Missionary schools vs Contemporary church schools....a perspective
Tayo Onaleye
While I agree that the universities being run by churches are not cheap, we need to put things in perspective and not just be emotional.
Let's deal with facts and figures.
These questions may help:
1. Which schools did the missionaries build? I think the missionaries stopped at secondary schools. I'm not aware the missionaries built and ran PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES FOR FREE.
It appears that the overhead of a private university is astronomically high.
Running diesel 24hrs.
Research.
Maintenance.
Capital projects
Lecturers salaries......etc
The salary of one university lecturer can pay that of twenty primary school teachers if not more.
University education is not cheap and cannot be compared with primary school. They are worlds apart.
May be it was the prohibitive cost that prevented the missionaries from venturing into university education in those days.
2. The churches accused of running expensive and elitist universities also run primary and secondary schools. Are their primary and secondary schools also out of the reach of the poor?
3. Is it true that the church private universities are that profitable? What evidence do you have?
You may be shocked to realise that even with a fee of 500k per student the churches are still subsidizing the programs.
4. Frankly, I believe instead of lambasting churches for the high fees why don't some other people take up the challenge and create their own private universities that they will run free or near free.
Please prove Oyedepo and Adeboye wrong by creating your own private university for the poor masses.
It is easier to complain than to create. Talk is cheap. Whatsapp copy and paste is very easy.
Don't just complain. Go ahead and create solutions.
5. I know a member of Baptist church that used to lambast Oyedepo for the fees at covenant university. But when Baptist church too ventured into university education and started charging as high as covenant university he changed his stance. He made enquiries from his Baptist denomination and realised that the high fees are due to the astronomical overhead of running a university. He used to accuse Oyedepo of using school fees in buying private jet but knew he was wrong when he became more enlightened.....at least he couldn't accuse his Baptist denomination of private jets and yet the fees were high.
6. I think the likes of Pastor Adeboye and Bishop Oyedepo should really be commended for the good work they are doing in the educational sector.
Thousands of Nigerian student who would either have shipped money to other countries for education or roaming around town are now getting quality, world class education courtesy the effort of these good men of God.
Within their short existence these church universities are now rated much higher than many of the old public universities to the extent that they now compete favorably with foreign schools of high standing. This is no mean feat.
In fact if you can afford it, your child will do better going for higher education in Oyedepo's university than most federal ones.
Nigeria is failing state.
Our public universities cannot absorb all our eligible children.
Even the ones absorbed get low quality training.
Ghana has created mushroom universities to make money out of our children.
These men of God saw the need and stepped in to help.
They deserve commendation and not condemnation.
God bless Pastor Adeboye and Bishop Oyedepo.
May their tribe increase in the land.
May more churches rise to fill in the gap and provide quality education for our children.
God bless the churches providing university education in Nigeria.
7. Finally.....
Have you checked out the fees charged by muslim universities in the land?
Crescent university is an Islamic institution and the fees are not less than that of covenant university or redeemed.....if not higher.
Crescent is changing as high as N850k!
So it appears that the high fees are really about the cost of running the institutions.
Islamic Universities School Fees in Nigeria
*Crescent University
Accounting.....N660k
Law......N850k
*Al-Hikma University
BA and BSc programs.......N487k
Law......N770k
*Fountain University
N341k
I rest my case.
Lanre Elatuyi wrote on Facebook.........God bless the writer real good. There were some Catholic guys who raised this issue with me in the office and I just told them to go and find out what St Gregory- a secondary school in Obalende..charges per term. It is almost at per. Private secondary schools charge more than these Universities yet some people will complain. The critic is qlways coming from those who don't support church vision or give in church. I always tell them, if anyone feels starting a school is for profit making, they should go and start one. Also the general discuss of pastors owing jet is to me very ridiculous. We have hundreds of thousands of pastors in Nigeria, only 3 have jets. To me, the debate reflects our shallow thinking as 3 out of 100,000 is not enough to make the generalisation people make. It is mental laziness to think that pastor are spending church money. I don't engage shallow thinkers and the enemies of Gospel again. But if you want to maintain a standard of Covenant University, Redeemer and also Kings University of KICC, you can't but be ready to pay. Kings University gave scholarship to all pioneer students......I wonder where people think the money if from while you still have to pay the lecturers. God will continue to bless His church. If not for sacrificial giving of the few in Church, churches will be begging for money to run services.
ReplyDeleteSegun Medaiyese wrote on Facebook......God bless the writer, Tayo Onaleye. In spite of the high cost of running the institution, Oyedepo still appropriate several millions of naira to fund scholarships schemes but outsiders don't see all this. We (insiders) are privileged to know some of these things. Lately, there was also this blind comparison of Oyedepo/Adeboye and the Pope where it was said the latter boards commercial airlines whereas the former fly personal jets. How could people be so blind to compare MOGs with several church branches spread across every continent in the world cum ladened with the task of catching up with crusades, speaking engagements and the Pope? I wouldn't want to step on toes so let me just rest my case here. Thanks Mama Ikechukwu for sharing
ReplyDeleteOlusegun Iselaiye wrote on Facebook.....
ReplyDelete"I used to condemn those private universities, especially Covenant University, until I started seeing standard scholarly papers coming out of that school. Just wait and see what that university will achieve in the next 5 years. I commend the management of that school. As for Redeemer University, I am still waiting. Up till the last time checked (2015), my findings showed the students still plagiarize their works. That's way too bad and unethical."
The fact is, Covenant University by my assessment seems to be the best private university in the country. This doesn't mean it is perfect. The school can still do a lot better.
But if you still have any doubts about the school, you can visit Google Scholar to see how the students have been contributing to various scholarly literature streams in recent times.