Iseyin and Oyo state: Educational disadvantage city

THE DEARTH OF RESEARCH IN NIGERIA

A case study on Institution in Oyo State
By Akande Iyiola Adeniyi

INTRODUCTION

Research and development remained the bedrock of any self reliant national economy. Agrarian, Industrial, communication technology, educational revolutions have all been made possible as a result of research and development. This clearly shows the extent in which research and development contributes to an effective transition from one level of development to another. Little wonder then, when President Goodluck Jonathan laments during the 23^rd convocation ceremony of Federal university of Technology, Akure in a message read by Professor Julius Okojie, the executive secretary of Nigeria University Commission that the Nigerian universities record poor scores in international ratings because their authorities pay little attention to research.  He went further to say that The President noted that the nation needed high quality manpower and impactful research to achieve necessary economic growth and development. He went further to say that, “Our education administrators need to urgently address the importance of research, which is one reason our universities perform poorly in international ratings”. “We must upgrade our curricula to ensure the provision of quality education. Learning at tertiary levels should produce graduates that are self-reliant.

The story of research and development is rather pathetic. Despite the Government pledge to improve research and development, it is still at it lowest ebb when compared to other developed and developing countries of India, Japan.

A former  Minister of Science and Technology Grace Ekpiwhre in one of her ministerial briefing while in office decried the low level of patronage and non-commercialization of Research and Development (R&D). Her words, "Our major challenge is still the low level of patronage of R& D results. Compendium of these commercializable results has been published to acquaint the public of the potentials in the sector. Exhibition has equally been mounted continually to attract investors, yet our industrialists and other users still prefer foreign goods to the detriment of our indigenous products and services

From the above discussion, it clearly indicated that there is an acute shortage in the patronage, funding, and acceptability of Research and Development in Nigeria. Yet, various revolutionary has been witnessed in the education sector of this country. Different government has instituted different approach toward enhancing dissemination of quality education to all in Nigeria. The approach includes UPE, 6-3-3-4, the introduction UBE in 1999, the funding of education through PTF and so on.

Despite all these approach to ensure quality education for all, dearth of research has always stands as bane of government effort towards this. Thus, the government decision has been always truncated.

As an example, in Oyo state despite the fact that government is throwing her weight behind the successful implementation of solid educational foundation for everyone in Oyo State, the government has not in a day wake up to realize the effect of researching into the distribution of Higher educational institution in the State. Institution of Higher learning were been sited base on sentiment and political wills. According to Hammed Abiodun of Economics Department, University of Abuja; citing of Higher institution in Oyo state has been more favourable to some cities than other.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The dearth of research in Oyo state can be link to the uneven distribution of Higher Institution in Oyo State.

OYO STATE IN PERSPECTIVE

Oyo State with an approximate population of 6,617,720 (2007 Pop. Census) is an island State situated in the South-West region of the country. Its capital is situated in Ibadan. Oyo State has a total number of 33 Local Governments council and it is politically divided into four zones,  that is Ibadan/Ibarapa zone, Oyo zone, Ogbomoso zone and Oke-Ogun zone.

The State has over 1,703 public schools, 97 private schools (nursery and primary), 335 public secondary schools and 57 private secondary schools. Also in the State is 5 Government Technical Colleges each in Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin and Saki. There several research institute located in Ibadan.

Oyo State has 5 major cities which are relatively high in population, these are Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin and Saki respectively.

There is no State University that will accommodate both the Technology and Humanities students and there is no Federal Polytechnic in the state

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

For the State to minimize illiteracy, ignorance and poverty as well as stimulate and accelerate the pace of national development, political consciousness and national integration, there is need to evenly distribute Higher Institution in the State. The research investigate how Higher Institution is been sited in the State.

Higher Institution in the State are been distributed based on political motivation and influence of high profile individual or group of people rather than level of literacy consciousness, numbers of student turn over in the cities, economic implication of school on the city, etc.

Of course, while some cities can boast of more than 2 Higher Institutions some are without any.

The implication of this is that, number of literacy level in the area without the Higher Institution will be on high side compare to the numbers in the cities with Higher Institution. Also, economy of the cities with Higher Institution will thrive well compared to other cities without Institution. This will also generate gross of misunderstanding and grudges among the cities in the State

The purpose of this research shall be limited to these 5 cities.

