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Nigerian Private Universities Produce Graduates With ‘Empty Brains’ – ASUU

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday said private universities in Nigeria often produce graduates who are intellectually challenged.

The chairman of Plateau State chapter of the union, Dr. Lazarus Maigoro, said this on Thursday in Jos while speaking with NAN amid the approval given by federal government for creation of 20 new private universities.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday granted approval to 20 new private universities in the country.

Maigoro said the quality of graduates that are churned out by private universities is not commensurate with the exorbitant fee charged by the universities as the quality of the graduates is nothing to write home about.

He bemoaned poor academic standards in most of the existing private universities in the country and charged the new ones to change the trend. He said they must ensure quality and good academic standards in their operations.

He disclosed that the graduates that are pushed out by the private universities lack what it takes to make any significant contribution to development of the country as they are people with ’empty brains’.

“It is actually good to have private universities that have standard and quality, unfortunately, most of the existing ones are nothing to write home about,” he said scathingly. “Most at times, they push out people with empty brains as graduates; these graduates hardly contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of the society”

Maigoro charged the federal government and relevant agencies to intensify monitoring mechanisms to set high standards.

He further implored the new institutions to ddownward charge moderate school fees in order to accommodate children of both the rich and the poor in the society.

“In any case, the essence of having private universities is to reduce pressure on public universities.

“But you discover that the exorbitant fees they charge still don’t address the problem. Many people can’t cope with the high charges.

“So, even with the large number of privately owned universities in the country, their enrollment rate is just ten percent. Public universities still have pressure,” he said.

The ASUU chairman also called on the government at all levels to ensure adequate and proper funding of public universities to improve standards.