I like one of the other answers that starts by saying that intelligence is neither necessary nor sufficient to obtain a PhD. Broadly speaking I agree with this. But there is a minimal level of intelligence that is required.
I had been thinking about writing something on e-Learning and how it could shape the future of education in Nigeria but it is hard to discuss topics other than politics during the campaign season. However, when I came across the following tweet a few days ago I was motivated to do a little research and write this short piece: @fimiletoks: University education is a privilege even in developed parts of the world. Basic education is a fundamental human right. Right to free and compulsory primary education. Right to available and accessible secondary education (including technical and vocational education and training), made progressively free. ASUU should realise that in the scheme of play, they are on the lowest rung of the ladder. The least of our worries. In tweeting his musings on the ASUU/Fed Govt imbroglio that has become a permanent fixture in our tertiary education calendar the author also echoed the thoughts of many including yours truly. He went ahead to suggest that the federal government should quit subsidizing tertiary education which is supposed to be a privilege and focus more on providing basic and secondary education which should be a fundamental human right for every citizen. Historically, governments have played a dominant role in funding tertiary education, especially in Africa where the need to bridge the gap created by departing expatriate civil servants at the wake of independence from colonial masters necessitated governments input. The exigency to train a group of professionals was well appreciated thus in the early 1970s the federal government abolished school fees in all the six federal universities and took up the task of funding them. With the subsequent discovery of oil and the attendant boom witnessed by the Nigerian economy, all the federal universities in the country were fully and adequately funded precipitating an increase in the demand for higher education, which in turn led to the establishment of additional tertiary institutions. Consequently, the government’s allocation to universities has continued to increase. This trend has continued to date. As a matter of fact, a study titled “Higher Education Funding in Nigeria — Issues, Trends and Opportunities” presented at the 2016 International Business Information Management Association Conference in Milan, Italy revealed that the appropriation to federal universities rose from N10 billion in 1999 to over N223 billion in 2013. The average allocation per university equally increased from N500 million to over N5 billion in the same period. However, a combination of factors such as inflation and the geometric increase in student population has ensured that these increments amount to little. Between 1990 and 1997, the real value of government allocation for university education declined by 27 per cent even as enrollment grew by 77 per cent. In other words, there’s been a lot of movement without commensurate motion or better still backward motion. What’s more, the pressure and competition for limited public resources from other sectors of the economy; including sub-sectors of education have greatly hindered the ability of successive governments to fulfil its funding obligation to these universities. These and other reasons have been responsible for the incessant ASUU strikes embarked on by lecturers in a bid to force the government to meet its commitments. If we are to go with the Nigeria Universities Commission which put the cost of training an undergraduate to full accreditation at over N1 million per annum, then with about two million enrolled nationwide, funding university education will cost N2 trillion annually. This figure is more than double the total budgetary allocation for the health and education ministries combined. And with the Babalakin led negotiation team standing its ground in the current impasse it has become imperative for us to explore other ways of funding higher education especially now that the demand has moved beyond quantitative to qualitative education. The government is therefore left with no other option than to partner with the private sector if Nigeria is to avoid a total collapse of our already haemorrhaging tertiary institutions. This much Vice President Osinbajo alluded to in a recent workshop when he stated that “while government funding is important and critical, it is not the only source of funding for education — the second source of funding is from non-governmental sources — these include contributions from sources such as school charges, private donations, corporate sponsors, alumni associations, charitable and faith-based associations and among others.’’ Now while some will criticise the idea of the federal government pulling the plug on tertiary education subsidy as being a capitalist proposition, others will question the rationality of implementing such in Nigeria where an average citizen lives on less than $2 a day. However, the more important posers beg; how has the socialist approach improved the standard of education in our tertiary institutions? How has it improved the quality of graduates churned out annually by our universities? Your guess is as good as mine here. The world has been reshaped by the internet and e-Learning is already integrated into education in developed nations. Nigeria cannot continue grappling with the paradox of spiralling cost and the declining standard of education at a time when China is teaching 5-year old pupils coding. It is time for the government and ASUU to agree on a gradual withdrawal of subsidy from our universities. This will free up funds that will be invested in the provision of basic, vocational and technical education. Partnering with the private sector to invest massively in e-learning will help to achieve this. The benefits are too numerous for the scope of this piece but it will be proper to list a few. E-Learning makes higher education more accessible to unique populations such as parents with children, service personnel, students with full-time jobs and those with disabilities. It is also cost saving as it eliminates the often expensive logistics of having the lecturer and students in the same location. I just finished a six-week creative writing course with all the study materials and coursework delivered online. And gone are the days when it
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do,”
