In the editorial of Thisday 9th December: Ranking of our universities, the paper pointed out the path to excellence for the academia such as undertaking business driven research and development (R&D), consultancy services, and merging of theoretical and applied sciences. These are things university Dons can and must do for themselves if they must come into the global arena. But it requires bright minds to implement these ideas and transform the decay already in place.

Unfortunately, because of the prolonged decay most of our brightest minds have left the country. It is the role of government to create the enabling environment for its brightest minds to return to our universities. Unless this government intervenes and begins to fulfil its obligations, it would have missed the opportunity to make a great impact on the universities within a short time. Then, all that presidential speech would be just that, speeches!

What is required is the political will to back up the presidential speeches with action. Focus on the students who are the first customer of the university. The age-old business maxim "satisfy the customer and profitability will follow", is appropriate to the drive to enhance our universities' ranking.

An inquiry into the reasons why Nigerian students fail to perform well threw up some interesting revelations. The chief cause of poor academic performance was attributable to facilities and condition prevalent in the universities. Principally, hostels are in dire need of attention. The "Preliminary Survey of Students' Accommodation" by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) reveals that the provision of hostel accommodation in Nigerian universities is below 30 percent average of the student population. An explosion of student population in the last 15 years has not been matched by a corresponding expansion or construction of new hostels.

Indeed, it is the practice in most universities to allocate accommodation only to first and final year students. Other students either "squat" with lucky ones, thus exacerbating overcrowding, or seek even less adequate accommodation at high rates in the neighbourhood. Sometimes they have to travel more than 10 kilometres to get to classes. Nowadays, mediocre educational standards, deplorable academic performance and poor moral behaviour are synonymous with the average Nigerian student. A major contributing factor to this situation is the inadequacy of student accommodation, although other infrastructure deficiencies bear equal blame.

Some entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the acute hostel shortage. Buildings are either being renovated or constructed within the vicinity of university campuses to accommodate students. Yet such accommodation lacks the basic atmosphere requisite for achieving an effective, value-adding university education. Besides they are expensive, do not provide basic amenities (students spend considerable time fetching water; an unwelcome distraction). Rent paid is as high as 55, 000 naira per student per year.

 Undoubtedly, a suitable environment plays a formative role in the character of people and imposes its own order. For example, it would be difficult for the most reprobate person to drop a banana peel on the marble floor of Zenith bank headquarters. Thus the anti-social behaviour often exhibited by students of higher institutions may not be totally unrelated to the environment which they find themselves. Clearly, a good hostel accommodation will contribute to the human and character formation of our beloved children.

Government policy orientation as enunciated by the National Universities Commission in 2002, and revisited in 2004 with self sustaining programmes of a deregulated Nigerian economy, was to push Nigerian universities towards involvement of private sector participation in the provision of residential accommodation for students. Stipulated guidelines and development plans of each university under the build operate and transfer (BOT) contract agreement were provided. However the government's attempt to attract the private sector in the provision of hostel accommodation has been a colossal failure due to low return on investment, long-term commitment of capital and high interest rates.

Efficient allocation of capital is an important financing decision for investors the world over, most especially in a volatile society like ours. It is important that the expenditures and benefits of an investment be measurable in cash and other units of measure e.g., socio-political benefits. Though at times superior to cash returns, its ambiguous nature makes investors shy away from it. It worth noting then that hostels development is unattractive to private investor due to low return on investment

The capital intensive nature of hostel project likely runs into billions of naira. Therefore, it requires a long-term recovery plan. The long-term investment of funds by any Nigerian bank, without corresponding stability, will affect the risk exposure of the organisation. The present economic, political and social factors influence the capital budgeting preferences of most banks in Nigeria towards short-term, high profit investments.

Government by ensuring economic stability induces lower interest rates. It is a fact that lending rates of banks in the country is still in the double digit region. Private investors need macroeconomic stability and lower interest rate because of the long term nature of this capital project.

We propose the construction of modern hostels; managed by professionals and equipped with ample reading space, laundry services, adequate sanitary condition etc. (The present neglected and filthy conditions of university hostels are attributable to poor management). Fees paid by students should not only make fitting returns for investors but also be enough to cover maintenance costs. The NUC or similar a body can entrusted with monitoring the quality, based on agreed standards, of these hostels.

 The proposed "Students' Hostels Development" will not only be an adequate solution to the current demand for decent and affordable students' hostels but also an opportunity to put in place a sustainable living environment for our university students. This will contribute to better academic performance, catapulting Nigerian universities into the worldwide rankings. Expectedly, considerable social benefits will arise from this project. For instance, it will enhance human capital development (imbibed through living in an orderly and clean environment) and act as necessary foundation for the development of other aspects enumerated by the editorial of ThisDay.

 Chinwuba Iyizoba

No 6 Olumo Crescent Opposite UNEC Campus Gate Enugu, Enugu State

Robot  # 1 | 04.01.2009 14:31

In the editorial of Thisday 9th December: Ranking of our universities, the paper pointed out the path to excellence for the academia such as undertaking business driven research and development (R&D), consultancy services, and merging of theoretical and applied sciences. These are things university Dons can and must do for themselves if they must come into the global arena. But it requires bright minds to implement these ideas and transform the decay already in place. Unfortunately, because of the prolonged decay most of our brightest minds have left the country. It is the role of government to create the enabling environment for its brightest minds to return to our universities. Unless this government intervenes and begins to fulfil its obligations, it would have missed the opportunity to make a great impact on the universities within a short time. Then, all that presidential speech would be just that, speeches! What is required is t...Read the full article.

Kabikala  # 2 | 05.01.2009 02:55

"The proposed "Students' Hostels Development" will not only be an adequate solution to the current demand for decent and affordable students' hostels but also an opportunity to put in place a sustainable living environment for our university students." I had observed also, that in addition to some of the benefits you have outlined, that higher institutions where a high proportion of students are accommodated on-campus in hostels built by the school authorities (OAU, UI, FUTA, UNILAG,) have much lesser problems with cult-related violence than institutions where majority of the students stay off-campus (EDSU, DELSU, OSU, KwaraPoly, OffaPoly, IbadanPoly).