higher education and the millennium devlopment goals
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HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction and Background to the Study
The capacity to generate and harness knowledge in the pursuit of
sustainable development and improved living standards constitutes
the foundation of a countrys advantage (Porter 1990).
From a global perspective, economic and social developments are
increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge.
Education in general and university education in particular are
fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and society
in all nations (World Bank 1999).
Nigeria with a population of 140 million and ample natural resources,
has two thirds of its population struggling to survive on less than one
dollar a day (World Bank 1996), they lack the means to stay alive in
the face of hunger, diseases and environmental hazards.
According to Saint, Hartnett and Strassner, 2004, in the rural
communities, impoverished families have poor access to education,
decent employment opportunities, sexual and reproductive health
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information and services. Adults and children die of AIDS and
tuberculosis without hope of treatment. Many of urban agglomeration
too are in sprawl of densely settled humanity lacking basics of health
care, water supply, adequate sanitation, electricity and access to
transport.
By 2015 it is expected that these crises of underdevelopment and
extreme poverty should be reduced by half according to practical steps
provided in the Millennium Development Goals. MDGs are time bound
targets for addressing extreme poverty, low income, hunger, disease,
lack of adequate shelter while also promoting gender equality and
women empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, human
rights, democracy and good governance. (Saint, Hartnett and
Strassner, 2004).
The fundamental structure for attaining the MDGs is to create the
linkage of university education to our national socio-economic plan,
NEEDS- National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy.
Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2006).
From the foregoing, Nelson, 1993, corroborated that the strategic
investment in university education together with particular institutional
and policy choices concerning the nature of the university system, the
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extent of intellectual property protection, the division of labour
between private industry, universities and governments in research
and development performance with adequate funding combine to
create a National Innovation System that can turn the tide of
underdevelopment.
The research effort is to examine whether university education can
influence the attainment of MDGs, with special reference to eradication
of extreme poverty and hunger, combating HIV/AIDS and other
diseases, and whether equal access of boys and girls to university
education can promote gender equality and women empowerment.
Statement of the Problem
The ultimate problem of this study is to examine how university
education can influence the attainment of the MDGs, with special
reference to reduction of extreme poverty and hunger, and promotion
of gender equality and women empowerment.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is as stated below:
To examine whether the University of Lagos have achieved the
objectives of acquisition of both physical and intellectual
capacity of the individual.
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To investigate reform efforts at the University of Lagos are in
tune with the strategies for eradication of extreme poverty and
hunger.
To access whether academic programmes in the University of
Lagos is capable of influencing drastic reduction in HIV/AIDS
prevalence in Nigeria.
To examine whether University of Lagos programmes can
promote gender equality and women empowerment
Research Questions
Would University of Lagos academic programmes influence the
achievement of physical intellectual capacity acquisition by the
individuals?
Would enrollment expansion be in tune with the strategies for
eradication and of extreme poverty and hunger?
Would government policy on university autonomy actualize the
achievement of the academic standard capable of promoting
high level manpower development?
Would University of Lagos students perception of university
education promote gender equality and women empowerment?
Research Hypotheses
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University of Lagos academic programmes would have no
significant influence on achievement of physical and intellectual
capacity by the individual.
Enrollment expansion would have no significant relationship with
the strategies for the eradication of poverty and hunger.
Government policy on university autonomy would have no
significant impact on the achievement o the academic standard
capable of promoting high level manpower development.
University of Lagos programmes would have no significant
influence on the promotion of gender equality and women
empowerment.
Significance of the Study
This study investigates the role of university education in the
actualization of the MDGs. The significance of the study is to:
Serve as source of information to university students and the
public on higher education and MDGs.
Provide policy makers with information on the missing links
between education and MDGs.
Scope and Delimitation
The scope of this study is restricted to issues in university education,
problems and prospects of national transformation as bench marked
by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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The study is delimited to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger,
combating of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and promotion of gender
equality and women empowerment.
Limitations of the Study
The following limitations are envisaged in the course of this study:
Insufficient fund
Time constraint
Dearth of research materials and policy documents.
These limitations are rooted in the fact that the researchers are in full
employment, the jobs may not avail them the time required to carry
out the study, and this may necessitate the employment of research
assistants for effective data collection and sourcing of materials. Thus,
additional funds would be required.
Operational Terms
Millennium Development Goals
Higher education
Poverty
Extreme poverty
Empowerment
Sustainability
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This research is designed to conduct an investigation into the role of
higher education in the attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
The review of related literature focused on these major areas:
Introduction
Meaning and Concept of Higher Education
The Term University
Objectives/ Purpose of University/ Tertiary Education in Nigeria
Conceptual Framework
Challenges in Nigeria University System
Higher Education Policies Since 1998
The Present Higher Education System
The Review of Policy Reforms
Concept of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
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National Strategies for the Attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals(MDGs)
Concept of Extreme Poverty: MDG 1
Concept of Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3
University Education, Elimination of Gender Disparity and
Women Empowerment.
Introduction
From a global perspective, economic and social developments are
increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge.
Education in general and higher education in particular, are
fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and society
in all nations (World Bank 1999). Yet the potential of higher education
systems in developing countries to fulfill this responsibility is frequently
thwarted by long-standing problems of finance, efficiency, equity,
quality and governance. Now, these old challenges have been
augmented by new challenges linked to the growing role of knowledge
in economic development, rapid changes in telecommunications
technology, and the globalization of trade and labour markets (Salmi
2001).
Knowledge has become the most important factor economic
development in the 21st century. Through its capacity to augment
productivity, it increasingly constitutes the foundation of a countrys
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competitive advantage (Porter 1990). This change is most evident in
OECD countries, where investments in intangibles that makes up the
knowledge base country (e.g., research and development, higher
education, computer software, patents) equal or even exceeding
investments in physical equipment (OECD 2001). Developing
economies, while affected by these transformations, are not yet
reaping their benefits. This is because the capacity to generate and
harness knowledge in the pursuit of sustainable development and
improved living standards is not spread equally among nations. In
1996, OECD countries accounted for 85% of total Research and
development investment; and the rest of the world only 4%. Advanced
economies enjoy the fruits of self-promoting cycle in which the benefits
of research help produce the wealth and public support needed to
enable continued investments in research and development (Romer
1990).
In contrast, many developing countries have neither articulated a
development strategy linking knowledge to economic growth nor built
up their capacity to do so. Nigeria is one of these. Although it is Africas
largest country of the regions population, Nigeria has only 15
scientists and engineers engaged in research and development per
million persons. This compares with 168 in Brazil, 459 in China, 158 in
India, and 4,103 in United States (World Bank 2002a). What chance
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does Nigeria have of participating in the emerging global knowledge
economy? A review of the countys past and present higher education
policies may provide part of the answer.
Following years of questionable higher education policies under various
military administrations, recent initiatives by Nigerias democratically
elected government of Olusegun Obasanjo suggest policy movement in
the right direction. This study reports on the present condition of
higher education in Nigeria and assesses the new policy initiatives
against the backdrop. It begins by providing an overview of the country
and its higher education system. It then proposes a simple framework
for identifying key issues and analyses available data and suggestions
for further improving system performance.
WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION?
Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also
something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of
knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education
has one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from
generation to generation. Education means to draw out. Facilitating
realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual.
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It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied
research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many
disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science,
linguistics, neuroscience, sociology often more profound than they
realize though family teaching may function very informally.
Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage or post secondary
education, is the non-compulsory educational level following the
completion of a school providing a secondary school, or gymnasium.
Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and
postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training.
Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary
education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary
institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt in the
receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.
Higher education includes teaching, research and social services
activities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the
undergraduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as
graduate school). Higher education generally involves work towards a
degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed
countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enters
higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is
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therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant
industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated
personnel for the rest of the economy. Schofield. K. (1999).
Higher education covers the post-secondary section of the national
education system which is given in universities, polytechnics, colleges
of technology, colleges of education, advanced training colleges,
correspondence colleges and such institutions as may be allied to
them. Teaching and research functions of the higher educational
institutions have an important role to play in national development
particularly in development of high level manpower. Furthermore,
universities are one of the best means for developing national
consciousness. Federal Ministry of Education (FME), 2007.
Higher general education and training generally takes place in a
university and/or college. Such education is based on theoretical
expertise. Higher general education might be contrasted with higher
vocational education, which concentrates on both practice and theory.
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which
grants academic degrees; including bachelors degrees, masters
degrees, and doctorates in a variety of subjects. However, most
professional education is included within higher education, and many
postgraduate qualifications are strongly vocationally or professionally
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oriented, for example in disciplines such as social work, law and
medicine.
Deciding to further your education and attain a degree tends to
improve aspects of life. People with college degrees tend to earn more
money and salary increases over the years are more substantial than
for those that do not have a college degree or university degree.
Additionally, people that have a college are less likely to go through
long bouts of unemployment. In 2005 overall unemployment rates in
the United States were about 7.1% for high school graduates and only
3.5% for college graduates. There are many technical and manual
labour professions where acquiring a college degree may not seem as
with other career fields. However, attaining certifications and/or
degrees related to your field can yield better jobs and ongoing
opportunities. According to the National Association of College and
Employers there have been steady increases in college job placement
and recruiting on college campuses throughout 2005 and on into 2006.
This means that not only are college graduates more likely to find good
jobs, but they have added resources to aid in the job search process
during and after college (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
The system of higher education is binary and provided by universities,
polytechnics, institutions of technology, and colleges of education
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(which may form part of the universities and polytechnic, colleges or
are affiliated to these) and professional institutions. The university and
non-university higher education tracks are quite distinct and there is
very little opportunity for lateral movement between the two.
In 1998, Nigerian colleges of education enrolled 105,817 students;
polytechnics enrolled 216,782 students; and the public universities
enrolled 411,347 students (NUC, Abuja 1998). In addition, schools of
nursing and midwifery, and other professional training institutions had
an estimated combined enrollment of 120,000 students.
Universities can be established either by federal or state governments.
Institutions of Higher education owned by the federal government tend
to have bigger enrollments than those owned by state governments.
However, from the point of view of management structure and
governance procedures, there is little or no difference between the two
types of proprietors. Each university is administered by a council and a
senate. Within the universities, the institutes and colleges are more or
less autonomous.
Term University
University is an institution of learning of the highest level of education
for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, conferring
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degrees and engaging in academic research (Oxford Advanced
Learners Dictionary). The Websters Reference Dictionary (1983) also
defines university as an institution is concerned with higher branches
of learning, having various undergraduate schools awarding bachelors
degrees, and also graduates and professional schools authorized to
confer masters or doctorate degrees. To paint the colour clearer,
Okebukola (1998) described the university as perching on top of
pyramidal structure of an educational system. The establishment of
the apical region of the pyramid presupposes that the lower members
(i.e. primary and secondary) would have been in place. Universities are
known to offer both undergraduate and post graduate degrees,
although there are myriads of other programmes such as sandwich,
open universities, and distance learning programmes offered.
Land and birth were once indicators of power. Today knowledge is fast
becoming the new coin of the realm. Knowledge is power and
whosoever holds the rein of power can steer human destiny in any
direction he desires. The quality and programmes being provided by
the university in Nigeria is vested entirely on Nigeria University
Commission and each university.
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The unlimited demand for university education has led many students
to take courses just for the passion of acquiring a degree. This negates
the National Policy of Education section 50 of 1998 which states:
University qualification shall make optimum contribution to national
development by intensifying and diversifying its programmes for the
development of higher level manpower within the context of the needs
of the nation.
University qualification needs to match employers and labour market
requirement as closely as possible. Mass unemployment of university
graduates is the result where university programmes and labour
market are at variance. The issue of relevance, utilitarian criteria
based on prospects of income generation at completion of a
programme should be uppermost in the programmes provided by
universities. The idea of pursuing knowledge for its own sake or of sake
of engaging in a programme of study given a passion for learning in a
particular subject area will seem quaint if it is remembered at all.
Roberts (1999).
The dawn of the 21st century has brought profound and fundamental
changes to economics, technology, politics, culture, morals, social
values and ethics. Globalization is the driving force in all these
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changes. While globalization has induced collapse of time and space, it
has also expanded opportunities and challenges for individuals and for
nations and has sidelined the weak and the unprepared. Anya (2002).
The task of the university education will then be to empower the
individual to be able to cope with the dynamics of globalization.
Consequently the university must have an organic linkage with the
industrial and economic environment to contribute to economic growth
of the nation.
University relevance will be assessed in terms of the fit between what
the society expects of it and what it does. To remain relevant then, the
university should not just continue to turn out graduates but it needs a
paradigm shift in perception and selection of problems that deserves
attention in its research. It should concentrate its research on
problems that have practical linkage with economy and society. The
universities have tried to respond to these societal needs by
establishing consultancies to make knowledge and skills in the Ivory
Tower available to the members of the immediate and distance
community. However, there is need for university to have continuous
collaboration with industries in the selection and adaptation of
technologies to ensure their practical utility and relevance.
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Therefore what is required of universities is a transition from the period
when university pursued knowledge for its own sake to the
contemporary tomes when a university standing and relevance is
judged on the basis of the impact of the knowledge developed in its
laboratories, workshops institutions and departments in the wider
society and the applicability of such knowledge to economic growth
and wealth creation (Anya, 2002). Moreover, the absolute position of
the university graduate is declining as more educated workers are
displacing less educated workers in the same job.
Objectives of University Education
Every university is a community of scholars engaged in the pursuit of
truth. It seeks in particular those truths which liberate human beings
by helping them to know themselves and the world around them and
by enabling them to order their own lives so as to attain their proper
ends.
It seeks to promote respect for the worth and dignity of every
individual. It seeks to develop, along with specific skills, creativity, the
capacity for thought, and the ability and desire to learn throughout
lifeUniversity of Prince Edward Island 2007.
