Following the exclusion of Nigerian graduates from a new United Kingdom visa- High Potential Individual Visa, reactions have trailed the development, with many linking the cause to the persistent school closures, especially the strike actions of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
It had been reported on Friday that a new UK visa excluded Nigerian university graduates from applying for the jobs based on the requirement that graduates applying must be from any of the universities in the top 50 global rankings.
The PUNCH gathered reactions from some stakeholders in Nigerian universities.
The Chairman of ASUU, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife branch, Dr. Adeola Egbedokun, noted that Nigerian degrees were not inferior to those of counterparts abroad, adding that lecturers in Nigeria were equally qualified to teach outside the country.
However, he said, “Nevertheless, the difference is in the process and facilities with which teaching and learning are done and this is the matter ASUU has been pursuing for decades. Because facilities are not readily available in our universities, infrastructures are not maintained among many other challenges, whereas the ranking of universities is dependent on such criteria and many others.
“The incessant strikes, foisted on ASUU by the government, have always resulted in unstable calendars, calling to question the duration of degree programmes in Nigeria.”
“If the government had not been paying lip service to the demands of ASUU over the years, we would not have experienced the rots we have in the universities and such UK authorities wouldn’t have exempted our graduates,” Egbedokun told The PUNCH.
He urged that the Nigerian government should urgently listen to the demands of ASUU, adding that the “deafness of Nigerian government is really hampering the chances of our graduates abroad. ”
Credit: punchng.com