Below is the tabular distribution of Higher Institution in the State:

City	Fed. University	State University (Oyo and Osun)	Private University	State Polytechnic	Federal Coll. Of Educ.	State Coll. Of Educ.	Private Coll. Of Educ.	Total
Ibadan	1	Nil	1	1	Nil	Nil	1	4
Ogbomoso	Nil	1	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	1
Oyo	Nil	Nil	1	Nil	1	1	Nil	3
Saki	Nil	Nil	Nil	1	Nil	Nil	Nil	1
Iseyin	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil

Table 1: Table showing the distribution of Higher Institution of learning in 5 major cities of Oyo State.

METHODOLOGY

The population of study includes Teachers, Students, Parents and Government workers in the State. The instrument was both content and face validated. And, the research which is spread among 12 individuals is conducted through Telephone conversation and E-mail because of the time constraint.

RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION

Research question 1 :

How will you describe the distribution of Higher Institution in Oyo State

Respondents:

8 respondents said that the distribution of Higher Institution in Oyo State was base on bias mind, 3 respondents said it is alright with them, while 1 respondent stood on neutral ground

RESEARCH QUESTION 2:

Lack of research before locating Higher Institution in the State is responsible for high rate of illiterate in some part of the State

Respondents:

10 respondents agree that lack of research before locating Higher Institution is responsible for high level of illiterate and other evil vices being witnessed in some cities in the State. They also, agree that location of schools in the State has always been based on sentiment and bias mind.

2 respondents did not see anything wrong in the distribution of schools in the State.

RESEARCH QUESTION 3:

Adequate research before locating Higher Institution will solve the problem of uneven literacy level and social vices in the State

Respondents:

While 10 respondents totally agreed with the introduction of research on which city is having which Institution, and which is having none will not only harmonise the State but it will also check social ills, increase literacy levels as well as increasing economic level of the area.

2 respondents did not give any comments on this.

FINDINGS

It is often says that whoever fail to plan has already plan to fail. This is the case when it comes to the issue of research as "Research is about finding out: It is about deep thoughts hence the dearth of skills and little or no awareness is responsible for it".

Hence lack of it can be likening to building a society without focus.

From our research question 1, which ask “how will you describe the distribution of school in Oyo State”. It clearly shows from the respondents’ perspective that the distribution has been bias. The table aboved, shows that Ibadan is having 4 Higher Institutions while Iseyin, the 4^th largest city in the state is having none.

The implication of this is that various successful governments have been cheating on Iseyin, or perhaps Iseyin may not have strong personality in the government.

During the course of the interview, it was learnt that the turn over of students in Iseyin secondary schools is quiet impressive but lack of school to commiserate this has always been the bane of progress of students.

Alhazan Abiodun, an English Teacher in Iseyin District Grammar School lamented the absence of Higher Institution in Iseyin saying that despite various agitation to government, none of them has ever consider locating Higher Institution in the city, though it is the 4^th largest city in the State. He went further that, some towns with lesser population were been granted Institutions, some of these towns are Lanlate which is only one fifth of Iseyin population, Igbo Ora which is about one third of Iseyin Population and Eruwa town which has State College of Education(Campus), State College of Agriculture and State Polytechnic(Campus) respectively. These three towns are incidentally fall within axis of Ibarapa under Ibada/Ibarapa zone.

Adedoja Julius, a UBE monitoring group said that Iseyin has been suffering negligence from every successful government stating that various political office seeker has turned the problem into the political weapon of campaign knowing fully well that the in dwellers will cast their votes for him if he promise them a Higher Institution. This clearly shows that, government knows that they cheat this city which has desire for education.

The implication of this is that, a desiring student has to travel thousands of kilometer to get a school as contrary with students in Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, or Saki. Students from the area where the schools are located also enjoy special priviledge when seeking admission.

The research question 2 ‘Lack of research before locating Higher Institution in the State is responsible for high rate of illiterate in some part of the State’. When conducting the interview, it was gathered that about 75% of male secondary school leavers in Iseyin could not further in their education. Out of this 75%, about 60% of them go into riding Okada in big cities such as Ibadan and Lagos. The reason being that, the government of Oyo State has failed in discharging her responsibility of giving quality education to her citizenry. This set of people will in no doubt contribute to increasing social vices in the city. Little wonder then that armed robbery and thug is on increasing side in the area.

