The incessant disruption of academic activities by aggrieved staff and student unions which has become characteristic of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions as well as poor funding have been identified as some of the factors that militate against the development of the country’s University System.

This was the summation of the Former Vice Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba (AAUA), Ondo State, Professor Femi Mimiko, when he appeared as a guest on Community Today, an online television programme on CEOAfrica on Tuesday 11th July, 2017, to discuss about the professionalization of university governance.

The Professor of Political Science, who is a member of the USA-Africa Dialogue, elucidated that effective governance and excellent management are critical to the success and development of universities in the country – a position which inspired the publication of his recent book “Getting our Universities Back on Track: Reflections and Governance Paradigms from My Vice-Chancellorship”.

Prof Mimiko, had on Monday 10th July, 2017, delivered a keynote address at a seminar organised by the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) where he used his five years’ experience as the Vice Chancellor of AAUA to explain the importance of creating a crisis-free governance system that engender positive developments in Nigerian Universities.

Prof Oluwafemi Mimiko (R) with the Anchor Mistura Salaudeen (L) at the media chat

Speaking during the media chat with CEOAfrica, Prof Mimiko noted that universities in Nigeria seem to have lost their primary focus of providing quality education as well as engaging in innovative researches to more unprofitable activities like engaging in strike actions as a way of pressing home demands.

Implications of Strike Actions

While clarifying that unionism activities in universities are not totally condemnable, the Professor asserted that strike actions that involve a total shut down of academic activities for a stretch of time were not healthy for the development of the university system, adding that these strike actions almost always do not yield needed results.

He said “I am not arguing that unions should be proscribed from universities, certainly not. They are very strong elements in the civil society community and civil society has a way of sustaining and deepening democracy. However, a senior colleague of mine computed that between 1982 and 1996, Nigerian university system lost three and a half years to strike actions, strikes that were declared, pursued and sustained for various reasons.

“The implication of this is that strike action has not succeeded in resolving the problems, otherwise, we would not be talking of another strike action. Also, strike actions have created a deep hole in the university system in Nigeria which means that it is impossible to predict the nature of the calendar that we administer in our universities. And if you don’t have stability, you cannot begin to talk of university in the real sense of the word.

“A situation in which you do not know when your students are going to resume, when they are going to graduate, then you can’t plan or bring about exchange programme with sister universities in other countries. These are reasons why Nigerian universities are not seriously regarded in the committee of universities,” the Professor observed.

Prof Mimiko seated (R) with other journalists present at the media chat

Recommended Solutions

Prof Mimiko further explained that rather than resort to shutting down universities and disrupting academic calendars to express their grievances, unions can resort to other effective ways to press home their points if slighted. He noted that there is the need to approach welfare issues in a more responsive and responsible manner. “Strike action is not the only tool available. I’m not persuaded that the monies we get at the end of strike action are enough justification for shut down of universities.

“So, I’m suggesting that our unions must behave more reasonably and responsibly. We must give room to those members of the community that are not interested in the membership of unions to be themselves. We must not try to force those who do not want to go on strike to do so. We must allow rigorous democratic debate to take place at the level of the unions, so that at the end of the day, the unions will be vectors of patriotic engagement and contribution to the system,” Prof Mimiko stated.

Reacting to the notion that no meaningful negotiations with the government or authorities can be achieved until strike actions are declared, Prof Mimiko disagreed with the idea by stating that strike actions should not be adopted as the last resort. He noted that in the event that a strike action is necessary, it should be calibrated in a way that will not jeopardise the system. “If the government is not responding to unions’ demands, it shouldn’t be the basis of asking students off campus for four, five months. What happens to researches going on in the laboratories?” he queried.

“At the end of the strike actions, we collect all the monies that should have been paid if we were working. So we get paid for not working. That government is hesitant in responding to your demands does not constitute the justification for shutting down universities completely. In other climes, they employ other ways to reach out to the government,” the Professor stated.

In place of strike actions, the erudite scholar proposed other effective methods unions can employ to state their demands. He noted that alternatives like involvement of lobbyists, and positive mobilisation of students can yield a better result at getting government’s attention than disruption of academic activities.

He said “First, there is no reason we cannot engage the services of lobbyists. In other societies, lobbying is a profession. But here, when you talk of lobbying, people immediately imagine you are talking of bribery. We should be able to get lobbyists, those who will be able to have the ears of the government; who could go and mingle with the National Assembly and get them committed to some of these things that we value so much.

“Secondly, it is possible to mobilise our students well enough to influence the decision of the government to implement favourable education policies by ensuring they vote for or against some parties. If the contesting parties know that the staff unions have a formidable force behind them, they are probably going to be more receptive. That is what is done in several democracies. You mobilise your constituency to vote against or in support of political platforms. Another option is to keep engaging the government. Seek out those elements in government that have the same values that you hold dear and get them to respond,” Prof Mimiko suggested.

Problems of Poor Funding

On the problem of limited funding available to Nigerian Universities, the former AAUA VC attributed this challenge to overreliance of universities on government subvention, adding that universities have not understood the need to generate revenue to ensure self-sufficiency. “As academics and workers in the university systems, we are so fixated on government funding. And so, we haven’t come to regard the issue of fund mobilisation as a duty that should be our business.

“We grew up in that mental state which you must depend on government to fund the universities. It was one of the issues I raised in my book that we could put the universities on an entrepreneurial system such that whatever you do in the university as a professor, when you want to give your inaugural lecture, you must have your eyes on what will bring money to the university, you must address social problems, so that you won’t just come to present exotic things. When the university system just started, we focused on exotic things.

“But the reality is that situations have changed. We have issues to cope with. There is globalisation, there is competition, there are social vices, there is inequality of income, diseases, wars and conflicts. As universities, we must be solution providers. Universities are supposed to be the vanguard of development. And that is why the most advanced economy has the best universities around the world.

Solutions to Poor Funding

In order to upgrade the Nigerian University system to international standards, Prof Mimiko proposed several recommendations to tackle the challenge of poor funding to include; paradigm shift from over dependence to self-reliance, consultancy activities and business undertakings. According to the Professor, the first thing that should be done is “to have a paradigm shift away from that mental state that we must wait for the government to bring the funds to us. We must do away with that. That is not to absolve the government of the responsibility to fund the university.

“The academic communities must be able to come up with ways to generate funds and provide practical solutions to problems. Another solution is consultancy. Universities are the bedrock of intellectualism. I found something disgusting when I was running AAUA. People will bring proposals to train the university community when it should be the other way round. We should be the ones training the outside communities. Those are the paradigm shifts I’m talking about. So, when I title my book “Getting our Universities Back on Track: Reflections and Governance Paradigms from My Vice-Chancellorship”, that is the context in which I spoke.

“Universities also could do business. I’m not suggesting that Professors should be sent out to run gas stations or bakeries. The university can set an entirely different arm where professionals who are used to running business can be recruited to make for the university. If we work at all of these, you will see that situations will begin to change. But as long as we fold our arms and begin to wait until the next subvention comes, we will continue to be in trouble. These are all the arguments I made in the book Getting our Universities Back on Track,” Professsor Mimiko stated.