E
very citizen of a modern na-
tion is a subject of the state.
And once a state is formed,
the citizens formulate ethical
principles or virtues to be
pursued, vices to be avoided and values
to be cherished-for the good conduct
of the citizens. These values are in most
cases not put in a codified form but
transmitted from one generation to the
next via a well formulated/structured
process called education.
Without a shadow of the doubt,
this thought may have informed the
decision of past administrations like
their counterparts in other countries,
to formulate the National Policy on
Education anchored on five main
objectives that include the building of: a
free and democratic society; a just and
egalitarian society; a united strong and
self-reliant nation; a great and dynamic
economy; and a land of bright and full
opportunities for all citizens.
Indeed, education typifies the bed-
rock of development of any nation.
‘With sound educational institutions,
a country is as good as made -as the
institutions will turn out all round-
ed manpower to continue with the
development of the society driven by
well thought out ideas, policies, pro-
grammes, and projects’.
However, like every invention which
comes with opportunities and chal-
lenges, education in Nigeria, despite
the virtues and attributes, have suffered
sets of challenges which include but not
limited to; payment of lip service to,
and in some cases, total abandonment
of the National Policy on Education
by successive governments through
perennial under funding of the sector.
And in more damaging cases, the
money government voted for running
the schools does not get to the schools
and the little that gets there is normally
wasted by those whose responsibility it
is to manage the schools.
Essentially, this recurrent mismanage-
ment manifests it self in acts opposed to
demands of modern educational sector.
And its work impedes lecturers from
carrying out scholarly researches, leads
to fallen standard of education, brings
about policy inconsistency and som-
ersaults, truncates academic calendar
with industrial actions, lace Nigerian
schools (primary, colleges and universi-
ties) with dilapidated and overstretched
learning facilities- with the universities
producing graduates devoid of linkage
with the manpower demand by the
nation’s industrial sector.
Majorly, the consequences of this
malady can be spotted in two areas;
the high unemployment rate in the
country, which going by the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 2019, was at
23.1 per cent, with under-employment
rate 16.6 per cent and expected to reach
an all-time high of 33.5 percent in this
year, 2020. The second is high rate of
illiteracy level found everywhere in our
country.
For one thing, I believed and still
believe in the power of education. But
this high rate of illiteracy which has its
root in thoughtless demand for fees
of varying amounts/ proposed by the
school authorities to cater for the gap
created by the perennial under funding
is but, financially squeezing life out of
the innocent students and sent many
out of school.
Regardless of what others may say,
this failure/failing partly accounts for
the low level of development in Nigeria
because the growth and development
of any nation depends largely on the
quantity and quality of all segments of
its population. And given the huge pop-
ulation of out-of-school children which
currently stand at over 13million, it is
understandable that the overall literacy
level will be low in the country.
No wonder, Akinola Aguda in his
book; Nigeria’s march towards perdi-
tion, among other comments noted that
our economy is ill, very ill from a time
dating back to only a few years after
its birth; doses of poisonous matters
continue to be introduced almost on
continuous basis by successive admin-
istrations.
Although, President Muhammadu
Buhari, recently, during the New Year
broadcast on the January 1, 2020 told
whoever that cares to listen that this
democratic government will guarantee
peace and security to realise the full
potential of our ingenious, entrepre-
neurial and hard-working people; that
his policies are designed to promote
genuine, balanced growth that delivers
jobs and rewards industry. But in my
opinion, looking at the deplorable state
of the nation educational sector that
will drive such vision/policies, achiev-
ing the promised feat will be difficult if
not impossible.
The reason(s) for these voiced opinion
stems from other inherent challenges
discussed in the following paragraphs.
And one of the most alarming is the
challenge of responsibility and control.
For instance, stakeholders are worried
that the control of the primary sector is
neither fully in the hands of the Federal
Government nor in that of the state or
the local government. This is a great
barrier to effective educational develop-
ment at the basic level. This challenge is
closely followed by the faulty methods
of recruiting teachers. Because most
of the teachers were not qualified but
hired via favouritism, they could not be
trusted to impact the right knowledge
and values in the pupils and students.
So what this all means to us is that in
this 2020, we may forgive other govern-
ment’s inaction. But we must not fail to
ask government at all levels to rejig the
education sector. we have a responsi-
bility to return our education sector to
the part where it can build a free and
democratic society, promote a just and
egalitarian society, encourage a united
strong and self-reliant nation and a land
of bright and full opportunities for all
citizens.
To reverse this trend, we must first
recognize that problem associated
with the nation’s education stems from
the fact that as a nation, we have not
applied what we learned from the na-
tional education policy. We obviously
and urgently need a new vision for ed-
ucation in the country-‘vision that will
go beyond ideology to experiment and
be equal with the latest reforms at the
global level’. It is not only our patriotic
duties to provide this care, it’s our mor-
al duty at the most fundamental level
–and we must rise to that challenge.
To this end, apart from developing
the political will to, and ‘culture’ of
funding education in compliance
with the United Nation Educational
Scientific, and Cultural Organiza-
tion’s [UNESCO] budgetary recom-
mendation, government at all levels
must start considering education as
a human right that promote science
and eradicate illiteracy, and should be
implemented in such a way that pro-
motes free, compulsory and universal
primary, secondary, tertiary education,
and free adult literacy programs.
Part of that effort to guarantee ade-
quate fund for the sector is by ensuring
that every kobo budgeted for education
would be properly accounted for and
would reach the beneficiaries, without
siphoned off along the way. Special
attention should be given to the areas
where discretionary powers are at pres-
ent being exploited for personal gain
and sharpen the instruments that could
prevent, detect or deter such practices.
Other efforts expected from the
government that should by no
means be considered less important
includes- revival of the adult literacy
programme to boost the quality of
education in the country is worth-
while. As this going by reports would
cater for the educational needs of
over 50 million Nigerians who must
have missed first opportunities to
be educated. While the programme
would use existing facilities across
the country and as such there would
be no need to waste money in build-
ing new schools.
Finally, like Barrack Obama once
noted, I believe we have a mutual re-
sponsibility to make sure our schools
are properly funded, our teachers are
properly paid, and our students have
access to an affordable college edu-
cation. And if we don’t do something
about all that, then, nothing else
matters.
Jerome-Mario Utomi (jeromeu-
[email protected]), writes from Lagos,
Nigeria
