by Dakuku Peterside
Education is a critical priority for Nigeria, as it is for any nation
serious about growth and development. Unfortunately, in the past
ten years, we have not seen any focus on or dramatic improvement
in education. Our best efforts at addressing education have put us
steps behind our peer nations in all key development indicators. We
inadvertently signal to the world that we do not care about the
future. Education is a fundamental human right that should be
available to all citizens, regardless of socio-economic status or
background. This is different in Nigeria. Nigeria’s literacy rate, put at
62% by Globaldata does not make us competitive among nations
and shows the dysfunctional state of our primary schools . At this
point, we do not need talks, sound bites, and pretensions. We need
radical reforms backed by action to change the status quo. The
Nigerian government needs to take a holistic approach to education
reform that focuses on improving the quality of education,
increasing access to quality education, and promoting innovation
and technology in education. Acknowledged , education is on the
concurrent list and Local Governments have a pivotal role to play .
The federal government still has a responsibility to set policy
direction for the nation.
As a first step, it may be necessary to establish a “Special Office on
Education Reforms at the Presidency”, working with other levels of
government and stakeholders, to fashion out a 25-year ‘Marshall
plan’ to reposition education and follow up the plan with a
measurable implementation strategy. It must establish policies and
regulatory framework to increase literacy rates and encourage
gender equality in education. While the federal government should
strengthen regulatory regimes for standards nationwide, state and
local governments should establish their competitiveness standards
to be measured by academic performance in public examinations
and evidence of high levels of numeracy and literacy skills among
the children.
State and Local Governments’ proactive actions are desperately
needed given the cultural dichotomies and multiplicities of
geopolitical differences in both access to education and quality of
education in Nigeria. There are by far too many differences in
standards in the Nigerian system, and state-by-state differences,
regional geopolitical differences, and differences between public
and private institutions exist. The education challenges in the
Muslim North are peculiarly different from those of the South.
Insecurity in the North has compounded the problems.
Education statistics in Nigeria are frightening, as it faces many
challenges in providing quality and inclusive education for its large
and diverse population. Nigeria has the world’s highest number of
out-of-school children, with about 10.5 million children aged 5-14
years not attending school. Nigeria has a low literacy rate of 65.1%
according to World Bank data with significant gender and regional
disparities. It has a low gross enrolment rate in primary schools of
68.3%, with 22.4 million children in public primary schools and 4.2
million in private primary schools. Nigeria ranks 124th out of 137
countries in terms of quality of primary education according to
World Economic Forum . It has a low school completion rate of 63%
for primary education, 44% for junior secondary education, and
17% for senior secondary education.
It allocates only about 5 to 6% of its federal budget to education, far
below the recommended 15-20% national budget by UNESCO.
The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is also low
at 1.95%.
Furthermore, to underscore the crisis in our education sector, only
450,000 to 550,000 applicants who sit for JAMB out of 1.761 million
in 2022 were admitted to universities. These 450-550,000 persons
are 0.013% of 40 million youths aged between 15 and 24 (2020
data) eligible for university education. This lag in tertiary education
opportunities is part of the reasons we are crawling as a nation. The
astronomical rise in private universities from 3 in 1999 to 30 in 2009
and 111 in 2022 is evidence of the gap in university education but
not necessarily about quality or affordability .
Apart from the issue of access, Nigerian Universities are plagued
with poor quality of instruction and learning, leading to a generation
of unemployable Nigerian university graduates because they need
more skill, cognitive ability, and critical thinking capacity. This gap
can be traced to the quality of our basic education which is under
the purview of local governments. Research output, which is the
main criterion for ranking universities globally, of Nigerian
universities and Nigeria academics is comparatively low behind
countries like Botswana and South Africa. And knowledge
accumulation, which leads to social and human capital formation
and economic development, gives developed countries an
advantage over developing countries. Our low research output
partially accounts for why our growth is stagnated and the rentier
economy is thriving.
Conversely, estimated 5-7% of our seasoned Academics leave
Nigeria annually to go overseas because of a better research
environment. Several special NUC intervention schemes started
earlier are either abandoned or discontinued. Such innovative
schemes as Linkages with Experts and Academics in the Diaspora
Scheme (LEADS) designed to attract Nigerian academics in the
diaspora, Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development
(PRESSED) for first-class graduates, and Transnational Education
Scheme (TES) to boost foreign investment and partnerships
between Nigerian universities and their foreign counterparts have
not made the intended impact on our tertiary education sector.
