National Universities Commission,NUC has expressed concern over shortage of lecturers in the Nigeria's university system, saying only 100,000 academic staff are attending to 2.1million students in over 200 universities including 48 being funded by Federal Government , 54 State and 99 private in the country
The Deputy Executive Secretary, Administration, NUC, Mr Chris Maiyaki who expressed the concern in the commission's latest bulletin in Abuja, asked the Federal Government to isolate universities from its circular on embargo on new employment and allow them to recruit
According to him, “The entire system has about 2.1 million students and staff strength of about 170,000 non-teaching and 100,000 academic staff".
“Some of the problems facing the system include increased running cost, meagre budgetary allocations, issue of power shortages and shortages of manpower",he lamented
“There is a need for universities to be isolated from the Federal Government’s circular on embargo on new employment because of the peculiarity and distinctive nature of the universities, in order for them to keep up the pace in attaining comparable standards with their counterparts globally",Maiyaki stated
The NUC Deputy Executive Secretary also worried over the incessant interference in the functions of the commission in regulating the university system in the country
“We also have incessant interference in the NUC’s functions by some professional bodies and associations, which have continued to issue needless instructions to universities".
Other challenges in the Nigerian university system, he says include the issue of digital response to COVID-19 lockdown.”
Maiyaki recalled that 2020 was an unusual year for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged the whole world, noting that Nigerian universities were forced to start embracing the use of technology in knowledge delivery.
He explained that the advent of coronavirus had enabled Nigerian universities to begin to explore the dual mode of teaching with more institutions developing and expanding their digital hub to commence extensive use of the online platform.
“Within the period, the NUC had been conducting some activities, which included major curriculum review, assessment of universities on their E-Learning requirements, strengthening of quality assurance mechanism as well as fortifying modern methods of data processing and retrieval,” Maiyaki added
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