• 40 per cent of lecturing positions in Nigerian varsities unoccupied
A total of 272 teachers have lost their lives to the atrocious activities of the Boko Haram sect in Borno State alone, while over 19, 000 teachers have been displaced in the North East since insurgency broke out in the country.
Nigeria is currently experiencing gross shortage of qualified teachers, especially at the primary and secondary levels. And figures from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), indicate that the situation is not about to get better as the number of youths showing interest in the profession plummets yearly.
These recorded deaths, the sustained wave of insurgency in that part of the country have contributed significantly to depleting the fortunes of the profession and making matters worse for education in the country.
In the same vein, these and many other inhibiting factors, joined forces to ensure that Nigeria ended up as one of the sub-Saharan countries that failed to meet the Education for All (EFA) goals, as at December 2015. Teachers role in attaining some of the goals are immense.
Last week, the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) reiterated its demand for the Federal Government to raise the retirement age of primary and secondary school teachers from 60 to 65 years because according to it, every education system needs an appropriate quality and quantity of teacher to function properly.
It added that shortage of experienced teachers was occasioned by the high retirement rate of those in service, without corresponding recruitment of qualified replacements to fill available spaces.
National President of NUT, Comrade Michael Olukoya, at an event in Abuja to commemorate NUT’s Founder’s Day said that, “The primary and secondary education sub-sectors in Nigeria require adequate number of well-trained and experienced teachers to impact knowledge and skills to learners at the foundation level.
“It is for this and other similar reasons that the retirement age of lecturers and professors in the tertiary institutions was extended from 65-70 years respectively, while that of judges was also increased to 70 years. We therefore wish to restate our demand that the retirement age for primary and secondary school teachers in the country be raised from 60 to 65 years…The older the teacher, the more caring and tolerant he is to the students with improved dexterity in the pedagogy of teaching acquired over time.
Meanwhile, Associate Dean, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, University of Oklahoma, United States, Prof Aondover Tarhule, says about 40 per cent of lecturing positions in the nation’s universities remained unoccupied owing to shortage of manpower.
In a paper he titled: “Strengthening Universities – International Research and Development,” which was presented at a one-day public lecture at the instance of the Kaduna State University (KASU), the United States-based university teacher explained that such gaps could be filled through linkages with other developed universities across the globe with more expertise, resources and exposure to tap from.
“Studies have shown that about 40 per cent of lecturing positions in Nigerian universities are unfilled due to shortage of manpower. As a result, we have a situation where universities hire lecturers from other universities as visiting lecturers to fill such gaps.
“This should be continued, but if you have a linkage programme, some of those positions could be filled by people from foreign universities who then bring additional resources with them.
It is not just the knowledge, it is also the network and the connection that they have, which Nigerian universities could tap from.”