The education infrastructure in Nigeria is old, decrepit, poor, and
sometimes abysmal. Successive governments have failed to build
new public schools commensurate to the community need, or
where they do, no real investment is made in infrastructure and
facilities. Most public schools’ conditions are terrible, and no one
wants to study there. The school buildings and premises are “not fit
for purpose”. There is an extreme level of negligence towards
education. The teachers are neither well-trained nor really
motivated. Private schools are personal businesses and are
squeezing the living daylight out of most parents who struggle to
pay the cost of private education. The curriculum emphasises
cognitive knowledge (memory-oriented learning) aimed at passing
examinations instead of skill base, analytical and independent
thinking needed for mental and economic progress. The theory is
emphasised more than practice. Education technology is
significantly unavailable in most schools.
Neglect of education by government at all levels is a critical
indicator of a failing state. When a state fails or is failing, the
effective educational systems are privatised, or the public facilities
become increasingly decrepit and neglected. Teachers and others
who work in the education sector are ignored or relegated to the
background, and reports to the relevant ministries are ignored.
I must acknowledge the effort of Dr Oby Ezekwesili as minister of
education under Obasanjo’s presidency who embarked on
comprehensive education reform, but this was dumped as soon as
the government wound down. At the sub-national level, attempts by
Ekiti State under Fayemi, Edo under Oshimole, and Kaduna under
El- Rufai to kick start the reset of education by improving the quality
of teachers was resisted by the organised labour and other
entrenched interest. This, unfortunately, is the dilemma.
Recently, the federal government has devised various initiatives to
deal with the education problem in Nigeria. These include Universal
Basic Education (UBE) Programme, Education Tax, Safe Schools
Initiative, Teacher Professional Development (TPD) Programme,
National Education Policy, and the Private Sector Participation
Programme. These initiatives, at best, had minimal positive effects
on our education sector. Little wonder the education statistics still
evoke horror reading. No doubt our education sector is broken.
I call for a state of emergency and a complete reset in education.
This means a holistic education reform that will position our
education sector as the social and economic growth engine. Asian
Tigers, referring to Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, amongst
others, can attribute their success to the fact that they scaled up
investment in education, as well as research and development, that
enhanced human capital development to improve the productivity of
the workforce across all sectors. Nigeria needs to do the same. It
behoves the new administration to restructure the whole education
system on a priority basis and align it with modern education
techniques.
Improving education in Nigeria requires a multifaceted approach
that involves the government, businesses, educators, parents, and
the broader community. Government should first devise a means of
sustainably funding education and allocate a significant portion of
the national budget to the sector. Second, improve teacher training
and professional development to ensure teachers have the skills
and knowledge necessary to teach in a 21st-century classroom.
Third, prioritise expanding access to education, especially in rural
areas. Fourth, prioritise science , technology, engineering and
mathematics ( STEM), then invest in vocational and technical
education to equip students with practical skills relevant to the job
market. Fifth, champion curriculum reforms by reviewing and
updating the curriculum to ensure that it is appropriate and
responsive to the needs of the country and the global economy.
Sixth, embrace digital learning and promote the use of technology
in education. And finally, improve monitoring and evaluation to
assess the quality of education and track progress in achieving
academic goals.
The benefits to Nigeria of a robust education sector providing good
access, high quality, and skill and practice-driven education are
evident. A good education sector can contribute to economic growth
by producing a skilled workforce better equipped to meet the job
market’s needs, attract foreign investment, and boost economic
productivity. Quality education is a powerful tool for poverty
reduction, promotes better health outcomes, and promotes social
cohesion by fostering a sense of national identity and shared
values. Education can also promote understanding and tolerance
among different ethnic and religious groups, therefore reducing
ethnic and religious tensions and insecurity. It fosters innovation
and entrepreneurship by providing individuals with the skills and
knowledge necessary to start businesses and develop new
technologies whilst enhancing Nigeria’s global competitiveness by
producing a skilled workforce that can compete in the worldwide
marketplace. We, therefore, implore the new administration not to
play Russian Roulette with our education sector. They must
remember that a robust education system catalyses sustainable,
social and economic development.
