The Nigeria University Commission (NUC) has said there are only 100,000 lecturers teaching about 2.1 million students across the nation’s universities.
The claim was stated in the NUC latest bulletin. In the bulletin, the Deputy Executive Secretary, Administration, NUC, Mr Chris Maiyaki, explained that the commission was supervising over 200 universities consisting of 48 belonging to the Federal Government; 54 states and 99 private institutions.
“The entire system has about 2.1 million students and staff strength of about 170,000 non-teaching and 100,000 academic staff.
“Some of the problems facing the system include increased running cost, meagre budgetary allocations, issue of power shortages and shortages of manpower.
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“There is a need for universities to be isolated from the Federal Government’s circular on embargo on new employment because of the peculiarity and distinctive nature of the universities in order for them to keep up the pace in attaining comparable standards with their counterparts globally.
“We also have incessant interference in the NUC’s functions by some professional bodies and associations, which have continued to issue needless instructions to universities.
“Other challenges in the Nigerian university system include the issue of digital response to COVID-19 lockdown.”
