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GIS Higher Education Development in Nigeria: The Example of The GIS Programme, The University Of Ibadan, Nigeria. The second stream of graduate students admitted were also thirty in number; but ever since, enrolment has risen to an average of sixty students per stream. Table 2 gives the figures.  * session cancelled by the University. ** current academic session. N/A: not available The 100% jump in enrolment figures in the 97/98 session is perhaps attributable to the widespread awareness of the degree programme and the increasing exposure of most Nigerian professionals to GIS technology and methodology. The conclusion that could be drawn from this is that one fundamental objective of setting up the programme had been achieved. Since Abumere, et.al.(ibid) has stated that “the graduates of this programme are expected to promote the utilization of GIS technology in decision making in various fields of management and planning in Nigeria”. Preference is therefore given to prospective candidates who already possess higher degrees, and have acquired many years of working experience in ‘relevant’ organisations. Relevant organisations include government ministries, departments and agencies, non-governmental organisations, oil companies, academia, and the military. Over time, admissions has been stabilised at an average of 60 students due to two factors. The first and more important is the lack of space within the laboratory. The laboratory occupies approximately 80m2 out of which about 25m2 is the System Administrator’s office/e-mail room. Zoning and planning regulations within the university campus has not made it possible for the laboratory to expand in area. The alternative is the construction of a new GIS Centre. Paucity of funds to efficiently run and manage the programme is a serious factor militating against this, and this highlights the second factor. The course curriculum of the Masters programme from inception covers the functional elements of geographical information systems with courses dealing at some depth with data structures, computer programming, spatial statistics, spatial decision support systems, maps and map projections, digital image processing and GIS/remote sensing applications in different areas of the human and natural environments. In the last three sessions, the programme has witnessed the introduction of two new courses; one is Geomatics, while the other is the guest lecturer series. Geomatics is expected to introduce students to methods and systems of survey data capture and manipulation in an Automated Mapping / GIS environment. Surveying concepts and techniques taught include geodesy, control establishment, GPS observation and reduction, and strategies of integration of surveying, GPS and GIS. The guest lecturer series was initiated this session and its aim was to expose students to real world applications of GIS in various spheres of human endeavours. Lecturers include tested GIS and accomplished professionals in the surveying, oil exploration, remote sensing and academia of whom one is a graduate of the programme. The programme places a strong emphasis on and also requires that a student develops a working knowledge and ultimately proficiency in at least three of the installed GIS vector-based and the only raster-based software and to carry out an individual project based on at least one of them. 4 Programme Assessment and Challenges The GIS programme at the University of Ibadan till today remains the GIS programme of first choice for many prospective applicants in Nigeria. This is evident in application figures as well as in the diversity of students’ profile. The programme attracts students from all parts of the country and from all sectors; government, private organisations, academics, non-governmental organisations and the military establishment. The scope and variety of the courses available remains the richest and most diverse being offered locally by any university or institution. In order to maintain this LEAD, the curriculum is continuously being adjusted to bring the programme in line with modern developments in the field of GIS. Inadequate funding is perhaps the major challenge in the effective operationalisation of the programme presently. Funds are sourced entirely from fees paid by the students. Education in government owned universities in Nigeria is still largely subsidised therefore, little or no funds accrue to the programme. Funds that were initially provided at inception by USAID were terminated due to political problems between the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and the government of the United States of America in 1997. Also, endowments and donations are slow in coming despite strident efforts made by the unit at attracting such. Various avenues are being explored presently, all geared towards raising some limited funds within the unit. One is the commercialisation of printing services by the students. This is expected to generate funds with which they maintain the colour printer i.e. buy paper, ink cartridges,; as well as buy other consumables like electrical fittings and computer mice. The second strategy is through the computer replacement scheme. Though this would be in the long term, the scheme proposes a plan whereby new computers are bought to replace the existing ones which are then handed down to faculty in batches for use in their offices. It is envisaged that a situation would come about where entire faculty has a computer each and there would be surplus stock which could then be sold to generate funds for the unit and the department. The unit also organises short term duration certificate courses in GIS and automated mapping, but due to dwindling participants’ enrolment, the courses were suspended. It was surprisingly discovered that applicants preferred enrolling for the graduate programme as the degree places them in an advantageous position to secure the best jobs available locally and internationally. Perhaps the only viable revenue source available to the unit is the tuition fees paid by students. As earlier mentioned, education is subsidised, therefore, this option is closed. This poses a great challenge as donors and endowments are slow in coming. A favourable responses has been received from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) who have promised to look into our request for software support and upgrade. In the area of skills development and acquisition by lecturers, the Catherine T. and John D. MacArthur foundation awarded a junior faculty a grant for internet-based GIS mapping using ArcIMS tenable in the USA. ArcIMS stands for Arc Internet Map Server and it was developed by ESRI, who further granted the faculty a rebate on training fees. It is hoped that other junior faculty would benefit from the awards of training grants from some foundations and foreign institutions. More grants are welcome though. Locally, and sometimes internationally, faculty attend training courses but usually at personal expense. Unstable electricity supply also presents its own plethora of problems and challenges for the unit. Epileptic power supply has resulted in damages to computer systems units and equipments. Software usage is also affected by erratic power supply. A case in point is the AtlasSelect; the application crashes when a disruption in power supply is experienced and the entire exercise has to commence afresh. This renders the software to be an un-popular choice of students. Huge amounts of scarce funds have been devoted to the repairs and at times replacements of these damaged equipments. Another challenge posed by this problem is that of maintaining steady and un-interrupted power supply to the laboratory. UPS’s and a petrol powered electricity generator were purchased. Unfortunately, the generator is overworked and urgently needs replacement. 