Introduction
Some who observe goings-on in Nigeria prognosticate that the country may experience a cataclysmic implosion in the not too distant future. To substantiate their dismal prediction, they point to a plethora of socio-economic, and political distortions in the polity. On the social front, there is a multiplicity of incongruences that border on injustice, inequality, discrimination, segregation, and vulgar stratification on the basis of class and religion. Ethnocentrism has eaten deeply into the social framework spawning burgeoning chasms between the myriads of ethnic nationalities that make up the entity. It’s not for nothing that almost every ethnic group and tribe is vociferously agitating for self determination or some form of stand-alone, independent political status. The evident antagonism against the institutions of the government at the centre is not remote from the deep seated dissatisfaction with the social imbalances inherent in the State.
Not only that, on the economic side of the coin, to describe the situation as gloomy is a very woeful attempt at the use of euphemism. Many have described Nigeria as the foremost example of an economy where premium revenue generated from the exploitation of petroleum turned to a gross, debilitating malediction rather than the stepping-stone to prosperity and economic emancipation that it ought to have been. How worse could things turn out for a country of excess of two hundred million persons, where more than half of the monstrous population live on less than a dollar each day. The energy supply situation is appalling even after many billions of dollars have been supposedly spent on relevant infrastructure for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity. The status quo in respect of the petroleum products value chain is a pathetic continuum of sleaze and malfeasance that leaves the man on the street wailing and gnashing his teeth.
The all-important agricultural sector which at some point in the country’s history was the mainstay of the economy has been so neglected that Chinese entrepreneurs are currently positioning themselves to export garri to the country where it’s the most affordable staple of over ninety percent of the population. Indeed one can present a strong case for altruism on the part of the Chinese who are implementing this intervention, for if they don’t who would do it! And the horrible reality of mass starvation would be inexorable. As it is, people are hungry, people are angry, and people are killing people in large numbers. How did matters degenerate to this abysmal level? Many point accusing fingers in the direction of the political arrangement in place in the country.
In the view of many informed observers, there’s no greater hallmark of hopelessness in the land than the system by which administrative structures and public office holders who superintend over them are foisted on the polity. It makes no sense to attempt to chronicle the shortcomings that attend the political institutions of Nigeria. In a nutshell, they are legion.
In fact, there’s no aspect of existence in the country that is not terribly sick, even terminally sick, except to an inveterate optimist. In other lands and climes education is used as an instrument to develop, harness, and channel the energy of the populace towards positive, constructive, and sustainable growth and development. What’s the situation here?
Education in Nigeria is faulty
Without mincing words, some people affirm that, like every other aspect of life in the country, the education sector is in shambles. Today, the challenge of receiving education is greater than that of the proverbial Camel passing through the eye of the needle. To a very great extent, the system of education and the general attitude toward education is grossly demotivational. Education in Nigeria, in the eyes of many, is a useless cul-de-sac, expensive but leads to nowhere. Do you expect any better in a community where traders make more money and subsequently gain greater respect than highly erudite professionals! Run of the mill leaders have contributed too in no small measure to the malaise through their despicable lip service attitude and destructive policies that have birthed negligence, disdain, and backwardness in the sector. These factors and a myriad of others like them make education unattractive, cumbersome, and utterly challenging for today’s youth. In turn, the defects in the education sector are to a very large extent responsible for the grim realities that are evident in the polity.
Manifestations of the faulty nature
A lack of interest to go to school is one of the manifestations of the deficient nature of education in Nigeria. Credible statistics indicate that, on average, more than 40% of school age children who ought to be in the Basic classes are either at home, on the streets, on the farms, or in husbands’ homes. These young ones don’t see the rationale for going to bother themselves in ramshackles where they are compelled to learn uninteresting, abstract concepts that don’t have any clear linkage to their needs now and in the foreseeable future; and to make matters, such heinous rigours are undergone under the most dehumanizing circumstances, for example, they have to sit on the ground, as many as a hundred and fifty in a cluster called class, where the so called teacher who can barely spell his name correctly is mostly absent.
Consider this news headline that I chanced upon in the course of penning down these remarks, “NECO Shifts Unity Schools Common Entrance Exams Due To Low Registration By Students.” This bears out what we’re saying here. After the struggling to cope with the deplorable school conditions in the first six years of the basic education, in the case of those who make the attempt, the children graduate with a palpable lack of interest in the system. They simply don’t desire to continue, as evidenced by such news headlines as the above.
This common loss of interest in anything education, having begun in the lowest basic level cas ades down to the secondary and tertiary levels. At these levels, of course, the cracks in the structure become wider, more excruciating, and more condemnable. Those who do graduate generally come away with a heavy burden of disillusionment and completely enervated to meaningfully contribute to the upliftment of the community which ought to be one of the fundamental objectives of education. To put it in a non-nebulous perspective, the challenge of getting educated in contemporary Nigeria is exceedingly overwhelming to the youth.