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The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1997 considers objectives of
university education to be the acquisition, development and
inculcation of the proper value orientation, the acquisition of both
physical and intellectual skills as well as the acquisition of an objective
view of the local and external environment.
In specific terms Anya 2008 opines that higher education should
operationalize a competency based, reflective and cooperative
learning environment which encourages and facilitates individuals
ability to construct their own knowledge while accepting a life of
continuous learning.
The nations who wish to raise the living standards of the people as set
in the MDGs benchmark would do so through skill-competence-ability
model in the teaching and learning process. Isichei (2000). He further
argues that in developed nations where living condition is highly
comfortable, when there is decrease in death rate, adequate health
care system, improved social security and meaningful leisure and
entertainment programmes were acquired through industrial
technology by means of education.
Ranson (1995) posits higher education as performing economic
functions. According to him higher education has always sorted young
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people into an order of eligibility for different positions in the labour
market. It has a selective role. Young people as classified selected and
processed by schools for entry into different layers of the labour
market. And that a queue culture can be created in the labour market
if graduates are ill equipped for life outside school with no sellable and
barely being illiterate.
Purpose of Tertiary Education in Nigeria
(a)The acquisition, development and inculcation of the
proper value orientation for the survival of individuals and
society.
(b)The development of the intellectual capacities of
individuals and society.
(c)The acquisition of both physical and intellectual skills to
enable individuals to develop into useful members of the
community.
(d)The acquisition of an objective view of local and external
environment.
(e)The making of optimum contributions to national
development through the training of higher level
manpower.
(f) The promotion of national unity by ensuring that
admission of students and recruitment of staff into
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universities and other institutions of higher learning shall,
as far as possible, be on a broad nation basis.
(g)The promotion and encouragement of scholarships and
research.
Conceptual Framework
In developing countries, the number and seriousness of the problems
faced are naturally greater. People are sometimes unaware of the
importance of education, and there is economic pressure from those
parents who prioritize their childrens making money in the short term
over any long-term benefits of education. Recent studies on child
labour and poverty have suggested that when poor families reach a
certain economic threshold has been breached, even if the potential
economic value of the childrens work has increased since their return
to school. Teachers are often paid less than other similar professions.
A lack of good universities, and a low acceptance rate for good
universities, is evident in countries, there are uniform, over structured,
inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all
aspects of education. (UNESCO, Education for All Monitoring Report
2008).
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Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular
activities
Removal of a certain percentage of students for improvisation of
academics (usually practiced in schools, after 10th grade)
(UNESCO, Education for All Monitoring Report 2008)
India is now developing technologies that will skip land based phone
and internet lines. Instead, India launched EDUSAT, an education
satellite that can reach more of the country at a greatly reduced cost.
There is also an initiative started by a group out of MIT and supported
by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop. The laptops
should be made available by late 2006 or 2007. The laptops, sold at
low cost, will enable developing countries to give their children a
digital education, and to close the digital divide across the world.
In Africa, NEPAD has launched an e-school programme to provide all
600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning
materials and internet access within 10 years. Private group, like The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are working to give more
individuals opportunities to receive education in developing countries
through such programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. An
International Development Agency project called nabuur.com, started
with the support of American president Bill Clinton, uses the internet to
allow cooperation by individuals on issues of social development.
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Education is becoming increasingly international. Not only are the
materials becoming more influenced by the rich international
environment, but exchanges among students at all levels are also
playing an increasingly important role. In Europe, for example, the
Socrates Erasmus Programme stimulates exchanges across European
universities. Also, the Soros Foundation provides many opportunities
for students from central Asia and Eastern Europe. Some scholars
argue that, regardless of whether one system is considered better or
worse than another, experiencing a different way of education can
often be considered better or worse than another, experiencing a
different way of education can often be considered to be the most
important, enriching element of an international learning experience.
Dubois, Padovano and Stew (2006).
Changing economic, social and political situations in both developed
and developing countries have combined to create needs for constant
innovations and reforms in education. As Durkheim (1938) argued:
Educational transformations are always the result and the symptom of
social transformations in terms of which they are to be explained. In
order for people to feel at any particular moment in time the need to
change its educational system, it is necessary that new ideas and
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needs have emerged in which the former system is no longer
adequate. (Durkheim, 1938 p. 167)
Challenges in Nigeria University System
Our problems are not abstract, neither will the solutions be. It is going
to take a village but perhaps, we can save a generation FME 2006.
The key challenges in our educational sector generally and university
system specifically was highlighted by Federal Ministry of Education
publication Our Crises. Some of the challenges include:
1. Institutional Challenges
- Declining academic standards/skills: gap between Nigeria and
other nations.
Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004, observed that Nigerias Federal
University system is performing poorly in the case of teaching and
learning. This is true in terms of labour market absorption and
employer assessment of graduates. Similarly Olugbile 2008, posits that
the quality of graduates churned out by the nations universities is
becoming a source of worry for stakeholders in the education sector.
Employers of labour, who are the end users of these products, are
unequivocal in criticizing the quality of Nigerian graduate. To them the
graduates are not only unemployable; they also lack skills to be self
reliant. Even public private employer of university graduates as well
the government itself, consider the quality of the university graduates
to be inadequate. A study of the labour market for graduate found that
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employers believe university graduates are poorly trained and
unproductive on the job, and shortcoming are particularly severe in
oral and written communication and in applied technological skills
(Dabalen, Oni, and Adekoya 2000). Under these conditions, labour
market annually absorbed just 10 per cent of all graduates produced
by the entire educational system, Oni 2000.
- Sterile Curricula
Clark 2000 suggests that university department needs to change their
curricular every two to three years to ensure that the content of their
teaching reflects the rapidly advancing frontiers of scientific
knowledge. The NUC in a nationwide accreditation exercise revealed
widespread shortcomings in the curriculum. NUC (2000). Strikingly,
only 11% of the 1185 academic programmes reviewed were given full
accreditation. These were a notable decline from the 21% of 830
academic programmes that receives full accreditation during the
previous in 1990-1991 NUC (1992). THUS Saint, Hartnett and Strassner
2004 support that the university curriculum lack quality. In todays
globally competitive knowledge economy updating of curricula needs
to be an utmost permanent undertaking, Hartnett 2004.
-Low Admission Capacity (Funnel Effect)
Developing manpower or workforce is viewed by many economists as a
necessary step towards improved productivity in order to gain position
in a global economy. Porter 1990. However, students access to
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university education in Nigeria seems limited. Access is creating
opportunity for the nations workforce to obtain continuing professional
education to upgrade labour productivity. Expanded access and higher
participation rate means students population will become increasing
diverse in terms of the academic preparation, means, capacities,
motivation and interests (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004).