Many analysts have also argued that no nation can make any progress in advancement without being consciously involved in research and development; this is the case of Oyo State. Oyo State is gradually falling back to State of Educational disadvantage State in the Country, solely because she has taken Research and Development with levity.  Osun State which was carved out of Oyo State some years ago is far better than Oyo State now in terms of literacy level, and social-economic development. Her political institution is also more stable while vices in the cities are at the barest minimum.

Osun State was able to do this because of accurate research measure put in place before locating her Higher Institution of learning. This is evident in the fact that no city in Osun State that is not without Institution and this is of course yielding good result on the educational development of the State.

It then down on Oyo State not to have engaged in Research and Development before locating Schools.

Research question 3 which says “Adequate research before locating Higher Institution will solve the problem of uneven literacy level and social vices in the State” is the right solution to all present in balance education and ever increasing evil vices in the State.

When the school is evenly distributed, every prospective student will be able take the advantage of the school hence reducing level of illiterate which is currently on the high side in Oyo State. The availability of school will also, provide economic emancipation for any one who could not go on direct admission and thereby given them opportunity to run program of their desire through part-time basis.

In the same vein, evenly distribution of schools will help in checking the rural urban immigration as individual will have no cause to travel to other city before vending for themselve

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The point has always been made that for Oyo State to make effective progress as a State in the nation and retrieve her past glory, she needs to tap into the areas of research and development. Interestingly, most of Oyo State students now found solace in neighboring State Higher Institution of learning. There is no State own University and there is no Federal Polytechnic in the State but, should this continue to happen? The main source of value and competitive advantage in the new economy is human and intellectual capital. With a population of about 7million people, Oyo State, in theory, has the capacity to make a successful transition into a truly knowledge driven State. The State is rich enough to have own State University that will accormodate both the Science and Humanities students. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED), Research and Development refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications"

It is easy to see from the examples of the economies of Osun State, Ekiti State and other States of the federation which are both knowledge driven, the growing importance of research and development.

In Oyo State, the story of research and development is rather pathetic. Despite the Government pledge to improve research and development (both Federal and State), it is still at it lowest ebb.

The challenges of research and development in Nigeria is multifaceted, says Lanre Ajayi, an IT expert, "from poor public and private sector funding capability for R & D to poor access to knowledge and intellectual property protection, inadequate tools for research and the deteriorating quality of university graduate". This is of course true about the State, as government often assumes that any money spent on research and development is a waste. Making a case for more attention to be given to research Christopher Olumuyiwa, Public Relations Officer, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, FIIRO, Oshodi, notes that "Research and Development has always been a tool for development for any nation and Nigeria is not an exception". On the challenges facing R & D in Nigeria, he pinpointed "inadequate funding from the public and private sectors especially for scientific research, inadequate encouragement given to researchers by stakeholders in the country, violation of intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, royalties) without compensation and the unavailability of infrastructures for research".

Many analysts have also argued that no nation can make any progress in advancement without being consciously involved in research and development. It is my opinion that knowledge is not exclusive to those States earlier mentioned above neither is the concept of knowledge driven economy through research. Other emerging State like Osun State, Kogi State have developed their own frameworks for catapulting their States into a knowledge driven economy. Just like the Osun and Ekiti States, it is also possible for Oyo State to become a successful knowledge rich State.

The phenomenal scale of work, commitment and seriousness that is required before the State can lay claim to being knowledge and peace driven is enormous. This of course demands a complete change of culture and attitude from both the public and private sectors. Higher Institution must be evenly distributed most especially across the cities in the State. In fact , Oyo State purported State University should have been located in Iseyin without any much ado. As, It is only remaining one out of the big 5 in the State.

 It has also been pointed out that the government needs to put in place a cohesive and coherent long-term strategy to help make the idea a reality. Enuani Lawrence, a Research Chemist with CAP, in Lagos lent his voice to this thinking by saying that "funding of research is not negotiable" since history had shown that various inventions came about as a result of research. President Jonathan says that “We must equip our students with knowledge that will make them active contributors to national development.” And we can only achieve this by bringing Schools very close to them

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Akangbou, S.D. (1986). Financing Nigerian Universities. Faculty Lecture No2, Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Akangbou, S.D. (1987). Economics of Education: An Introduction, Ibadan: Shaneson C.ILtd.