There’s need for Nigeria to encourage and retain best brains to move forward – former Minister of Information

A former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, has stressed the need for the country to encourage and retain best brains in the university, invest in top quality human resources for it to move forward in all facets of life.

Gana said to achieve and sustain academic excellence, first class brains should be encouraged to remain in the nation’s challenged university system.

The former minister spoke on Saturday at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island,Lagos, at the public presentation of Prof. Steve Okecha’s latest book entitled: “The Nigerian University System: Downswings and way forward”. The author is a retired professor of Chemistry and university administrator.

While lauding the author for his robust intellect, he said most successful universities in the world invest in faculty development which he described as the corner stone of academic excellence and development.

The keynote speaker said strong institutional leadership,good governance and transparency were required for sustaining academic excellence, adding that first class brains are being discouraged, while politicians are celebrated frequently.

He said: “We don’t celebrate first class brains, we are discouraging them. In Nigeria, we only celebrate politicians.

“Most successful universities invest in faculty development, faculty is the cornerstone of academic excellence. It is crucial to teaching.

“First class brains should be encouraged to remain in the university system.It is extremely important. We must be deliberate about retaining our best brains, high quality people. We should also reward excellence in teaching. We have not been rewarding the academia.

‘‘University teachers are not seriously looked after, not only in terms of money, but recognition. We need to rediscover the importance of retaining honour in the university system. We should give the pride of place to creative thinkers, we must deliberately encourage them retain them, motivate them.”

Gana underscored the significance of research and innovation, student engagement and technology to sustain excellence and national development.

“It is important to invest in technology, Nigerian youths are doing well in technology. They are very vibrant and technology savvy, they would rule the world.

Technology has the potential to transform teaching and learning, so we must embrace innovative teaching approaches by using educational technology infrastructure. University lecturers must go for refresher courses to be ahead of students in terms of technology,” he added.

Chairman of the occasion, a former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, said since education took a backseat in the country, it has failed to advance among nations of the world.

He blamed the political class for neglecting education and sending their wards to school abroad. He praised the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his funding initiatives toward the education sector.

“We are the cause, we the political class have been contemptible of education. We elite rather send our children to school abroad, hence we neglected our own education. Once you send a young child abroad, we have a deculturised child, they don’t fit when they come back. If I have my way ,you can’t leave this country until you are 18 years old,” he said.

Okecha, a former Special Adviser to ex-Minister of Education, Ruqayyahtu Ahmed Rufa’i, said it was imperative to find solutions to the rot and decline of the university system, adding that the country no longer provided a good environment for learning.

“A country that cannot provide and water and light for 24 hours,has no business establishing a university.

In the past, Nigerian universities were globally recognised and they did well,” he added.

The reviewer, Prof. Nkem Onyekpe of the Department of History, University of Lagos, the author’s call for a state of emergency in the university system was necessary to address the challenges head on.

“This book is a critical anatomy of the problems of Nigeria University System. It is readable, simple and clear. It is not simplistic though. The book is compelling and empirically produced. Anyone who reads it will be moved to action.

‘‘His call for a state of emergency in the university education is logical to address the problems. The book will be useful to government and private universities, among others,” he said.

Chairman Editorial Board of The Nation, Mr. Sam Omatseye, said: “I am happy you wrote this book. We are a nation of turmoil and paralysis at the same time. The problems are an existential horror. We are a nation of many horrors and pains.

Academics should not be left only to academics, but responsible politicians. We have paralysis and turmoil at the same time in the country.”