5 The Way Forward and Conclusionsb In order to ensure the sustainability of the programme, efforts are being stepped up by the unit at developing vigorous programmes of research and advisory services that would ultimately generate income for the running of the unit. The unit has initiated a programme for the development of a GIS software. This is trying to model the achievements of Clark University, the developers of the Idrissi software. On completion of the exercise, it is expected that it would generate funds and bring worldwide recognition for the unit. Also, there are great prospects for offering consultancy services to government departments and agencies, non-governmental agencies, private organisations and other academic institutions. Already the unit is involved with some agencies locally as a stake holder and adviser, though with no pecuniary benefits accruing to it. The unit has also been reaching out strongly to many organisations locally with proposals to digitize maps and perform digital image processing for them as a first step towards establishing a GIS for their own uses in various areas like urban and regional planning, environmental monitoring and impact assessment, inventory monitoring, etc. Efforts in this light are being vigorously pursued, but yielding no positive results yet. To effectively render these services and also achieve results from set tasks, the unit requires space in which to flourish and funds with which to purchase and maintain the much desired equipments and software. This would ultimately translate to hardware and software upgrades and higher student enrolment figures. Higher enrolment numbers would cater for the rush for GIS higher education and the interest in Ibadan. The programme at Ibadan is indeed the model for GIS graduate education in Nigeria. Most GIS laboratories in Nigeria have at least a graduate of the programme at Ibadan actively involved in day to day decision making activities and management functions for their organisations. This factor is a strong point in our favour. With increasing awareness by governments, environmental planners and managers and the general populace of the benefits of implementing full and functional GISes, the programme at Ibadan with dedicated financial and institutional support, would prove to be viable and sustainable. The programme has contributed in no small measure to the fulfilment of the Nigerian Information Technology (I.T.) dream by producing competent and thorough professionals who are contributing meaningfully and positively to the efficient management of the Nigerian environment. Within the University, the unit is represented in almost all the I.T. committees set up by the authorities. In an environment where information technology awareness is high, but, in which familiarity is still very low, GIS education is fast bridging this gap. This is buttressed by the finding that enrolment in the GIS programme provides the first opportunity of computer appreciation for about 70 – 80% of the students. GIS as an introductory course is now being taught at the undergraduate levels and they are expected to understand simple GIS concepts and procedures. Also, a basic knowledge of information technology is being imparted to them. The objective being that students acquire an early appreciation of specialised IT techniques. Also, undergraduate students are now being introduced to automated mapping techniques and global positioning systems devices. This is with a view to keeping them abreast of modern techniques and methodologies of environmental data capture, manipulation and presentation. The existence of a well-trained and highly-experienced research team in the Department of Geography, University of Ibadan has been crucial to the development of the UDLP in general and the GIS laboratory specifically. For many years before the UDLP, this department had developed linkages with a number of American universities, indeed the relationship with the University of Iowa dates back to the late 1960's. Also there has been a long history of faculty exchanges and collaborative research between the universities in Iowa and Ibadan which dates back to a Rockefeller Institutional Development Grant in the early 1970's. These links were maintained through the years and the exchange relationship was formalized in 1988 with a linkage programme funded in part by a United States Information Agency (USIA) University Affiliation Programme grant. The UDLP had merely built upon and expanded existing relationships. Such high levels of cordial working relationships and commitment to the achievement of set objectives are necessary for the implementation of any programme of capacity building in African universities by counterpart institutions in the developed countries. Other linkage programmes have been proposed and are being pursued. It is hoped that positive results would be realised from these efforts. The department in its own way has tried to finance the programme from students’ fees and other internally generated revenue sources. However, the demand for admission into the Professional M.Sc. programme and the limited capacity of the laboratory calls for an integrated approach for transforming the UI GIS programme to accommodate the increasing demand for training in this new technology. GIS is increasingly being used by experts to analyse the environment, natural resources, and management problems in the developing nations including Nigeria. Therefore, there is an urgent demand locally for professionals trained in GIS who would help to integrate these concepts and technology into the spatial decision making processes in the country. There is the need also to train and continually re-train teachers who would assist in integrating GIS concepts and applications into programmes taught by disciplines concerned with spatial phenomena such as geography, land surveying, architecture, forestry and resources management. Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the pioneering efforts of Professors Abumere, S., Areola, O., and Ayeni, Bola in pioneering the GIS programme at the Department of Geography, University of Ibadan. Their earlier paper also presented the stimulus for this paper. Also, I wish to acknowledge their cooperation over the years since I joined the faculty after my completion of the programme. The help and cooperation of Professors Akintola, F., Gbadegesin, A. as well as Drs Fabiyi, O., Dada, F. and Mr. Adeleye, E. towards the smooth running of the programme are appreciated. My sincere appreciation goes to the Catherine T. and John D. MacArthur Foundation and the Vice-Chancellor pf The University of Ibadan for awarding me a training grant for learning ArcIMS. And also to the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), California, USA for subsidising my training fees in ArcIMS. I also acknowledge the support and efforts of all faculty and support staff at The University of Ibadan. References
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