-Corruption and Sorting
A pervasive culture of corruption exists within the universities. Reports
of resume falsification, plagiarism, cheating, examination malfeasance,
sexual harassment, contract kick backs, and obligatory purchase by
students of professorial lecture notes have regularly appeared in
Nigerian newspapers I recent years. Saint, 2004. Students buy bags of
rice and other gifts for lecturers. Others sort by offering money or
gifts (Deji-Folutile 2005). Okebukola 2005 defines sorting as a
situation where students who failed to meet their academic
requirement bribe the lecturers to sort themselves out. According to
Deji-Folutile 2005 the situation is so bad that one gets the impression
that some members of the academic community have lost all sense of
decency and intellectual self-esteem.
-Funding
Most universities have funding limitations. The principal untapped
source of university financing remains undergraduate students tuition
fees, which government prohibits. Income from student fees (for non-
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degree education and postgraduate courses only) has risen from 4% to
10% of total income from 1988 and 1998. But these funding is
insufficient to maintain institutional performance in teaching and
research, Hartnett 2000. For overhead and capital expenses,
government remained the major financier. In 2000 only a few
universities generated up to 10% of their income from internal sources,
Okebukola 2002.
2. Capacity Challenge
-Brain Drain
Brain Drain is severe shortages of academic staff within the
university system. According to Baraguda 1994, between 1988 and
1990 lecturers left the federal university system and this trend has
continued. An estimated 30% of approved academic positions are
presently vacant. Using its staffing norms per academic discipline, the
NUC calculates a staffing shortfall of 51% within the system (NUC
2002). Institutional deterioration and salary erosion during the past
decade has prompted substantial brain drain of academic staff and
impeded new staff recruitment. Rising workloads associated with
deteriorating staff-student ratio as well as declining financial
attractions of university employment compared to other opportunities
also contribute to the brain drain syndrome. Other factors include
destabilizing influence of unionized staff militancy over salary isues,
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the waning attractions of academic career in the absence of
meaningful research activities (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004).
This presents a capacity challenge for the university to meet up with
global standard in teaching and research.
3. Socio-Cultural Challenge
-Youth Defiance
According to Oyebade 2000, our little ones are becoming increasingly
violent, destructive, dishonest and disobedient. They are highly
acculturating into the violent and corrupt Nigerian environment. All
over our campuses now, militarized and radical students groups exist
under different names and for different purposes. These include among
others, heat squad zero, radical elements, vigilante groups e.t.c.
okebukola (1998:310) denounce the growing menace of students
gangsterism, cult practices, examination malpractice and other forms
of violence and disruptive behaviours within the university system.
Higher Education Policies since 1998
The year 1999 brought a democratically elected government to Nigeria
for the first time in 15 years. With it came the political will to tackle the
nations long-festering higher education difficulties. Indeed, the
present government has instituted more policy and institutional
reforms in higher education than the combined governments of the
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government and employers. Topics addressed included management,
funding, access, curriculum relevance, and social problems (FEDERAL
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 2002).
In May 2002, a resulting set of legislative proposals designed to reform
existing higher education laws and establish a permanent legal basis
for these changes was approved by the Federal Executive Council and
forwarded to the National Assembly for deliberation. The proposals
reportedly would give university councils the responsibility for setting
institutional policies, hiring top management, and forwarding
institutional budgets; give institutions control over their own student
admissions, limit the role of the NUC to quality assurance and system
coordination; place curbs on the right of employees to strike; and
legally de-link the universities from the public service, thereby ending
their adherence to government regulations regarding employment,
remuneration and benefits (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER 2002). As far as
higher education is concerned, Nigeria is finally a country on the move.
The Present Higher Education System
Nigeria possesses the largest university system in sub-Saharan Africa.
Although South Africas tertiary enrollments are higher, Nigeria boasts
more institutions. With 48 state and federal universities enrolling over
400,000 students, its university system supports numerous graduate
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programs (9% of enrollments) and serves as a magnet for students
from neighbouring countries. The system embraces much of the
countys research capacity and produces most of its skilled
professionals. Although nominally the responsibility of the Federal
Ministry of Education, it is supervised by the National Universities
Commission (NUC), a parastatal buffer body. A Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board administer a national university entrance
examination and inform universities of applicant scores. A National
Education Bank (formerly the Nigerian Student Loan Board) is charged
with providing merit scholarships and student loans. Surveying this
concluded that more than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa,
the structures exist in Nigeria that could provide for a rational and
effective development of university education (World Bank 1988: 3).
In practice, however, the university system developed less rationally
than, anticipated. Enrollments in the federal universities (34% female,
59% male in sciences) grew at the rapid rate if 12% annually during
the 1990s and totaled 325,299 students by 2000 (NUC 2002b).
Enrollment growth rates were the highest in the South South region,
followed by the North-East region. Overall growth rates far exceeded
government policy guidelines, as shown in the table below. Nigerias
entire tertiary education system (federal, state, and private) comprises
220 institutions: 17 federal universities, 4 federal universities of
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technology, 3 federal universities of agriculture, 1 national open
university, 4 national centers for specialized tertiary instruction, 16
state universities, 7 private universities, 1 military university, 17
federal polytechnics, 27 state polytechnics, 7 private polytechnics, 22
federal teacher training colleges, 36 colleges of agriculture, 38 state
teacher training colleges, 4 private teacher training colleges, 12
specialized training institutes, and 4 parastatal supervisory agencies.
The government traditionally categorizes its federal universities into
groups based on their dates of establishment, as follows: 1st
generation
(Benin, Ibadan, Ile-ife, Lagos, Nsukka, Zaria); 2nd generation (Benin,
Ilorin, Jos, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcour, Sokoto); 3rd generation
(Abeokuta), Abuia, Akure, Awka, Bauchi, Markurdi, Minna, Owerri,
Umudike, Uyo, Yola . In comparison, state university enrollments
totaled 104,776, In 1997/98, accounting for 28% OF Nigerias total
university enrollments in that year (NUC 2003b).
Enrollment Growth: Policy Norms and Rates of Increase
between 1989/90 and 1998/99
Category NUC Policy Norms Actual Growth
Rates1st Generation
University
3% 9%
2nd Generation
University
10% 13%
3rd Generation 15% 21%
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UniversitySource: Hartnett 2000
Rising student numbers generated an enrollment ratio of 340 per
100,000persons (Asia averages 650 and South Africa 2,500) and an
average staff/student ratio of 1:21 (sciences 1:22; engineering 1:25;
law 1:37; education 1:25). In terms of academic disciplines, the highest
rates of enrollment growth occurred in the sciences and in engineering.
As a result, the share of science and engineering in total enrollment
rose from 54% in 1989 to 59% in 2000, consistent with national policy
targets (NUC 2002). Much of this expansion centered in the South-East
Region, where a combined annual growth rate of 26.4% in science and
engineering led the nation. However, efforts to expand enrollments
and improve educational quality are severely constrained by growing
shortages of qualified academic staff. Between 1997 and 1999, the
numbers of academic staff declined by 12% even as enrollments
expanded by 13%. Long term brain drain, combined with insufficient
output from national post-graduate programs in the face of rising
enrollments, has left the federal university system with only 48% of its
estimated staffing needs filled. Staffing scarcity is most acute in
engineering, science and business disciplines. Shortfalls are estimated
at 73% in engineering, 62% in medicine, 58% in administration, and
53% in sciences. In contrast, no staffing shortages exist in the
disciplinary areas of Arts and Education (NUC 2002b).
