A Short Paper Delivered
By
DR. OKEY ANUEYIAGU
OF THE
AWKA UNION USA
& CANADA
AT THE
CROWNE PLAZA CHICAGO O’HARE
CHICAGO ILLINOIS
USA
Saturday, November 24, 2007.
AT THE 8th BI – ENNIAL
CONVENTION
=====================
When I was invited to present a key note speech at the 8th Bi-ennial convention of the Awka Union USA and Canada, I became elated. My elation was fueled mainly by the fact that the theme of this year’s convention is centered on education.
To be allowed an opportunity to speak to such a distinguished audience, on a subject of such importance, is indeed an honour and immense privilege, and for this, I thank the members of the Awka Union USA and Canada, more especially, too, for embarking on such laudable educational philanthropy. I believe that although education is a social enterprise, there must be a strong advocacy for private and community effort in the provision of qualitative education for our young citizens.
Over the years my mind has become very agitated with the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s educational system. The scourge of the degradation sweeping through the nation’s educational institutions in the past decade or so, is threatening the very foundation of Nigeria’s value and vision as a nation. And by extention, Igbos of Eastern Nigeria, have suffered the devastating effect of this pathetic development.
It has become overwhelmingly evident, that there is a direct correlation between bad leadership and corruption with the fallen standard of education in Nigeria. Perhaps, it is safe to say that prolonged years of military dictatorship, the attendant visionless leadership, corruption and the sustained mismanagement of the nation’s economic resources contributed largely to the very rapid fall in the educational standard.
The fact that Nigeria accounts for one of the world’s largest oil wealth, and still possesses one of the world’s lowest per capita income is a real puzzle. The tragedy of Nigeria’s condition is so profoundly disgusting when you look at resource poor countries like South Korea, Japan, Finland, Singapore and others, and see what they have achieved.
These countries without much natural endowment, relied on the development of their educational sectors, which in turn nurtured good citizenry, purposeful leadership, as instruments of providing quality standard of living for its people.
However, the reverse is the case in Nigeria, and indeed the whole of Africa. The consequences of bad leadership and corruption can be graphically seen in the fact that 20 years ago, there were roughly about 150 million Africans living below poverty line, but today, the figure has doubled to about 300 million people. Conversely, the continent has witnessed about $600 billion oil wealth, that has not, in any significant way, impacted in the standard of living of the people.
Nigeria presents a good example of how people who live in a rich resource country, can wallow in abject poverty. The statistical data available reveal that 75 percent of the population now live on less than one dollar per day. The frightening impact of this reality may be appreciated when one imagines that one dollar may not purchase one chicken part.
The economic consequences of inadequate education, is pervasive corruption which renders the vast majority of a population highly impoverished. In order to reverse this trend, we must start, by borrowing examples from countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, where rigorous reform agenda pioneered through massive literacy programme, helped in providing visionary and ideas – oriented leadership that strengthened the judiciary, the legislature and the political system.
If something is predictable about the 21st Century, it is that change is constant and will occur at faster intervals than ever before in our history. A world renowned author, Malcom Gladwell in his bestseller, “The Tipping Point” speaks on how leaders in education, business and the media should identify the drivers for education in the next 20 years. The demographic, social, economic, political, and scientific trends that will have the greatest impact on education over the coming decades include:
- Demographic reality
- Social forces
- Economic trends
- The shifting political scene
- Science and technology at warp speed
Looking Globally at Education, the 21st Century is a time of challenge and opportunity for schooling systems worldwide. To survive and thrive, schools will have to address the following five dimensions of sustainability:
- Financial sustainability; becoming more efficient and less costly
- Environmental sustainability; teaching children to nurture the earth and to be less wasteful
- Global sustainability; becoming more networked internationally through computers and exchange programs and less parochial in outlook.
- Programmatic sustainability; becoming more focused on the skill and values that the 21st Century marketplace will seek and reward and be less narrowly isolated in a traditional discipline of approach to teaching and learning.
- Demographic sustainability; becoming more inclusive and representative of the school aged population and less unapproachable financially and socially.
