A great man once revealed to us that the best way to predict the future is to create one. Going by the wise words of that sage, all we need to do is to place the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children beside the rot in our educational sector and one could comfortably arrive at the verdict on what the future portends for our dear country.
Do we remember that time when one of Nigeria’s top-rated universities patented a disruptive technology that became the darling of venture capital firms in all of Silicon Valley? Neither do I. Yet, the Ndubuisi Ekekwes and Kunle Olukotuns of this world have gone outside the shores of Nigeria to achieve unbelievable feats. This is no witchcraft.
In a recent survey and ranking of the world’s universities, the first Nigerian university to show up on the list was the University of Ibadan at a distant 1,322nd position. In Africa, that same institution occupied the 19th position, trailing far behind eighteen others that included the University of Nairobi, Kenya and University of Ghana at Legon, Accra, Ghana. Five universities that call South Africa home were top on that list.
If you think that was bad news, apologies to you because it’s about to get worse. Going by a newly released data from the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world. Most of these children aged between 5 and 14 are in the North-East states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, where Boko Haram has been waging a relentless war against Western education since 2009.
To simply describe Nigeria’s decadent educational system as sick is not just grossly understating the facts but doing the greatest disservice to our nation. At all levels, the system that is entrusted to produce the next generation of scientists and engineers to help Nigeria compete on the global stage, is in a critical condition, hanging precariously on life support. Never mind that we are in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in which driverless cars and the Internet of Things (IoT) will soon become part of our daily staple.
I am sure that most Nigerians could write full books on the root causes of the problem and why things are not looking up. From the teachers who trade money and sex for grades to a bureaucracy that elevates nepotism and federal character above excellence, our young people are neither given the needed logistics to succeed nor the incentives to shoot for the stars. In our current situation, the pull on an average Nigerian student is continually ebbing away from distinction, whereas the push makes a beeline to a default survival mode. Many among our young generation are also bewitched by a self-defeatist entitlement mindset and suffer from a Cargo Cult mentality; the belief that a benevolent ship filled with goodies from a distant land will one day dock in our harbour. China Achebe preached copiously against this superstition in his all-time bestseller The Trouble With Nigeria.
Over the years, educational budgets in Nigeria have hovered around 5, 6 and 7 per cent of the national budget. This falls significantly short of the UNESCO’s recommended 15-20 per cent for developing countries. Yet, in the 2020 budget that the president had signed off on, prior to its current iteration, the whole of Education was allocated a paltry ₦706.8 billion (approximately 7 per cent of the entire budget), whereas the National Assembly received ₦228 billion, ₦100 billion of which was to be set aside to cater for the infamous constituency projects. Never mind, it was tagged the “Budget of Sustaining Growth and Job Creation”.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) was established in 2011 as an intervention agency to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria… In the last three years, these public institutions have received around N309 billion from the Fund and so there should be no excuse not to have something as basic as a platform for e-learning.
The institutions themselves are a huge part of the problem. In the wake of schools closure brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister for Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu directed heads of tertiary institutions to transition to the virtual classroom, in line with international best practice. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which was on strike at the time, described those making such a proposal as “millennium jesters”. Some basic facilities needed for the implementation of such directive were simply not in place, they lamented. It was one of the many system deficiencies that precipitated their industrial action, the union reiterated.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) was established in 2011 as an intervention agency to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It was formed as a product of the Education Tax Act of 1993 and it is funded by two per cent of the education tax paid from the accessible profit of registered companies. In the last three years, these public institutions have received around N309 billion from the Fund and so there should be no excuse not to have something as basic as a platform for e-learning.
Nothing highlights the extent of the decay in our educational system more than the quality of intellectual discourse or lack of it in the public sphere. The comments elicited by a simple Facebook post will let one in on the pervasive nature of this epidemic.
Our young people walk around these days, flaunting fancy college degrees and dozens of paper certificates, yet most exhibit, at best, a pedestrian level of understanding of so many issues. Many are incapable of comprehending the most basic concepts, let alone engage in an intellectual level of discussion. At some point, we all have to pause and answer the question: How will Nigeria survive the future?
For many Nigerians, the daily frustration of trying to eke a living out of nothing is just too hard to even imagine, yet it pales in comparison with staring into a future that is as bleak as it is scary.
A great man once revealed to us that the best way to predict the future is to create one. Going by the wise words of that sage, all we need to do is to place the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children beside the rot in our educational sector and one could comfortably arrive at the verdict on what the future portends for our dear country. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. There are several moving parts to be addressed, however, if we are serious about tackling this monumental tragedy.
In his visit to France in November of 2018, President Buhari conceded to the Nigerian community there that education deserves better funding and attention in the country than is currently the case. We believe that now is the time to not only put our money where our mouth is but do all that is necessary to salvage Nigeria’s institutions of learning before it’s too late.
The recent ban on the Almajiri system by some northern governors is a huge step in the right direction. There is also an existential need to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency in order to stem the tide of out-of-school children in the North-East. As it’s now obvious, Boko Haram, which literally translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’, has already recorded tremendous success in realising the group’s objective.
For sustainability, long term plans should seriously consider a phased transition from the current model of government ownership to full private ownership of our educational institutions. That will not only emphasise quality over quantity but will be one way to address the unending spectre and vicious cycle of industrial actions embarked upon by academic staff that has crippled the system.
Of course, access limitations would be a serious downside and legitimate concern in this approach. That said, of what use is churning out tens of thousands of Information Technology graduates every year who can barely grasp the simple concept of Graphic User Interface (GUI). A good chunk of our poorly trained and ill-equipped new graduates are unemployable and have become liabilities to themselves and the society.
As in many countries in the developed and developing world, government should focus more on creating an enabling environment for the private sector take-over of our educational institutions in Nigeria and specifically limit its role to regulatory oversight. It may be that the private public partnership (PPP) model (government owned but privately run) that has proven successful in reforming healthcare in the country could be the better option here, I am not sure, but this should be open for debate. Without doubt, any of these prescriptions may prove to be a bitter pill to swallow in the short term but our guess is that this is one medicine that the patient desperately needs.
Our young people need to be constantly reminded that no people can hack their way into the knowledge and experience that college offers, while “sorting” their way through and skipping on the heavy lifting. A paper certificate whose holder is bereft of knowledge and does not possess the required skills-set serves no useful purpose. A serious re-orientation of our youths toward progressive values and good work ethic is crucial in this regard.
In his visit to France in November of 2018, President Buhari conceded to the Nigerian community there that education deserves better funding and attention in the country than is currently the case. We believe that now is the time to not only put our money where our mouth is but do all that is necessary to salvage Nigeria’s institutions of learning before it’s too late.
Osmund Agbo, the president and CEO of African Center for Transparency, writes from the United States.
