International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue IX, September 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Development Administration and the challenges of Neo-liberal Reforms in the expansion of Nigerian Education System

EMORDI, Promise Jude, ONUEGBU, Ebubechi Miracle
Post-Graduate Students; Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka  

Abstract: – The quest of every nation state is to attract, sustain and fast-track growth and development in all ramifications. The Nigerian state between 1960 and 2020 has experienced an unabated expansion of universities. Ironically, the war against illiteracy is yet to be won, despite the experimentation of different western developmental ideologies in the Nigerian educational system. The study examined the contributions of development administration in the Nigerian educational sector as well as ascertained if the current neo-liberal reform has aided the expansion or retrogression of the educational sector most especially, the university sub-sector in Nigeria. The theoretical framework of the study was anchored on the post-colonial Nigerian state theory. Methodologically, the study strictly utilized the documentary method and data were sourced through the secondary sources and analyzed in content. The study found that the experimentation of western development ideologies in Nigeria actually aided the expansion of the universities but undermined the realization of free, quality and accessible university education for all and sundry. The study recommended among others: the applications of the action plan of Professor Okonjo as regards creating a universal tertiary education for all Nigerians and sustainably financing it.

Keywords: – Neo-liberalism, literacy, development administration, university education, Nigeria

I. INTRODUCTION

The quest of every nation state is to attract, sustain and fast-track growth and development in all ramifications. Development administration was inaugurated during the 1950s by the west, as a developmental plan of action capable of fostering nation-building in order to salvage the backwardness of many post-independence third world countries. Thus, development administration was recognized as a development pathfinder as well as a development catalyst capable of satisfying the development desires of the third world countries.