Nigeria’s Education landscape tweaking to greater reforms

THE backbone of every nation, the world over, is education. This is because no nation can develop beyond its investment in education.

It would be right, therefore, to state that the development of any country is directly proportional to the development of its education sector.

A review of activities in the sector revealed it is still business as usual for the Nigerian education system because the sector has not witnessed uncommon developments in the past few years. It is still bedeviled by lamentations of poor funding, policy conflicts, among others.

Till date, insecurity in schools, policy back flips, lack of qualified manpower and teaching/learning aids, decaying and decayed infrastructure, among others, still top the list of factors challenging the sector.

Global rankings of institutions

That is why on this 58th Independence anniversary, it becomes imperative to consider the status of Nigerian education. Such consideration is bound to assist us in discovering where we were, where we are and where we ought to be with the view of getting a sound education for Nigeria citizenry.

It will interest you to note that in global rankings of institutions of higher learning, no Nigerian university is ranked among the thousand best in the world. Even in Africa, no Nigerian universities is among the first fourteen.

In the 2018 rankings of top five universities in Africa, University of Cape Town was ranked first, followed by University of the Witwatersrand. The third ranked was Stellenbosch University, fourth went to University of Kwazulu-Natal, all in South Africa.

The fifth was Makerere University, in Uganda. The University of Ibadan, UI came up as number 15. Whereas in the 60s, we had a lot of foreign students both from United Kingdom and Africa in our universities.

They patronised our universities because of its quality in learning and infrastructure. It would not be out of place to say that the education sector needs an overhaul in decision making.

Research has proven that the nations of the world that parade Ivy League universities are those that consistently devote large percentage of their national budget to the education sector and implement its policies. The percentage of budget a nation allocates to education speaks volumes of the importance of education to such country.

President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed the decadence in the sector during a Presidential retreat for members of the State Executive Council, FEC, Abuja , Nobember 13, 2017. He said that the nation’s education sector was seriously in bad shape, adding that it required serious concern and immediate attention.

According to him, it was tragic for teachers to fail primary school test, adding, “The state of education in Nigeria calls for a serious concern. The problem is no longer a secret that the quality of education in Nigeria requires greater attention and improvement.

“That our country is facing numerous challenges in education and all other sectors as a result of historical abuses, mindless impunity and corruption is not news to anyone. With an estimated 13.2 million children out of school, high illiteracy level, infrastructural deficit and decay, unqualified teachers, and inadequate instructional materials, to mention some of the challenges, we can clearly see the effect of decades of neglect that the education sector has suffered. We are determined to turnaround the sector for the better.”

At the same meeting, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, noted that if education was weak or dysfunctional, society and its development will also be weak and dysfunctional. He said, “It is education that shapes, corrects and restores society. But to be able to restore order to society, education has to be made a national priority. This truism is valid for every society and is of particular relevance for our society which, we all agree, is confronted with a litany of challenges and deficits.”

Litany of challenges and deficits

Adamu said civilization was at risk and in great peril when access to proper and quality education was denied majority of its citizens. He said, “such a denial can lead to a number of undesirable consequences, the most pernicious of which are value erosion and character failure among the youths who are supposed to become leaders of the society.

Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education

It is also time we paid attention to teachers and to teaching as a profession. Mass literacy, adult education, distance learning, nomadic education and the rest are all important; but we cannot deliver them without giving respectability and renewed stature to the teacher.”

These two major stakeholders who had identified the decadence in the sector, in 2018 did  little or nothing to add values to the sector, as education got a paltry sum of N102.907bn which is just seven per cent of the sum total of the annual budget.

President Muhammadu Buhari allocated only 7.04% of the N8.6 trillion 2018 budget to education

Although in the N8.6 trillion 2018 budget, a total sum allocated to the sector was N605.8 billion, out of which N435.1 billion went for recurrent expenditure, N61.73 billion for capital expenditure and N109.06 billion for the Universal Basic Education Commission. The allocation is, however, lower than the 7.4 percent the government gave the education sector in the N7.4 trillion 2017 budget.

In his reaction, the Director, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan, Professor Oyesoji Aremu said: “At 58, Nigeria ought to have shed the perpetual lame toga of ‘developing nation’ when other nations in the same class with her have assumed a more developed countries. Of all the known indices of measuring development, education ranks number one. Unfortunately for Nigeria at 58, her story on education using all parameters, is far from being a success one.

“Arguably on the face value, the story of education might look like a successful one, but using some critical analyses, the country has fared poorly given the almost collapsed status of public education. The true success story of education in civilised climes is measured on the performance of public education where the citizenry compete to enroll their wards in public schools at all levels. In Nigeria, the status of education has grossly suffered a reversal of fortune in which the glory is seeming to fall especially in the tertiary sector of education. This is not to make references to the primary and secondary sectors which have gone into almost a comatose.

“From that hindsight, stakeholders especially the political class, would have to rejig education as the country approaches her diamond jubilee in two years’ time. This would also require the support of other stakeholders like the professionals, policy makers and those in non governmental organisations. The entire education status requires a total overhaul and policy redirection given the global mandate which is now largely driven by technology and entrepreneurial interventions.”

On his part, former Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola said: “If we peep at the history books, we will go back another 100 years or so of Islamic education. We can comfortably say that the geographical area now known as Nigeria has benefitted from not less than three times its post-independence age in travelling the road in the education sector. On October 1, 2018, how can we describe growth in the sector? Stunted, tolerable, impressive or very impressive? On this four-point scale, the judgement does not clearly fall on one of the points but between stunted and tolerable.

