A renowned University don rues the quality of Nigerian graduates

By Ola Ajayi Ibadan

Renowned Professor of English, Prof. Niyi Osundare, who lectures at the University of New Orleans, USA, has expressed concern about the quality of graduates from the country’s university system.

The don, who is one of the foremost poets in Africa said lack of mentor in the tertiary institutions was largely responsible for the fall in the quality of the students that are produced. Osundare, who spoke at a luncheon organised in Ibadan by the Chairman of Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan, Dr Lekan Are, to honour the literary giant, added that he counted himself lucky to have graduated at a time when there were mentors that people like him could look up to.

Among those he listed as his mentors include; Prof. Wole Soyinka, Emeritus Prof. Ayo Banjo, Prof. Dapo Adelugba, Prof. Oyin Oguba among others. “We liked what we saw in great mentors like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Emeritus Prof. Ayo Banjo, Prof. Dapo Adelugba, Prof. Oyin Oguba and so on.

We wanted to be like them but such urge is lacking today because mentors are disappearing. It is what I gained from them that I emulate.” According to him, “The system cheats the students. I am appealing to lecturers not to allow the system to cheat them any more by playing their roles properly.

The standards have collapsed and there is proliferation of universities in our country today but the graduates’ quality is low. ”I once told a journalist that if I were to be a student in Nigeria of today with the fallen standard, I would not have achieved what I achieved today. Nigeria and the system in those days helped me to develop. That was when the education structure recognised the best and encouraged others to move up the ladder”.