Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan

Vice Chancellor, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Mr. Dapo Asaju, has warned of an impending calamity in the country's health sector following exodus of Nigeria-trained medical doctors into the United Kingdom.

Asaju who gave the warning while delivering 74th Interdisciplinary discourse of University of Ibadan, Postgraduate School, titled, "Religious undercurrents in the evolution of education in global context", said his recent visit to United Kingdom indicated that 90 per cent of those writing examinations to practice medicine in the United Kingdom are medical doctors from Nigeria.

The professor of Christian Theology, stated that it is sad that the Federal Government of Nigeria seemed unperturbed by the massive brain drain which will make many Nigerians die in the absence of qualified medical doctors.

While noting that religion has been deployed by the elites as a divisive tool in Nigeria and education without moral teaching is responsible for increasing social vices and terrorism, he stated that it is sad that institutions are producing graduates only in paper qualification and not on sound morals which will impact the society.

He noted that while universities are happy producing first class holders, the production of first class brains without character will amount to the production of ‘clever devils’.

He said, “People have been crying of brain drain and it appears that Nigeria is not even mindful of the implications of what is happening. My son-in-law who went to write examination to be able to practice medicine in UK informed me that of all those who came for the examination, 90 percent were doctors from Nigeria. This is crisis. When you have put in your very best , you train so many people, you have invested in them only for them to get their certificates and abandon sick people who are dying in this country to treat those who are already well. It is a calamity.

"Woe unto a nation whose best would desert her shores to go abroad for the sake of pound sterling or dollar to live life of affluence abandoning people who are so much in need of their expertise, those who invested everything to make them who they are.

“There is another crisis of morals. We have first class brain who are empty in terms of morals. If our universities continue to produce first class students without character, they would have succeeded in producing a bunch of clever devils. That is why we have very brilliant people but they have no character. They carry first class degrees from universities, but put them in places of work they don’t have the discipline of punctuality, probity, accountability, or have integrity. It is now very difficult to find good workers in Nigeria.”

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Mr Idowu Olayinka, said Nigeria must determine the place of religion in its educational system given the confusion and controversies surrounding the role religion plays in communal life.

“It is true that Nigeria educational policy makers in their wisdom, believe that students can learn everything they need to learn without learning anything about religion. Nevertheless, this has continually fueled the culture wars that now divide many of our communities and undermine educational mission of our schools”, he said.