As you can see from the aforementioned list of 21st Century keys to educational sustainability, Nigeria is lagging far behind.
In order to understand the title of this short paper, we must reflect on the general acceptability of the downward trend of the educational system in Nigeria, and particularly in the Igbo speaking areas of Eastern Nigeria. It would appear that the social system has come to embrace the show of pride in the acquisition of wealth, with little regard for acquisition of knowledge through formal education. Glorification which is the act of making something look satisfactory or pleasant, has adorned the scorn, which in the past was the way the Igbo people viewed the lack of education.
This is seen in the many instances where individuals with little or no education, are adorned and bequeathed with various titles and leadership positions in various sectors including political and policy making areas.
In reality, the future of a people is determined by the education of their youth, and a solid youth development programme, which ultimately translate into a positive and bright future. One of the most significant things about modern human society is education. Therefore, lack of knowledge and the glorification of its inadequacy will destroy any people.
From all indication, the problem in the education sector has become a national calamity. A sector that is responsible for the grooming of teachers, professionals and leaders of tomorrow has become so dysfunctional and almost comatose. In order for any nation to be and remain relevant in today’s globally competitive environment, it must have a well planned and qualitative educational system.
At all levels of our system, the decay and stench in the curriculum development, school system, infrastructure, policy formation, and funding is grossly appalling and utterly disgraceful.
The data and statistics put forward by The Federal Ministry of Education, is a clear illustration of the explosive danger that Nigeria is potentially facing. Some of these information are listed below:
- Out of the 1 million Nigerian children who ought to be in primary school, less than 24 million are in school.
- Out of a total population of 9 million Nigerians of secondary school age only 6.4 million are known to be in school.
- For the National Examination Council (NECO), the number of candidates who met the minimum requirement for University Matriculation Examination (UME) (that is a minimum of 5 credits including English and Mathematics) is 251,385 out of 937,457 who sat for the examination in 2005. This figure represents 78 percent of total candidates that registered for the examination.
- Out of 1 million pupils that took the JAMB (University entrance admission exam) only 200,000
- All the Universities in Nigeria, combined, have the capacity to admit only 147,000
From the background of the foregoing, it is clearly evident that Nigeria is on the brinks of total collapse. The Federal Ministry of Education must look beyond its statutory duties of registration, administration and regulation of the six levels of education, and ensure that all these levels, from nursery to university, must be properly administered and coordinated in synchronicity with each other.
To achieve the desired goals, the Ministry must welcome inputs from relevant stakeholders, private operators, and interest groups. The current campaign and effort of the Ministry is welcome. The initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education as summarized and reproduced herein, will serve as a guide to reforms, and if implemented, can save Nigeria.
A.) THE PROBLEMS:
- Institutional Challenges e.g Declining academic Legacy examination system & curricula, Corruption of the monitoring and policing systems, Exam malpractice, Cultism, Inadequate facilities and Unsustainable cost structure.
- Policy & Communication Challenges e.g Non-implementation of policies, Poor relations between Federal & State agencies and Communication gap between the operators within the sector and society.
- Capacity Challenges e.g Skills gap between Nigeria and other nations, Unemployment and Brain drain.
- Socio-Cultural Challenges e.g Youth deviancy, Dying reading culture and Moral degradation.
- Generational Challenges e.g Generational gap between parents & children and between teachers & students.
B.) THE QUESTIONS:
- How do we make education more relevant to present national imperatives?
- How do we produce national leaders and managers?
- How do we spur national development through knowledge & ideas?
- How do we compete as a nation in the 21st century?
- How do we create an entrepreneurial class that will take the burden of job creation off Government?
- How do we create the new economy class?
C.) THE REFORM AGENDA:
- Operation Reach All Secondary Schools (ORASS)
- Read to be Educated, Advance and Develop (READ) Campaign
- TAP (Tracking Assets for Progress)
- Universal Basic Education Curriculum Reform
- Unity Schools Franchising Programme
- Innovative Enterprise Institutions (IEI)
- Teacher Quality Development & Teacher Celebration
- Community Accountability & Transparency Initiative (CATI)
- Fight against Cultism & Exam Malpractice.