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The cost of running the federal university system totaled $210 million
in 1999. Financing for that system comes almost entirely from the
federal government. As a result of enrollment growth and currency
devaluation, recurrent allocations per university student in the federal
system fell from $610 to $360 between 1990 nd 1999 with obvious
implications for educational quality. However, agreements covering
university salaries and teaching inputs negotiated with government by
the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2001 have raised
this amount close to a much healthier $1,000 per student annually
(FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 2001).
Federal university revenues are received mainly from three sources:
the federal government (84%); income generation activities (7%); and
various student fees (9%) even though, no undergraduate tuition fees
are charged. In 1992, student fees had represented just 2% of
revenues. Equally attention Projected expenditures for 2002 are
approximately $260 million (Daily Trust, July 9, 2002).
Equally attention-grabbing is the fact that, in real terms, capital
budgets for federal universities surged by 40% during the 1990s. This
is the combined result of special campus refurbishment and
rehabilitation grants of substantial size, awards for university capital
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projects from the now-defunct Petroleum Trust Fund, and similar
grants from the recently operational Education Tax Fund. This trend of
increasing financial support for the system appears likely to remain
during the coming years. In August 2002, the NUC announced that the
federal universities would receive an additional 7.2 billion naira (USD
60 million) from government in 2003 and 2004 for the completion of
capital projects (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER 2002b).
Patterns in the structure of university expenditures have improved
steadily during the last decade. Whereas in 1991 academic expenses
accounted for 49% and administration absorbed 46% of total
expenditures, by 1999 these shares were 62% and 35% respectively.
In the process, the portions devoted to teaching support and to library
development showed positive gains across the system. Direct teaching
expenditure per student, however, differed considerably among
institutions. In 1997/98 funds spent on direct teaching ranged from a
low of 137 naira ($2) per student at Sokoto to high of 1,683 naira ($21)
at Maiduguri. The system-wide weighted average was 331 naira ($4)
per student (Hartnett 2000). Overall, the NUC expenditure guidelines
appear to have had a statutory effect, although adherence to them
seems to have varied considerably among institutions.
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Nevertheless, when the financing of higher education is placed within
the context of overall education sector financing, the picture becomes
less heartening. Although tertiary education presently receives a larger
share of the education budget, the latters portion of the federal
budget has diminished. Over the past four decades, various Nigerian
governments have increased university subventions at the expense of
investments in primary and secondary education, as they struggled to
maintain financial support in the face of burgeoning higher education
enrollments. Using data from 1962, Callaway and Musone (1965)
concluded that Nigerias education expenditure represented 3.5% of
GDP and 15.2% of total government expenditure. Of the amount, 50%
was allocated to primary education, 31% to secondary education, and
19% to tertiary education. Today, Hinchliffe (2002) estimates that
education expenditure is equal to only 2.4% of GDP and 14.3% of
government expenditure. The share of these funds going to primary
education has dropped to 35% and secondary educations share has
nearly doubled to 35%.
A Framework for Assessment
In 1993, Clark Kerr, an internationally recognized higher education
expert from the United States, threw down a gauntlet of challenge for
higher education systems around the world. He said:
For the first time, as really internationally world of learning,
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highly competitive, is emerging. If you want to get into that
orbit, you have to do so, on merit. You cannot rely on politics
or anything else. You have to give a good deal of autonomy
to institutions for them to be dynamic and to move fast in
international competition. You have to develop entrepreneurial
leadership to go along with institutional autonomy.
Inherent in Kerrs statement is a call for universities to become more
flexible and responsive. A similar call to action constitutes a central
message in the World Banks new technical paper, Constructing
Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education (World
Bank 2002). But how do we assess higher education flexibility and
responsiveness? El-Khawas (2001) offers a framework for generating
answers to this question. She distinguishes between rigid institution
resists making changes in institutional behaviour and often rejects
possible changes without openly considering whether they are feasible
or desirable. A responsive institution, on the other hand, is adaptive in
its orientation. It intentionally considers changing circumstances,
identifies appropriate ways to adapt, and takes responsive actions. El-
Khawas goes on to posit the use of four categories for assessing
responsiveness: access, teaching/learning, financing, and
management/governance.
The Case Studies for Innovation in Nigeria
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Changes in education often come about when the current practices are
challenged and questions are being asked about the way things are
done. The search for a more efficient way of achieving educational
objectives may lead to proposals for either a new way of doing the
same thing, or restructuring the current provisions to enable
achievement of the same set of goals.
Changes, however, do not normally come about just because someone
decides they want a change. There must be an event which informs
those in charge of education that the present system is either not
achieving or is incapable of enabling the achievement of
developmental goals. Once that decision is made, what remains is the
attempt to carefully identify not only why the old system can no longer
be continued in its present form, but also how to provide a more
acceptable alternative. The extent to which educational innovations in
Nigeria follow any specific pattern of change strategies will now be
explored using three case studies.
The Review of Policy Reforms
Important new higher education policies have recently been initiated in
Nigeria. They responded to long-festering problems of access, quality,
financing, governance and management within the nations federal
university system, and seek to bring this system more in line with
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global practices. The need for these changes is generally not
appreciated among system stakeholders. They have been relatively
cut off from the worldwide higher education transformations that took
place in the 1990s as the result of international sanctions and
cancellation international cooperation programs imposed in response
to human rights abuses within the country during the middle of the
past decade. As a result, the success of these reforms is likely
depending upon the extent to which rigidities of the present system
(i.e. within the National Universities Commission, the various university
staff unions, and within the universities themselves) can be replaced
by more flexible and responsive practices.
At this point, the principal task is not to accelerate the pace of change
but to institutionalize the current reforms and operationalize them
effectively. In order for this to occur, greater flexibility and
responsiveness are needed, particularly in the following four areas, in
order to create an enabling environment for the emergence of
progressive self-regulating, and self-reliant universities in Nigeria.
To establish a responsive model for a university education (El-Khawas
2001: 244) identifies three broad areas of public interest:
The need to provide hope and educational opportunity to ever
larger segment of the countrys population i.e. increased access.
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The need to encourage (and possibly subsidized) study in certain
fields important to a countrys economic development; and
The need to ensure a steady flow of talents into careers such as
medicine or teaching, where academic shifts in supply and
demand can negatively affect the quality of life for a countrys
people.
In response to strong social demand government has taken steps to
expand access and broaden scope and capacity of existing institution
through notable policy changes (FME 2007).
Increasing and aggressively marketing distance learning
programmes in universities to provide access to over 10million
students.
Expanding the Open University by introducing courses relevant
to market needs to create access to over 1million students.
Inviting foreign universities with proven track record of
excellence, high quality education and good employability track
record to establish campuses in Nigerian universities to provide
access to about 1.5million students annually (FME, 2007).
In addition government has increased the number of federal
universities through its consolidation policy.
