Making doctoral training driver of national development
Sir: There is a growing concern about the quality of doctoral research outcomes from Nigerian universities. Particularly, from the standpoint that some theses lack originality and innovative applications that address
Sir: There is a growing concern about the quality of doctoral research outcomes from Nigerian universities. Particularly, from the standpoint that some theses lack originality and innovative applications that address national or global challenges. Some factors responsible for this situation include inadequate funding, limited training infrastructure, poorly defined research directions, and an overwhelming workload for academic supervisors.
The resultant effects of these factors are low-quality theses and a prolonged completion period. Poor budgetary allocation results to lack of state-of-the-art research infrastructure needed to conduct world-class research. An overwhelming and excessive workload for academic staff leads to poor supervision, low-quality theses, and prolonged completion rates.
Another critical issue is that most Nigerian doctoral programmes are self-sponsored, and financial strain often causes candidates to abandon their programmes. Additionally, most students, for economic reason often unofficially switch their mode of admission into programmes from full-time to part-time. The consequence of this is students’ unavailability to meet up with the scheduled contact hours with their supervisors. The antidote to this is that candidates who are gainfully employed should only be strictly admitted into part-time programmes, unless there the candidate is supported with a study leave from his institution. Another lacuna is the fact that some universities have not keenly adopted publication of at least one article in a top-rated journal in the candidate’s field of study. The Ministry of Education needs to compel all Nigerian universities to adopt this mode for global visibility.
Ordinarily, doctoral theses are supposed to be the crucible of products needed to accelerate national development. In other words, national development priorities in consonance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be the fulcrum upon which doctoral theses’ objectives across Nigerian universities should stand. A doctoral work plan should be designed to solve national or global problems. The obvious national challenges that require urgent intervention are mainly in the areas of security, energy, health, agriculture, and many others, not mentioned due to space constraints.
In the area of security, a doctoral work plan should be designed to have outcomes that address security challenges. For instance, doctoral theses should offer solutions to insurgency, banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, border porosity, and so on. In the energy sector, there is a global call for decarbonization. Hence, doctoral research tasks should be designed in line with the global green energy crusade. Similarly, doctoral theses should proffer solutions to diseases, including those that have been pronounced terminal! In the agricultural sector, attainment of national self-sufficiency, especially in food production, should be the focus of Nigerian doctoral theses.
Furthermore, the doctoral work plan should be designed with expected outcomes that promote good governance, public administration, and evidence-based policymaking. In a similar vein, doctoral theses should address climate change and build corresponding national resilience against its impacts. To bolster national economic prosperity, doctoral research efforts targeting technological advancement should also be prioritized across Nigerian universities. The need to strengthen university-industry relations in Nigerian cannot be overemphasized. In fact, all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government, as well as industries, should be mandated to establish vibrant Research and Development (R&D) units to liaise with academia. Such collaboration will facilitate the establishment of a bank of dynamic research-based problems, from which doctoral tasks could be designed for prospective doctoral candidates.
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Doctoral education helps develop the intellectual national workforce needed to achieve the desired national transformation and reduces national over-dependence on external expertise. To fulfill these obligations, admission quotas for doctoral degrees at all first-generation universities should be expanded, and the government should adopt a commensurate funding option. In fact, doctoral supervision should be well incentivized in Nigerian universities to ensure quality research outcomes. The government, through the Ministry of Education, should establish a Special Trust Fund for doctoral degrees. Prospective candidates should submit their proposals for evaluation, and afterwards, the winners will be announced with a clear mandate to complete their doctoral degrees within three years.
Finland, with a population of 5.6 million, recently launched 1,000 fully funded doctoral positions across its universities for the 2026 admissions cycle. This is also possible in Nigeria! Certainly, quality doctoral training from Nigeria universities will inspire national development, global progress and impact.
