A Nigerian Educationist living in America, Prof. Busari Shamsudeen Akande has revealed why Nigerian parents and student chooses to visit Ghana or Togo for education as against Nigerian tertiary institutions. Akande said one of the reasons is that these two countries are considered by many as safer than the volatile Nigeria, also stable electricity supply and requirement for skilled workers are another quality these countries posses despite their higher tuition fees.
Akande, who is a Secretary of Council of the American Chartered Institute of Management and Leadership, is based in Kentucky, United States made this assessment today while holding interview with Dailypost in Calaba.
He said, “These smaller, neighbouring countries produce young graduates with the required skills to support key industries.
He disclosed that “In Togo or Republic of Benin, there is no issue of strike. There is quality supply of electricity, safe environment, peaceful co-existence, tailored made specialisation of university courses.”
The professor opined that the size of a country does not matter when it comes to delivery of high quality education and these countries are cashing on that.
He explained that when a country is small, it has the opportunity to grow faster or even recover faster as well as making everything faster because of its size as when compared to their giants’ counterparts.
He suggested that higher institution ought to’s to be specialised so that every of their student will come out skilled and specialised in their chosen carrier.
He taunted Nigerian universities as “Not where graduates of law from the University of Agriculture and School of Legal Studies produce mass communicators.
“In Benin Republic, you have a university of management strictly for management sciences.”
He suggested ways in which a country can attract private investors especially when the school is free from government and political interference.
He emphasised that instead quality of learning, the expansion of higher education through alternative financing mechanisms, should be a way forward, also paying attention to early childhood development and early reading, as some of the ways investors pays attention to.
He recommended that instead, “The country can create awareness of culture, engage good teachers/instructors and make the educational sector accountable by promoting autonomy”.