It has licensed significant number of private universities and
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Announced establishment of National Open University. New
students hall of residence are constructed in various campuses
to accommodate expanding enrollment (FME, 2007).
On July 21, 2000 government announced policy on university
autonomy act, the government has reconstituted all university councils
to incorporate a broader stakeholders representation, accorded
greater autonomy to university councils and managers in the effort to
promote institutional responsiveness (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner,
2004). It returned to the university senate the power to determine
circular and initiate or terminate courses. It has established reference
point for quality improvement and begun to develop academic
benchmarks based on demonstrated student competences.
Government requires institutions to conduct annual review of curricular
in all departments to ensure alignment with labour market needs. It is
also funding entrepreneurship centres to establish the inclusion of
entrepreneurship in the curricular from 200 level. To tackle university
funding and limitations, government has adopted a formula-based
block grant resource allocation procedure that facilitates strategic
planning and rewards institutional performance (FME, 2007).
Saint, Hartnett and Strassner, 2004 observed that government also
announced a 180 percent increase in funding university system that
raised student allocations from $360 to $ 970 per year. Government
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has urged universities to generate in addition 10% of their current
budget from income producing activities. University staff salaries have
been exempted from public salary scales and regulations (FGN 2001).
In May 2002, a resulting set of legislative proposal designed to reform
existing higher education laws and establish a permanent legal basis
for these reforms was approved by the federal executive council and
forwarded to the national assembly for deliberation. The proposal
reportedly will give the university council the responsibility for
institutional governance through certain policies, forwarding
institutional budget, giving institutional control to set admission criteria
and select students and set the ground work for minimum academic
standard, limiting the role of NUC to quality assurance and system
coordination, placing curbs on the right of employees to strike and
legally de-link the universities from the public service. Ending their
adherence to government regulations regarding employment,
remuneration, and benefits. (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER, 2002).
Among governments reform efforts are also institutional audit of
universities and associated parastatals, revocation of vice chancellors
former priviledge of personally selecting 10% of each years student
intake, encouraging universities to collaborate with the private sector
in research and development activities and promoting partnership
between higher education and partnership between higher education
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and partnership for consultancy to generate non-government sources
of income (FME, 2007).
Similarly, NUC is laying an ICT foundation for the Nigerian universities
network (NuNet), an electronic network that will eventually link federal,
state, and private universities, research and training centres and other
subscribers and provide them with internet connectivity, NuNet is
expected eventually to boost quality and relevance of university
education, teaching and research, as well as to facilitate the expansion
of an aggressive new national distance education. Saint, Hartnett, and
Strassner, 2004. As far as higher education is concerned Saint, 2004
agrees that Nigeria is finally a country on the move.
CONCEPT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs)
A typical village in sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to paved road and
motor transport. Also lacking electricity, its energy needs are met by
extracting wood from the diminished secondary forests and woodlands.
Drinking water is unsafe, and latrines regularly serve as a reservoir of
infection through contamination of food and local water supply. The
children are suffering from diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria. Adults are
dying of AIDS and tuberculosis, without hope of treatment. In this
scenario women carry a triple burden, caring for children, the elderly,
and the sick, spending long hours to fetch water and fuel wood, to
process and produce food, and working on farms or family enterprise
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for little or n0 income. Impoverished families have more than they
desire because of poor access to education, contraception, decent
employment opportunities and sexual and reproductive health
information and services.
The urban centres are like extended villages.rural migrants take refuge
in ill-services and overcrowded informal settlements bereft of
functional infrastructure, employment and sanitation. Diseases like
tuberculosis spread like wild fire. HIV is often rampant. In such
circumstance practical steps can be taken to turn the tide. (UN 2002).
At the world summit on sustainable development later the same year,
UN member state gathered in Johannesbourg, South Africa, where they
affirmed the Millennium Development Goals as the world time-
bound development targets (UN 2002).
These goals are meant to address extreme poverty in many
dimensions income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate
shelter, and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education
and environmental sustainability. According to UN 2002, they are also
basic human rights of each person on the planet to health, education,
shelter, and security as pledged in the universal declaration of Human
Rights and the UN millennium declaration. MDGs report 2007
highlights Millennium Development Goals as:
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To eradicate poverty and hunger
To promote gender equality and empower women
To reduce child mortality
To improve maternity health
To combat HIV/AIDS, and other diseases
To ensure environmental sustainability
To develop a global partnership for developments
Why are these goals important?
As the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific poverty
reduction targets the world has ever established, the Millennium
Development Goals are too important to fail. For international political
system, they are the fulcrum on which development policy is based.
For the billion-plus people living in extreme poverty, they represent the
means to productive life. For everyone on earth, they are a linchpin to
the quest for a more secure and peaceful world. At the Millennium
Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in
history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their
nations to a new global partnership to reduce poverty, improve health,
and promote peace, human rights, gender equality, and environmental
sustainability. This unprecedented joint commitment was not a one-off
affair. The partnership between rich and poor countries was reaffirmed
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at the November 2001 launch of the Doha Round Table on
international trade.
The eight MDGs form a blue print agreed to by all world countries and
all the worlds leading development institutions. They have galvanized
unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the worlds poorest. To
change these severe imbalance women will need to gain control over
financial resources and will also need access to opportunity through
education. During the decade for women, (1976-1985) the UN
summarized the marginalization discrimination thus; women perform
two thirds of the worlds work, women earn one tenth of the worlds
income, women are two eighth of the illiterates, women own less than
one tenth of the worlds properties. In the five review of Beijing
platform for action, governments committed themselves to removing
all discriminatory provisions in legislation and eliminating legislation
gaps that leaves girls and women without effective legal protection
and recourse against gender-based discrimination by 2005 (UN report
2002). Similar view is also echoed by the convention for the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).
National Strategies for the Attainment of the MDGs
Statistics from 1996 survey indicates that poverty is deep and
pervasive, with an estimated 70% of the population living in poverty.
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Besides the constitution. The Kuru Declaration of 2001 embodies the
vision of Nigeria.
To build a truly great African democratic country, politically united,
integrated and stable, economically prosperous, socially organized,
with equal opportunity for all, and responsibly from all, to become the
catalyst of (African) renaissance, and making adequate all-embracing
contributions, sub-regionally, regionally and globally.
The Kuru declaration and previous initiatives, such as vision 2010,
information and insights generated during the effort to prepare interim
poverty reduction strategy paper, developed into Nigerias plan for
prosperity a blue print for development called NATIONAL ECONOMIC
EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES (NEEDS). Obasanjo
(2003) describes NEEDS as a response to the development challenges
of Nigeria, providing framework for a nationally coordinated
programme of action by the federal, state and local governments.
NEEDS vision is the one in which Nigeria profiles its potentials to
become Africas largest economy and a major player in global
economy. It is a home-grown reform programme with the basic goal of
poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation and value
orientation.
