In view of some of the unnerving challenges affecting Nigerian Public Universities and its attendant impact on the quality of graduates being churned out year in year out, Pius Kadon of The News Chronicle speaks with Prof. MS. Rabiu, a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi to gain his perspective on the matter and more.
Later, I rose to become a Lecturer 11. Then, after nine years of service, I left.
I came to the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in 2005 and became the Pioneer Coordinator ( Head ) of Mass Communication . Later, I obtained my PhD in Mass Communication at the Benue State University, Makurdi.
So far, I have been here for 19 years, and I have been HOD three times, 2005 – 2008, 2014/2015 Academic Session, and 2022/2023 Academic Year . On January 25, 2023, when the Department was upgraded to the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, I became the Pioneer Dean.
TNC- What is the most prominent challenge you have encountered with your students?
The most prominent challenge I have encountered with my students is their under performance, resulting from the lack of ability to express themselves in the English Language.
And, paradoxically, their Ordinary Level results would show that they credited not only English Language but also Literature -in-English. This is puzzling, and indicative of something going wrong some where.
TNC- If you could change a thing about the Nigeria University system what would that be?
The major thing that needs to be changed in the Nigerian university system is the funding aspect. Public universities in the country are severely underfunded and crippled.
TNC- As a prolific writer of several books with over forty published articles in both local and international journals, what do you consider the biggest setback militating against in-depth research in Nigerian universities, and how can it be addressed?
As stated in No. 4 above, the inadequate funding of all public universities in Nigeria has disabled them in many of their activities, including research, which is key to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge and to the development of the society.
Luckily, an intervention agency, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund ( TETFUND ), has been up and doing in the important areas of research funding, provision of infrastructure and staff training, locally and internationally. However, the 29-year-old agency is limited in addressing the immense financial demands of the over One Hundred and Fifty Federal and State Universities in the country.
Accordingly, more intervention agencies to provide solutions to the funding challenge of higher institutions of learning in Nigeria should be set up. For example, the devastation of public schools by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State has led to the establishment of the Borno State Education Trust Fund.
TNC- Some notable Nigerians are of the view that Nigerian graduates are not employable, do you believe in that assertion and why?
There are the average and the above average ones that can be gainfully employed because they are intellectually competent. But there are also those that cannot measure up to the qualifications they hold, and, unfortunately , they seem to constitute the majority among those who graduate every year.
They are intellectually deficient and cannot communicate in writing or even orally. And so the inevitable questions arise: how did they obtain the minimum number and types of credits required for university admissions, in the first place? And how did they cope through their undergraduate years to end up victorious with their degree certificates?
TNC- As a Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, what is your view on the Nigerian media’s role in holding the government accountable?
Scholars tell the truth to the society and contribute to finding solutions to its problems. Therefore, I would say where reporters go against all the ethics of journalism, collecting money and other gratifications offered by news sources, openly and consciencelessly soliciting for money from their sources of news, taking sides in their reports, not ferreting out the truth and standing by it, accepting hush money ( to exclude distasteful stories )from vested interests, then it is those vested interests that would decide the news content for them .
Accordingly, in this situation, they cannot be independent-minded news gatherers. They become slaves to seekers after publicity. They become their propagandists or public relations men, not the ideal, impartial reporters that they should be, who are worthy of public trust. Those unprofessional reporters, after they have overfed on the diet of various favors from top business men, high-ranking government officials and other members of the elite class, how can they hold them accountable?
The mirror theory of journalism says the press should mirror or reflect all newsworthy happenings in the society, the good, the bad and the ugly, the realities that characterize the society.
As I have since made it clear to the staff and students of the Faculty, my mission is: “Doing the right things to obtain the right results”. And so far, this philosophy or guiding principle has worked for us in various ways.
We have spent over Five Million Naira constructing recreational gardens around the Faculty Complex. We have expended almost a million Naira painting the Faculty Complex and Offices. Additionally, we have spent over N300,000:00 constructing four befitting bookshelves for our new Faculty Library.
We have also spent over N500,000:00 purchasing books and journals for the library. Furthermore, we have introduced various welfare schemes for staff and students. We have also instituted annual prizes, more than fifteen, for staff and students. In addition , we have intensified our external collaborations and started new ones. Furthermore, we passed the resource verification exercise carried out by the National Universities Commission ( NUC ) for the Mass Communication Department of Lincoln University of Malaysia ( NSUK Campus ), whose Mass communication programme we run, in collaboration with their Malaysian staff.
And, recently, we also gained NUC accreditation for our own Mass Communication Department at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, scoring an impressive 93%. And now, we are preparing for NUC resource verification for the three new departments under the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, namely the Department of Broadcasting, the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, and the Department of Public Relations. After the resource verification exercise, we can then proceed to admit new students into the them.
We have established what we call “The Faculty of Communication and Media Studies Annual Recognitions and Awards”, to invigorate and inspire all students and staff of the Faculty. As the Dean of the Faculty, I am sponsoring the “Best Graduating Student Award” in the sum of N100,000:00. Also as the Head of the Department of Mass Communication, I am sponsoring the prize for the”Best Student in CMS 111: Fundamentals of Communication Studies”, a course formerly called MCM 111: Introduction to Mass Communication, in the sum of N20,000:00.
The other three Heads of Departments, too, Dr. Santas Tsegyu ( Department of Journalism and Media Studies ), Dr. Anthony Ogande ( Department of Public Relations ), and Prof. K. S. Akpede ( Department of Broadcasting ) are also sponsoring a prize each, in the same sum of N20,000:00, for the best student in a particular course in their departments.
We are all cooperating and working towards making our Faculty the best in the University. People have already started describing us as pace setters on the campus. Even other lecturers who are not HODs in the Faculty have joined in sponsoring other prizes, eg the best student in Research Methods in Mass Communication at the 400-Level, sponsored by Prof. Anthony Igyuve, also in the sum of N20,000:00, and the prize for the best student in Research Methods in Mass Communication at the 300-Level, sponsored by Dr. T. M. Akase, in the sum of N20,000:00.
In addition, we have external collaborations with prominent personalities in the media and other paths of life, such as Mallam Usman Magawata, former Director-General of the Nigeria Television Authority ( NTA ), under the regime of late President Umar Yar’Adua, who is sponsoring a staff prize in the sum of N150, 000:00 etc
TNC- What better reform would you advise the government to initiate in order to revamp the Nigerian educational system?
The reforms needed to revitalize Nigeria’s educational system are multi-dimensional: in the areas of research funding, teaching mode, staff recruitment and training , staff and students’ welfare and infrastructure.
TNC- What is the best advice you would have given your younger self back in the undergraduate days?
The best advice I gave my younger self, right from secondary school, not even from university days, was this: ” Aim high in life; attain good results”. As an eager reader of newspapers and magazines, I chanced upon that line in 1980, while reading through EBONY, the Chicago-based American magazine which sought to motivate black Americans to become high flyers.
I must stress that with the helping hands of God, that inspirational sentence has worked for me throughout my schooling years and beyond . Read my diamond jubilee birthday essay, titled ” Growing, Grooming, Groping, Grossing and Graying: A Teacher Hits 60″, posted on Facebook in the first week of January this year, to find out why and how.
