Tribalism, religion factors hindering growth of Nigerian Universities – NUC

…Says NUC recognises newly approved Bayelsa Medical University

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed, has identified tribalism and religion as some of the factors hindering Nigerian universities from meeting up with global standard. Speaking while receiving a delegation of the Government of Bayelsa State led by Governor Seriake Henry Dickson at the Commission headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Rasheed lamented that majority of the Universities in the country have deviated from the universal character approved by the NUC. He maintained that the commission being the sole regulatory agency of university education in the country, would remain steadfast in the task of ensuring qualitative and orderly development of university education. According to the NUC boss, it was only by so doing, that the universities could be globally relevant and competitive and advised that universities must strive to be truly universal entities wherein all the attributes and international characteristics including good reputation and academic credibility could be found. While stressing that the NUC recognised the newly approved Bayelsa State Medical University, professor Rasheed charged the management of the university to maintain the universal character approved by the commission. “We are living in an age of knowledge, an age of where education or human capital holds the key to our successes as a people and as a nation. “Only education, particularly the type of quality education produced in good universities can instigate rapid social, economic, scientific and technological changes needed to guarantee our march to the future with pride and confidence, education still remains our most potent weapon for injecting hope in our youth and in our ability to negotiate better quality of life for our people”, he said. Earlier, Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson who expressed gratitude to the commission for identifying Bayelsa Medical University explained that the University was designed as a first rate institution of learning to attract some of the best teachers from Africa and the world. While reaffirming that furthering the course of education is the topmost priority of his administration, governor Dickson said that the newly approved university is expected to specialise in primary health care and tropical medicine. “There is no alternative to education. Education is the only priceless and timeless gift that could be offered to any child and there is no investment that is too much in the education of a child. “If we don’t invest in education, then we should be prepared to build more prisons and cemeteries. Even the children you send abroad to study will be killed by those you refused to educate. “Bayelsa state is investing so much in education most especially primary and Tertiary education to make life easy for our people” Dickson added.