To reduce poverty and inequality, the following strategies have been
adopted by NEEDS:
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Investment in education; Nigerias future prosperity depends on
producing children who are well prepared to take their place in
tomorrows society. NEEDS seek to provide more fund for
providing courses at school that build vocational and
entrepreneurial skills, improving training and exposure to
information and communication technology at all level, providing
distance learning programmes for greater segment of the
population. This is to strengthen the skill base of the population.
NEEDS will promote strict adherence to the university autonomy
act, which permits universities to attract private sector funding
and institute new mechanisms to cover their operating cost. The
courses thought at the universities will be changed to reflect
priority development of the economy. Science and technology,
particularly information and communication technology will be
mainstreamed. Innovation approaches will be developed to
ensure that lecturers access continuing professional
development, so that they remain at cutting edge of their
discipline. Wages will be linked to performance and students will
be exposed to mobilization and re-orientation and campaign that
emphasize a critical importance of hard work discipline and
selfless service.
Creating jobs; at 5.3%, the rate of urbanization in Nigeria is
among the highest in the world. Lagos has been growing at
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between 10 and 15 percent per annum and if this continues it
will become third largest city in the world by 2020. Since
manufacturing is stagnant, there are few jobs for growing urban
population and urban employment is currently estimated at
10.8% by making it easier for private enterprises to thrive, by
training people in skills relevant for the world of work and by
promoting integrated rural development in collaboration with the
states through SEEDS programme several million new jobs can
be created.
Empowering people; NEEDS provide a safety net that will prevent
people from becoming poor or poorer by providing programmes
for the most vulnerable members of the society. Special
programmes will protect the rural and urban poor, women,
widows, and widowers, victims of ethnic violence, crime,
unemployment or loss of income or HIV/AIDS. A poorly educated
farmer is less likely to know how to keep his family health and
less able to find alternative employment. As a result he is more
vulnerable to external shocks such as drought or falling market
prices.
Social explosion; NEEDS empower the poor by tackling social
exclusion head on paying attention to housing, health care,
income improvement, physical security e.tc.
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Gender equality/ women empowerment; NEEDS as a national
development plan has strong gender equality elements such as
affirmative action on womens 30 percent representation in all
programmes.
Targeted Instruments and Intervention Strategies for
Protection of Vulnerable Groups
GROUP INTERVENTION STRATEGIESRURAL POOR Access to credit and land; participation in decision making, agric
extension service, improved seeds, farm input and implements,
strengthening of traditional thrift, savings and insurance
schemes. Also the creation of poverty alleviation programme
(NAPEP)as an agency to benefit the poor.
URBAN
POOR
Labour intensive public work scheme, affordable housing, water,
and sanitation, skills acquisition and entrepreneurial
development, access to credit, scholarship and adult education.WOMEN Affirmative action (to increase womens representation to at leas
30%) in all programmes, education, scholarships, access to credit
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and land, maternal and child health.YOUTH Education, entrepreneurial development, skills acquisition, acces
to credit, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other STDs.CHILDREN Childrens parliament, juvenile justice administration, universal
basic education, education for girls, care of orphan and
vulnerable children.RURAL
COMMUNITIE
S
Water, rural roads, electricity, schools, health facilities and
communications.
Source: NEEDS Document, 2004. Nigeria National Planning
Commission, Abuja.
Concept of Extreme Poverty: MDG 1
Goal: to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the worlds
population whose income is less than one dollar a day and the
proportion of people who suffer from hunger. (UN 2002).
Concept of Extreme Poverty
Extreme poverty can be defined as poverty that kills depriving
individuals of the means to stay alive in the face of hunger, disease
and environmental hazards (UN report 2002). According to NEST 1991,
poverty refers to a situation and process of serious deprivation or lack
of resources and material necessary for living within a minimum
standard conducive to human dignity and well being.
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NEEDS document 2002, provide an honest and self critical assessment
of poverty in Nigeria; its causes and challenge confronting the nation.
It recognizes that more than two thirds of Nigerians are poor, despite
living in a country with vast wealth potentials. In 1980 an estimated
27% of Nigerians lived in poverty. By 1990, 70% of the population had
income of less than one dollar a day (FRN, 2004). Income is not the
only measure of poverty. The poor suffer from malnutrition and poor
health. Of the 11million children in developing countries who die each
year, before reaching the age of five, 6.3milion die of hunger (UN
Report 2002). NEST (1991) asserts that poverty may be created by
negative and unjust social conditions such as structural inequality, ill-
health, poor nutrition, low moral and motivation, ignorance and the
inadequacy or non-availability of basic needs such as clean water,
schools, health care, and labour saving technology. According to FRN,
2004, while one source of poverty is lack of basic services, such as
clean water, education and health care, another is lack of asset, such
as land, tools, credit and supportive networks of friends and family. A
third is lack of income, including food shelter, clothing and
empowerment (political power, confidence, dignity). Yet discrimination
on grounds of gender, race, disability, age or ill-health can increase
vulnerability to poverty. So do natural or human shocks as market
collapses, conflict, drought, floods e.t.c while rural poverty remains in
absolute and percentage terms, urban poverty is increasing rapidly as
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Nigeria has one of the fastest rate urbanization (5.3% annual growth)
in the world (NEST 1991).
A prerequisite for sustainable poverty reduction is alleviating hunger
since better nourishment improves labour productivity and the earning
capacity of the individual. If Nigeria fails to reduce poverty quickly
enough, it is unlikely that the MDGs will be achieved in Africa (FRN,
2004).
Concept of Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3
Goal: promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as
effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate
development that is truly sustainable.
Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3
Most of the worlds poorest people are women. What makes them poor
is the discrimination they face because of their gender. Women get
paid less than men for the same work or are not allowed to have a job
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at all. Yet in Africa it is women, not trucks, who carry two third of all
goods on the move. In sub-Saharan Africa women produce 80% of
basic food stuff. Instead of going to school 44million girls stay at home
to fetch water or work around the house.
Many women are beaten, raped, and infected with HIV/AIDS. Most
often die in child birth. Girls can be trafficked and sold for sexual
purposes. Female activists fight to change unfair laws and traditions,
but they are not given a say in the decision making process. The dice
are loaded against halve the human race. Without playing full part in
public life, it is much harder for a country to tackle poverty and
develop economy. Educated girls and women are better opportune to
earn higher wages lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.
DFID 2008. The foregoing, paints the picture of existing disparity in
gender the world over.
In Nigeria basically majority of women (over 60%) are illiterate (Longe
1996). Even with the increasing female participation in education at all
levels in the last two decades, Marinho (1995) female enrollment at all
levels of education remain low, Lassa 1996, claims that the female
literacy rate in Nigeria was 39.5% compared with 62.3% for males
indicate that female education seem to have continued to suffer
serious setbacks in Nigeria. Suara (2000:25).
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According to UNESCO 1992, women are most influential but often
neglected group in most of the African societies. This neglect to a large
extent has made women one of the disadvantaged groups in the
developing countries of the world where they are marginalized on
account of gender, social and cultural bias as well as other
stereotypes. Two thirds of those living under one dollar a day are
represented by these women. They are the poorest of the worlds poor.
