The National Universities Commission, (NUC), has said that 100,000 academic staff members were attending to 2.1 million students in Nigerian universities.
The NUC disclosed this in its latest bulletin, which was made available to newsmen, in Abuja.
The Commission also stated that universities should be isolated from the Federal Governments circular on new employment owing to the shortage of lecturers.
The Deputy Executive Secretary, Administration, NUC, Chris Maiyaki, who was quoted in the bulletin, explained that the Commission was supervising over 200 universities, consisting of 48 belonging to the Federal Government; 54 states and 99 private institutions.
He said, 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. We also have incessant interference in the NUCs 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.
There is a need for universities to be isolated from the Federal Governments circular on an 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”, he stated.