Operation Reach All Secondary School (ORASS) is an aggressive monitoring and inspection programme that will for the first time in decades accurately assess the state of individual public & private secondary schools and their needs. This will provide empirical and analytical basis for school reformation.
The READ Campaign is aimed at igniting a reading culture among Nigerians in a bid to create an Intelligent Society.
ed-TAP (Tracking Assets for Progress) tracks the products of the Nigeria educational system with a special focus on unemployed graduates. The goal is to provide data that will shape future curricula as well as information on entrepreneurial programmes and opportunities. A special career progression and entrepreneurship curriculum has been developed for these assets.
Universal Basic Education Curriculum Reform will ensure that education meets 21st century national imperatives.
The Unity Schools Franchising Programme will ensure sustainable funding for Unity Schools from Non-Governmental Organizations, Alumni Associations and Civil Society.
The Innovative Enterprise Institutions (IEI) programme aims to solve the capacity problems in our tertiary Institutions by creating special institutions focused on contemporary entrepreneurship and the service industry. Such schools include: The Film Academy, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Institute, The School for Oil & Gas Technology, The School for Paralegals among others.
Teacher Quality Development & Teacher Celebration will drive the resurgence of the teaching profession as an honourable and worthy calling.
The Community Accountability & Transparency Initiative (CATI) compels communities, Local and State Governments to accounts for the monies received for education.
The Fight against Cultism & Exam Malpractice tackles 2 key aberrations that have bedeviled our schools.
Other initiatives include Gender Equality Programmes, a School Feeding Programme, Private Sector Partnership for Education (P4E) and the creation of Schools for Children with Special Needs.
Even though the current state of the Nigerian Educational system seem dire, community groups such as the Awka Union USA and Canada have the opportunity now to introduce their own “tipping points” to alter the projected future. I quote Gladwell: “If there is difficulty and volatility in the world of the “Tipping Point”, there is a large measure of hopefulness as well. Merely by manipulating the size of a group, we can improve its receptivity to new ideas. Simply by finding those and reaching those few special people who hold so much social power, we can shape the course of social epidemics. In the end, tipping points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push-in just the right place-it can be tipped”
At this point, it is pertinent to point out that the proliferation of universities without commensurate quality and quantity teaching staff to meet up with the rise in student enrolment, is a major contributing factor to the falling standard of education in Nigeria, and global low rating of Nigerian graduates. The universities, in as much as they are so poorly financed and lacking in proper and adequate infrastructure, must find missions for themselves, and target those missions. There must be a well defined and diversified curriculum, with more emphasis on the development of science education and the fields of research and development.
In my mind, the debilitating effect of the fall in educational standard in Nigeria, has afflicted the Igbos the most. The tragic circumstances of the three year civil war tore the Igbos up, as they have gallantly struggled but sometimes futilely to put together their shattered lives. The massive disadvantages suffered by the Igbos in industry, technology, commerce and politics, have adversely affected and truncated the development of education in that region. By placing this reality within a broader and proper national context, I have come to believe that groups like the Awka Union must begin to speak out and act, to define the agenda of regional development in education, as a means of placing at the feet of public consciousness the ideas and activities that can restore the dignity of man through education.
In conclusion, members of the Awka Union USA and Canada by instituting this educational gesture, in no small way, have recognized the magnitude of the problems of the declining academic standards, and realized that without education, Nigeria, and indeed the Igbo nation will not achieve greatness internationally, and that our society will degenerate back to the stoneages, leaving the present economic and democratic reforms highly unrealizable.
The fundamental structure and initiatives for the reform of the Nigeria educational sector, must not be left for government alone. The private sector and community development groups, must be involved in the creation of an educated society, that will in turn, nurture a good society, an informed citizenry, and a globally strong and competitive Nigeria in the 21st century and beyond.
Thank you for listening.
Ikoyi, Lagos.
2007
