The fact that everyone confesses that education brings a brighter
future and by extension shines a light on a nation does not make the most
government give education the attention it deserves. Therefore, it is hard to
over-emphasise the wretchedness and difficult position which the ruling
government has made education become in recent time.
Notwithstanding the government’s continued
flying a kite with a slogan that education is the light of a nation. Even
inscriptions in some schools’ motto such as ‘Knowledge is power’, or ‘Knowledge
is light’ among other signs depicting that education is indeed the key to
unlock the future as well as eradicate poverty in the society do not sway
politicians to do the needful on education.
In Nigeria, education turns a new leaf every
September as students resume another academic year, more so is the bugbear that
affects the education sector. However, over the years, the ruling government
and indeed previous governments in their continued perennial search for
structural solutions in the education sector seem to cause more harm than good. The other day, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) advised
President Muhammadu Buhari who cited education as a way to end poverty in the
country to stop making empty political statements on education.
According to ASUU, “Nigeria can only be
developed by Nigerians themselves and they can only develop if they have
quality education to grow the economy. So, it is not enough to make a political
statement, you must follow it with action”. Nigeria’s governments, one after
another has in the last three decades presented beautiful reforms by putting
pen on paper to design patterns and shapes that will not only improve education
standard but bring back its lost glory.
Currently, the House of Representatives is
frantically making efforts to put into law and see that security and
intelligence studies, the Nigerian Constitution and agricultural science are
made compulsory subjects in secondary schools across the country.
In spite of all these efforts, it is
disheartening to note that politicians hardly walk their talk. More so, it is
easier to squeeze water out of a stone than for the government to adequately
fund the education sector to achieve those laudable reforms. A case in point is
the current minister of education, Adamu Adamu and the strong pessimism from
ASUU about his ability to transform the education sector. This is because the
minister failed to live up to his earlier promise of declaring a state of
emergency on education.
In that regard, ASUU said, “He is back to
familiar terrain, we are also in that terrain. He spent more than three years
in his first term and made so many political statements that were never
implemented. The administration has demonstrated its hatred for education by
constantly reducing the budgetary allocation to education. Most of their
policies are anti-university”. Given this brief insight from ASUU, it is
difficult to relate any strong link between what the government is saying about
education to its actions towards the sector. The big question begging for
answer is, why are today’s leaders handling education with levity? Have they
lost their sense of history that it was education that made the independence heroes
achieve the purpose on a ‘platter of Gold’ without bloodshed as it were in
Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa?
Are Nigeria’s leaders mindful of the fact that the key to any country’s
progress is the sound education of its young population as well as the
spiritual, cultural and national self-determination to succeed? The political
elite must believe in the youth, therefore, educate them across the discipline
to enable them to contribute their quota in the development of the economy and
nation.
Too often government and its officials choose
to be very sluggish to act on education and when it does, it is either too
little or too late. Such shabby treatment and negligence make it too obvious
for even a layman to believe that it is not in the character of government to
make education shine its light on the masses. Much as the government’s body
language and its cynicism towards education speak louder than its rhetoric.
This brings to bear that politics or rather politicians behave like a pendulum.
When the ruling party was in opposition, it presented itself like an angle to
the people promising a positive change on everything and particularly singling
out education for reform.
Now that it is in power, education seems to
walk on a tight rope as Buhari’s government continues to drag its feet on
prioritising education. It is common knowledge that the Buhari administration’s
lack of adequate funding of education has gained notoriety especially as
education’s budgetary allocation continues to dwindle. Does the government need
people to protest before it wakes from slumber and give education its rightful
treatment?
For example, when Botswana became independent
on September 30, 1966, the country was one of the world’s poorest countries,
with only 22 of its citizens with degrees. But when the country struck diamond
in 1967, the government enacted laws to share the proceeds and spend them on
infrastructure and education to avoid the “resource curse” suffered by
mineral-rich African countries like Nigeria, Congo, South Africa, Sierra-lone,
Angola among others to corruption and conflict.
Today, Botswana’s GDP per person is $18.650
higher than South Africa’s $13.870 even as Botswana rubs shoulders with
countries such as China, Costa Rica and Serbia in terms of the adequate condition
of living among its citizens. What is more, academics across the continent
focus on its institutions for all the right reasons. Subsequently, it is indeed
jaw-dropping to ask, where are Nigeria’s infrastructure and education status
with all her oil wealth and a bunch of educated society?
It is a fact that workable institutions do not
emerge from thin air, they reflect the political culture exhibited by
politicians in the country. Consequently, the excitable rhetoric and lip
service poured on education from Nigeria’s political leaders and its elite have
been the bane society suffers from crime and criminality today and to a large
extent, why the nation’s economy is unstable.
In that sense, well-meaning Nigerians and
stakeholders on education should share ASUU’s apprehension and stop what it
(ASUU) calls the government’s anti-education posture. This is because the
current downward trend in education standards is not helping the country in any
way. To come out of the woods, the government should be more consistent in
their belief and promise on education. Also, it must be agreed by all education
stakeholders that corruption is partly responsible for the dwindling standard
of education and reach a resolution to stamp it out. More important, a national
declaration of emergency on education is urgently needed because politically
the ruling government is on perilous ground as it concerns education.
*Ozah
is a commentator on public issues
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