The relationship between being female and being poor is stark. Over
the past two decades, the number of rural women living in absolute
poverty has risen by 50% as opposed to 30% for men.
University Education, Elimination of Gender Disparity and
Women Empowerment
There is also a strong gender dimension to inequalities in access to
education and employment in public services. There is wide gender
disparity in literacy rate, with the UNDP human development report
reporting literacy rates of 62.5% for men and 37.5% for women (Suara,
2000:25). In terms of access to university education, figures for
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1997/98 show that only 33% of Nigerian undergraduates were female
(Pereira 2005). The marginalization of women in Nigerias patriarchal
political system dates back to colonial era. Indeed, women were not
even allowed to vote in Northern Nigeria until 1976. The
marginalization of women has continued into the fourth republic. For
instance, out of a total of 11,881 electable positions available during
the 1999 elections, only 631(5.31%) were contested by women. Those
that managed to win were a mere 181(1.6% of total).
Promoting universal access to education by women continues to be a
challenge. Gender bias and gender insensitivity curricular all conspire
against the realization of fundamental rights to education for girls.
Trends and opinions in recent times on education suggest that
womens education is vital to the overall development of women in
particular and the nation in general. For instance, female education
has been found to have a more significant impact in family size and
female labour force participation (UN, 1996). Education, especially
university education is an avenue for individuals in any society to have
access to the right type of intellectual and occupational development
that will equip him/her to face the vagaries of life in the continually
changing society. It is the same well educated and trained individuals
who, ensure the survival, growth, development and prosperity of the
society in which they live, Mmereole (1990).
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According to Jomtien Declaration (2000), investment in girls education
translates directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family,
better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction, and better
overall performance. Short-changing the girls therefore is not only a
matter of gender discrimination but is bad economic and bad social
policy. The UN Secretary General Report 2001, put it this way; in
particular, when society facilitates girls empowerment through
education, the eventual impact on them and their families daily lives
is unequalled. The multiplier effect of this according to Osisanya,
Olumuyiwa, Ejoh 1994 is that with education women are able to
perform their roles and responsibilities better. They are empowered
enough to make efficient choices about their roles and responsibilities.
In addition education becomes an important tool for enhancing better
life for women, making them earn money, enjoy better health, be
better mothers and have improved relationship with their spouses.
The Nairobi forward looking strategies 1995, for the development of
women includes; education is the basis for the full promotion and
improvement of the status of women. It is the basic tool that should be
given to women in order to fulfill their role as full members of the
society. Therefore women empowerment and gender balancing are
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effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate
development that is truly sustainable.
University programmes are of social relevance towards meeting the
academic, professional and manpower need of the country. It is
essential for improving womens living standard and enabling women
to exercise greater force in decision making in the family, the
community, the place of paid work and the public arena of politics. This
according to Ekwueme 2004, is because universities have the
responsibilities of sharpening the mind, cultivating an educated and
cultured man (i.e educating human mind, the body, soul and spirit),
equipping him with wisdom, critical and creative thinking skills,
desirable attitudes and values, ability to seek truth, cultivate and
interprete new knowledge in the light of new needs and discoveries. In
addition, universities have to provide leadership for material
development and for these; programmes are being vocationalized and
professionalized. It prepares students for diverse professions and
careers as human capital for the country in areas such as engineering,
arts, education, law, research, science e.t.c.
Empowerment of women can best be achieved and sustained through
enlightenment, training, skill acquisition e.t.c. (Osisanya, Olumuyiwa
2000). Womens access to university education also adds to
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improvement in development indicators like lower life expectancy,
lower infant and maternal mortality, lower fertility rate, improvement
in health, nutrition, literacy and economic growth and advantages to
their families; better health, nutrition, higher income and increased
educational attainment of younger generations, improvement in
domestic, agric and industrial productivity and there is often greater
participation in civil society (Floro and Wolf 1990, King an Hill 1993). In
order to significantly meet with the MDGs in gender equality and
women empowerment by 2015, it is crucial that initiatives that are
based on equal gender access to university education should be
enhanced in all our universities. This will raise the status of women and
bring them into the development process as equal partners with men.
The share of women in wage employment in non-agric sector will
increase, the proportion of seat held by women in national parliament
will improve, and ratio of literate female of 15-24 years will also
significantly be enhanced. These are major indicators of meeting MDGs
target on gender disparity elimination by 2015.
THE MDG CHALLENGE IN NIGERIA: CURRENT STATUS
Extreme poverty to be halved 70% of Nigerians live on less than
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between 1990 and 2015 $1 per dayProportion of people suffering
from hunger to be halved
29% of children are underweight
All children to complete primary
education
Less than 60% of primary aged
children attend school. Seven
million primary aged children are
not in schoolEliminate gender disparity in
primary and secondary education
by 2005
The number of girls enrolled in
primary education is 92% the
number of boys. In some states it
is less than 40%Reduce deaths of mothers due to
child bearing by three quarter
between 1990 and 2015.
One birth in a hundred results in
the death of the mother. Women
pregnancy related cause.Stop the spread of AIDS 5% of Nigerians are infected with
HIV over 10% in some states.
Over 1 million children have
already been orphaned by AIDS.Halve by 2015 the proportion of
people without safe drinking
water.
Less than 50% of the rural
population has access to a safe
water source.Source: National Consumer Survey 1995/96; Multiple Indicator Cluster
Surveys 1995 and 2000; Demographic and Health Survey, 2003.
The revelation in the above table shows that the attainment of the
MDGs vis--vis the level of poverty and gender equality, which is the
core interest of this study, is not achievable by the stipulated time in
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This chapter describes methods and procedures adopted in conducting
this research. It presents a vivid description of the population,
sampling, sample size, instrument and instrumentation.
The chapter is organized under the following subheadings:
Research Method
Sample and Sampling Technique
Research Instrument
Validity of Research Instrument
Procedure for Data Collection
Procedure for Data Analysis
Research Method
The descriptive research method is used since the study involves
collection of data to answer the research questions.
Population of the study
The population for this study comprised of four (4) lecturer I, 20
lecturer II, 60 graduate fellows, 36 teachers, 4 education officers, 4
civil servants and 32 undergraduate students.
Sample and Sampling Technique
The sample of the population for this study was two hundred (200)
subjects. They were randomly selected across the departments in the
faculty of education, University of Lagos.
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Research Instrument
A questionnaire was developed by the researchers to elicit information
from the respondents. Section 1 consists of questions on bio-data, such
as sex, marital status, educational qualification and statement of
experience. Section 2 of the questionnaire contained twenty (20) items
which was based on Likert scale of five points of response.
Validity of Research Instrument
The questionnaire constructed by the researchers was presented to the
project advisor for validation. Test-retest was used to determine the
content validity of the instrument.
Procedure for Data Collection
A total of two hundred (200) copies of the developed questionnaire
administered on the selected subjects. The researcher gave the
questionnaire to the respondents and retrieved them on completion of
response.
Procedu