“If the assessment of education quality assurance by practitioners from all over Africa is to be relied on, the quality of the education sector in Nigeria is more towards tolerable than stunted. This judgement was made last week in Yaoundé, Cameroon at the 10th International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, ICQAHEA, when participants picked the Nigerian higher education system as standing tall in terms of quality relative to that of many African countries.

Deteriorating delivery system

In spite of what others think about us, in looking into the mirror, it is clear that we have major challenges that deserve our support for the Minister of Education’s request that a state of emergency be declared in the sector in order to salvage the deteriorating delivery system. The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu is going down in history as one who believes in standing up to the truth regarding the state of the sector and not boasting that all is well whereas the stable has quite some dungs.

“In scoping the state of education in Nigeria on October 1, 2018, we can look at key areas such as access, quality and relevance. On access, at the basic education level, we have an unacceptable level of children who are still not in school. The figures range between eight per cent and 11 per cent.

“What is gladdening is that since the Buhari administration came into office, vigorous efforts have been invested in reducing the number through several channels including the home-grown school feeding programme. At the higher education level, access continues to be a challenge with the limited institutional carrying capacities. Quality of basic and higher education and the issue of relevance are still agonising points.

“What should be of concern to us in the education sector as we celebrate October 1, 2018 is to look at steps that are being taken to break down the challenges rather than keep bemoaning our distressed state.

“So, where lie the silver linings? “The first of the silver linings is the commitment of all state governments through the Commissioners for Education at the 63rd National Council on Education held in August this year, to vigorously implement and sustainably act on the ten pillars of the Ministerial Strategic Plan by:

i) Addressing the out-of-school children phenomenon.

ii) Strengthening basic and secondary school education.

iii) Prioritising teacher education, capacity building and professional development.

iv) Promoting adult literacy and special needs education.

v) Reviving technical and vocational education and training.

vi) Driving Basic and Secondary Education Curriculum and Policy Matters.

vii) ensuring quality and access in higher education.

viii) Institutionalising education data and planning.

ix) Promoting Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Education.

x) Boosting Library Services in Education.

The Federal Government should henceforth commit not less than 15 per cent of budget to education and encourage other levels of government to do so. Let us see a few of the activities that will improve education in the coming years at the basic education and university levels.

“At the basic education level, the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, has given priority to the expansion of access to Early Childcare Education with the establishment of Community Based Early Childcare Centres, CBECC, in Gombe, Taraba, Sokoto, Katsina, Bauchi, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Niger, Zamfara, Benue and Rivers states to enhance their transition to basic education. Since 2017, the Federal Ministry of Education has embarked on a National Enrolment Drive Campaign to boost enrolment, improve retention and completion rates. The exercise was flagged-off in Bauchi state in January this year to address the issue of out-of school children in the country.

Advocacy and Sensitisation

“Also, advocacy and sensitisation of stakeholders are being carried out at various levels to see how Islamiya and Tsangaya education can be made effective in curtailing the out-of-school syndrome through conversion and comprehensive integration with formal western education system. On quality and funding of teacher education UBEC has allocated funds towards Teacher Professional Development, TPD, programme.

The objective of the TPD include, ensuring that teachers and education managers are exposed to current education policies, management systems and teaching methodologies; the training needs of each state are met irrespective of their peculiar nature and the judicious utilisation of resources.

The Safe School Initiative has received a boost in addressing security challenges across the North East and in other flash points across the country. In recognition of the importance of data in school administration and planning, the 2017 Annual School Census has been conducted to ascertain the number of children attending schools across the federation.

“Moving now to the university system, it can be asserted that the dry bones of the Nigerian university system are preparing to rise again through the Abubakar Adamu Rasheed Revitalisation Plan. This is similar to the Marshall Plan of 1947. In 2016, government made a commitment to reverse the decline in university education. The strategic goals of the Rasheed Revitalisation Plan for the Nigerian university system are:

By 2023, access to university education should have increased by a factor of 20 per cent over 2018 figures.

By 2019, the curriculum of Nigerian universities should be rated among the best three in Africa in terms of its relevance to producing nationally and regionally-relevant graduates who are high-level human resources for delivering on Africa’s Vision 2063 and addressing global SDGs.

By 2023, at least 30 per cent of facilities for teaching, learning and research should have been upgraded to meet international standards and maintained thereafter.

By 2023, the gap in the number of teachers needed in the Nigerian university system and those in post should have been reduced from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

By 2023, the quality of graduates from Nigerian universities should be improved by at least 20 per cent  as captured in feedback from employers and users of products of the system.

By 2023, scholars in Nigerian universities should be among the top three in productivity as measured by national and global productivity standards and reflected in relevance to solving Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges.

Sustainable funding model

By 2019, NUC should introduce enforceable minimum standards in governance that will ensure at least 10 per cent efficiency in the university system.

By 2019, the incidence of academic corruption in Nigerian universities should have reduced by at least 10 per cent and remain on the decline up to 2025 and beyond.

By 2020, a sustainable funding model should have been approved at all levels and implemented via appropriate instruments of federal and state governments.

By 2018, NUC should have been re-structured and empowered to deliver better on its regulatory functions.

“Stakeholders in the Nigerian university system especially vice-chancellors have signed on to achieving these goals. Many development partners are also offering technical support. Quality assurance agencies outside Nigeria including that of the UK have expressed willingness to partner NUC in the realisation of these goals.

“The new leadership of JAMB is implementing an uncommon reform that will significantly boost enrolment and efficiency of the UTME process. TETFund has re-energised its intervention strategies in a way that is more transparent, quality-focused and comprehensive in scope. The National Open University of Nigeria is marching on to an enrolment target of one million students in 2019/2020 and tweaking its delivery process to significantly boost quality. In sum, when Nigeria is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence in 2020, the landscape of education will be greener than what we are seeing today.”