Mr Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information, on Monday in Abuja appealed to university administrators to do more to checkmate the declining standard of university education in the country.
Maku made the appeal when Prof. Shamsudeen Amali, the Vice Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
He said the decline in education was worrisome and beyond the level any responsible government could overlook.
The minister said the declining standards could be redeemed by concentrating on the value reorientation for both students and scholars.
“If we cannot maintain the standards, if we cannot have a university system where students and scholars can hold their own and stand their grounds, then we cannot attain the heights we desire as a people and a nation.
“We must return our universities to what it was in the 60s, in the 70s, in the 80s; we must instill values in our scholars and students.
“I want to appeal to you and indeed to all of your colleagues to look into this matter critically, we have to do something to rescue the system.”
Maku said that the situation should not be attributed to inadequate allocation of funds to the system alone as insinuated in some quarters.
He said a situation where students and parents engage in different forms of examination malpractices was more of an attitudinal failure than poor funding.
Maku expressed the need for all stakeholders to play their parts and allow government to intervene in relevant areas that could help redeem lost glory in the system.
He urged university administrators to give priority to the issue of declining educational standards and moral decadence at the forthcoming conference of vice chancellors.
Amali told the minister that the visit was to solicit support from the ministry for the conference, which among other issues, is expected to deliberate on the future of university education in the country.
He also solicited support for the establishment of a radio station for the university community, and assured the minister that the conference would deliberate on important issues concerning the growth of the nation.
Amali was accompanied on the visit by Prof. James Otuka, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, and other senior members of the management team.
The 27th Annual Conference of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities will hold at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26.