Possible Causes
What bred this unfortunate state of affairs in the most important sector of our polity? There are many culprits, so to say, and we need to analyze them carefully.
1. Deliberate design of the colonial hegemonists. Formal education as we know today was introduced to this clime by the expeditionary adventurists of the different denominations of Christendom based in Europe who deliberately crafted a system that would never accomplish what education is meant for and what it does in other places. Of course, they came with the support of the secular authorities of their home countries who volunteered military escorts for their expeditions. Following on the heels of those missionaries were the trading and economic interests. This exposure to foreign elements brought about the birth of what we call education in contemporary society. In order to facilitate their lucrative hegemony over new lands where they had gained inroads and strangleholds on the indigenous communities they had to establish a pseudo-educational system to indoctrinate and train local hands to service their machinery of administration and subjugation. By its very nature and given the objectives the system of education is designed to meet, it can best be described as a poor imitation of the real thing. Its weaknesses are evident in Nigeria today more than at any other time because of the passage of time, population growth, and the emergence of attendant issues.
Besides the crafty machinations of colonial powers there’s the equally powerful, and perhaps more insidious contribution made by religion. How so?
2. Fatalistic approach to religious thoughts and tenets. Before the advent of foreign cultural influences, indigenous communities that now make up what is known as Nigeria had home-grown cultural practices and traditions including religious and educational institutions. However, new religious beliefs and influences dawned on their realities and began to wield significant power over their perceptions and outlooks. For instance, many of the indigenous practices, and capabilities were jettisoned, some were bad and deserved to be eliminated, but the very auspicious ones were also confined to the pages of long discarded history. In place of those norms were introduced new tenets that were mostly misconstrued, wrongly interpreted, and misapplied. In some instances, certain categories of individuals were not supposed to get educated. Even those who went were subjected to the hinderance of an imposed glass ceiling. This reality prevented the female children in particular from receiving any measure of whatever form of education. Such a denial institutionally imposed upon a critical demographic component of the community led to an oblique educational system that, today, is posing existential threats to our brand of education and our society in general
Further, other factors, though not as fundamental as the above but equally potent, have evolved and made recognizable inhibitions on the education that is obtainable in Nigeria. One of the areas where education impacts significantly is the character of the individual. No force is more destructive than an individual who has power but is devoid of strong, positive character. Is this also part of the problem? Of course, it is!. Poor character traits have manifested as a national plague in Nigeria. That’s the reason for the commonplace incidence of all the possible ramifications of corruption. Even teachers who should serve as the custodians of the interests and the future of the youth have proved, on several occasions, to be predators on the fortunes of their protégés. In many primary schools, teachers and school authorities have been known to scheme many devious devices so as to extort lucre from the parents of their pupils. But if for any reason, any parent fails to comply promptly that child would be subjected to dehumanizing corporal punishment. That’s just one example of the many instances of abuses that are meted out against very young ones by those who should help them begin the long journey of formal education. All for the attainment of selfish interests. At the very early age young ones are exposed to the sordid, despicable, character of those who ought to serve as their role models.
And the agony hardly ends there. As the children grow older and get to higher levels they encounter more insidious ramifications of the loss of character. In the secondary and tertiary schools, the young ones are forced to observe first-hand, the animalistic behavior of some unscrupulous adult who commandeer sexual gratification in return for favourable assessment. Dogs that eat the bones that are used to decorate their necks prove in unmistakable terms that the form of education that is generally available in Nigeria currently is many marks below acceptable.
This deplorable loss of character extends to all facets of the polity. To that effect, excellence has been supplanted by mediocrity. Almost all sectors of the society are today headed by men and women who glorify mediocrity on the framework of nepotism and other primordial considerations. As a result, Nigeria is at the lowest ebb of its affairs since it came into nationhood.
3. Poverty of the mind. Another causative factor inherent in warped educational system in Nigeria is poverty. The kind of poverty that is implicated in this ugly happenstance is not the lack of sufficient food and water. It’s not the dearth of decent clothing and fashion embellishments. It’s not also the paucity or complete absence of habitable accommodation. This kind of poverty is a most treacherous kind that afflicts those who have little or no means to cater for their daily necessities of life, not only them though, but also those who occupy the state houses and own controlling investments in blue chip companies within and outside the country.
