By: Akindele S. O.; Adewunmi T. M.;
Abstract:
Sustainable forest management requires adequate manpower that is well-trained and highly
skilled. In order to achieve this high level of competent manpower, forestry training programmes
are established at the university level. The quality of any training programme is a function of the
number and calibre of the teachers involved. The staff available for forestry programmes in any
University at any particular time depends on the rate of recruitment and turnover in manpower.
Consequently, staff strength will change over time. In order to evaluate the progress made in
manpower recruitment and retention, there is the need for baseline information that will serve as
reference point. This study presents the results of a survey of all forestry programmes in Nigerian
Universities carried out in May 2017. The aim was to provide baseline data against which
subsequent studies on academic staff strength can be compared. For the study, a list of all Nigerian
Universities offering forestry as a course was compiled using the brochure of the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The list was updated with additional information
obtained from colleagues whose forestry programmes were not listed in the JAMB brochure. A
questionnaire was designed and sent to all Heads of Forestry Departments in the various
Universities in order to obtain the required information. Information collected include the name
of the department, staff list with rank and area of specialization, etc. All the forms were retrieved
and data were extracted from them. The data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis
involving tables and graphs. In addition, the coordinates of each University were obtained from
Google Earth and used to prepare a map of Nigeria showing the various Universities offering
forestry. QGIS software was used to produce the map. The results obtained indicate that there
were 27 Universities offering forestry programmes in Nigeria as at May 2017. This was made up
of 18 owned by the Federal Government, eight owned by various State Governments, and one
owned by a private organization. The total number of forestry lecturers in Nigerian Universities
was 220 as at 2017. This number does not include those who specialize in wildlife and fisheries.
Out of this 220, only 18% were female. There were 44 Professors of forestry in Nigeria, out of
which two were emeritus. The distribution of forestry lecturers by rank was as follows: Professors
(20%), Readers (9%), Senior Lecturers (21%), Lecturers I and II (29%) and Assistant Lecturers
(21%). This implied that there was enough number of senior academics to mentor the junior ones.
In terms of areas of specialization, only 11 out of 27 universities had specialists in all four
categories of specialization. The inadequacy of available manpower in some areas of
specialization affected the quality of training provided to the students. In order to strengthen the
manpower of the various forestry institutions, adequate funding is required within the various
university system. In addition, the staff should be exposed to global best practices in pedagogy
so that they can be more effective in training the next generation of forestry officials who will be
creative and global competitors.
Keywords: Forestry education; areas of specialization; academic staff; baseline information;
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