, which is another sacrifice. Therefore, he is making a double sacrifice so that another Nigerian can have access to education.
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