Those smitten by this kind of poverty are birds of common plumage who only live for the satisfaction of basic human needs. To them the concept of pursuing a higher calling is impractical and meaningless. Their body with its base, sometimes fallen needs is the star around whose orbit their world rotates. They have no respect for God, not for anything else here on Earth or in the heavens above. No institution is too sacred for them to desecrate. No relationship is too dear to sacrifice as long as they would be in a position to pander to their inanities. Their egocentric, mundane, predilections subsume every other possible inclinations, tendencies, and values. This is the kind of poverty that is prevalent in contemporary Nigerian society. What kind of poverty is that?
It’s poverty of the mind. The mind here is being used in a generic sense to depict the ability of a person to use one’s innate mental faculties to determine the best thing to do in a given situation, and to solve problems in the most pragmatic manner, whereby the rights, privileges, and preferences of other individuals would not be unnecessarily jeopardized. The lack of this capability is so scandalously glaring in Nigeria that it has become very challenging to distinguish between the Rich and the Poor, the Educated and the Illiterate, the Saint and the Villain, the Prince and the Pauper. When the chips are down everyone behaves alike. Poverty of the mind is akin to Covid-19 – it’s a pandemic that affects everyone.
Unfortunately, one area where this malignant poverty shows its deadliest impact is education. Education calls for mentoring. The mentor, so to speak, is expected to hold the mentee by the hands and lead him to the destination that holds the best promise for the latter. Now consider, what would that destination be if the only worthwhile objective known to the mentor is self aggrandizement? Now you get the picture, don’t you? That’s why education in Nigeria is awfully challenging!
4. Lack of commitment to good governance. Many social commentators, and political analysts have consistently asserted that the absence of a strong commitment to good governance is one of the major planks of underdevelopment in contemporary Nigerian society. This sore point is a major reason behind the deplorable state of education in the country. Make no mistake about it, misgovernance is not only obtainable at the apex level, No! It cuts across board. All levels of governance in both the public and private sectors of the polity are deficient in good governance. That’s why adequate attention is hardly given to education. At the highest level, budgetary provisions fall far short of recommended benchmarks. Also policies are devoid of the imperatives that reflect the exigencies of current realities. Add to that the weakness of supervisory and monitoring mechanisms and structures.
The above weak points cascade down to other levels and result in a Run of the Mill situation that produces, generally, a sham educational system. In some instances, the teachers and other workers are denied their due remunerations and when they are paid at all, the emoluments are hardly enough to ensure sustenance and covering. Not only that, the requisite infrastructure is not provided. A good number of times, the government and the Unions protecting the interests of teachers have locked horns because the latter have complained about the neglect, abandonment, and callous insensitivity exhibited towards the paraphernalia for meaningful imparting of knowledge.
Indeed, it cannot be gainsaid that lack of good governance has turned Nigeria’s education system awry. Several months, even years passby without academic activities because of strike actions embarked upon by teachers and sometimes non-academic players in the schools. The scenario becomes more nauseating, when cognizance is accorded the fact that many of those at the helm of affairs ferry their sirlings to other lands to receive what they term premium education. Pathetic as that is, it’s not the end of the woeful story. There are yet other factors responsible for the challenge of getting educated here.
5. Absence of a robust Value framework. Value framework refers to the gamut of cultural, traditional, and customary priorities, preferences, and interests that appeal to the generality of persons in any community. Not too long ago many communities in Nigeria had very deeply entrenched moral, and social values. In 1989, I traveled to a place in Osun state where we had to traverse some farmlands. On our way we encountered many clusters of agricultural produce that were displayed for sale. But the owners were not in sight. Our guide explained that it was common practice for such displays to be made, and buyers would take whatever they needed and drop the amount tagged on the item. Can one still find such integrity today? Your guess is as good as mine!
Moral values have become so terribly eroded that stories abound about parents prompting their children to commit crimes as long as they make money. Money has become the god that many in society worship. So if one makes a lot of money, not minding how he made it, he becomes a leader of opinion, a role model, and a worthy exemplary for others.
In such an ambience any effort to engage in meaningful, productive activities such as effective study and empowering education are viewed as time-consuming efforts that don’t yield commensurate dividends.
The denigration of values also makes education challenging in terms of what is required of the pursuants. Many teachers at all the tiers of the system have loosened their rectitude to the point of requesting primordial gratifications from their students in return for grades. As a result, you find the system spewing out half-baked graduates who have been exposed to the sleazy world of crime and Machiavellian behavior. Sadly, some parents encourage such happenstances and other forms of examination malpractice. Indeed, erosion of values has taken a grave toll on education in Nigeria.
6. General societal apathy. All the above outlined factors combine to exact strong benumbing effect on the society. Therefore there’s a general apathy toward education, and for that matter, any thing that is positive. The evident cynicism, fatalism, and a predominant negative disposition have become a pervasive phenomenon. No one seems to have the zest to correct what is defective. So the rot gets from worse to worst. And the youth of the nation bear the brunt.
To be Continued…