Stephen Hawking the legendary physicist once said “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious” I love vacations. The sun, the sandy beaches and the other fun stuff. But there is another part of my vacation that I equally cherish. It is the serenity of early mornings and the tranquillity of late nights. The quietude presents a time of solitude. A period for reflection and meditation. It awakens my curiosity and the longing to learn more and more and more… I am Cmoni, an entrepreneur, adventurer and aspiring writer. I was born in the most populous black nation. A country blessed with enormous human and material resources yet unable to fulfil its potential. A common problem in the developing world. Nigeria has a teeming youth population. The UN projects, about 70% of Nigerian youths to be under 30, many of whom are uneducated. But I’ve been lucky, graduating in my 20s and currently pursuing a 3rd degree in Ireland. Historically, governments have played a dominant role in funding tertiary education because of the need to bridge the gap created by departing expatriate workers in the wake of independence from colonial masters. The exigency to train a group of professionals was well appreciated; thus in the 70s the Nigerian government abolished school fees in tertiary institutions and took up the task of funding them. With the attendant oil boom in the same period, it wasn’t a difficult task. The future looked bright. This precipitated an increase in the demand for higher education, which in turn led to additional universities, colleges and polytechnics. However, a combination of factors including a geometric increase in student population posed a problem. Successive governments struggled to fund tertiary education leading to a gradual decline in the standard of education. But there is a solution. Much of the world has been reshaped by the internet and e-Learning. No nation should be caught in the paradox of spiralling costs and a declining standard of education at a time when information is more accessible than ever. Therefore, the task of improving literacy and knowledge acquisition should be a collective priority for countries like Nigeria. But how can we do this? What will be the strategy? What tools, processes, techniques and methods should be deployed? Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the world wide web said that the web is about connecting humanity. Knowledge is increasingly acquired outside the traditional institution environment especially through the internet. The best way to start is to pick a domain of one’s own. That was how cmonionline.com was conceptualised in 2017. I wanted to elicit discourse by publishing my opinion on topical issues thereby creating an online version of Habermas’ Public Sphere. I wrote on varying sociopolitical issues. I discovered that the more I published the more I improved not just in my writing but also in technological skills like WordPress, web and graphic design. But then if you want to walk fast you walk alone but if you want to go far you walk together. What better way to learn than together? So in 2020, I started a weekly essay competition. The idea was to build a community of readers, writers and thinkers. I also created the #CmonionlineSundayPuzzle, a weekly exercise of puzzles, riddles and brain teasers. We have fun learning new stuff and in both activities, winners are always rewarded with prizes as tokens of encouragement. So far we have published over 500 essays from about 50 different writers. With support from friends, we have paid out over N2 million in cash prizes. We also have a growing audience with a combined social media following of over 10,000. But most importantly we started a journey together. We are set to elevate. We will create more digital communities of practice, tribes and classes for activities of interest. The free distribution of knowledge and peer review will form the crucible of our growth. Together we will develop portfolios, modules and learning outcomes using varying research methods and strategies. We will utilise the opportunities offered by digital tools such as zoom, teams and slack in the process. We will also collaborate with leading global knowledge providers like Coursera, LinkedIn, skillshare and others. So visit cmonionline.com and be part of a learning community where you reward your intellect and pocket!
While it is true that the Covid-19 pandemic alongside the growing insecurities in different parts of Nigeria is seemingly rolling back the progress meant to be achieved in the education sector funding, the President must never relent.
Whether we see it is as a possibility, a ray of hope, or deceit, one thing is certain — nothing comes easy. Every good thing comes with a price. Maybe, in this case, the price is our belief in this dear country and the undiluted support we can offer in achieving the promise together.
It is highly ridiculous that Nigeria: with a plethora of education crises, will place education on such a low budget with little or no priority; no wonder why the country is ending in the path of destruction. Never late than never, the nation is coming to its senses and getting to realize the benefits of properly funding its education system for socio-economic development and growth.
As earlier explained, the benefits of quality education, not like what is obtainable in the country, are enormous and cut across all areas of society. We must remember that the duty of reviving our education does not rest on the shoulders of the government alone.
In conclusion, it is important to realize the reasons why the education of our generation warrants more investment. Malcolm X once said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it”. Our future as a country is largely tied to our much we are willing to do to improve education in our country. The more resources, as well as attention, we give to the education of the children and youths can determine if Nigeria fails as a country in the new decade; unable to present its acclaimed leaders of tommorow to the global front.
Quintessentially envisioning the necessity for a better education sector in Nigeria, it is now perplexing that the tussle between the Federal Government (FG) and the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) has caught the attention of all Nigerians – the young, youths, and aged. The search for plausible ideologies to address the recurrent differential quality of education in tertiary institutions, the pursuit for lasting solutions to the observed retardation in the calendar system of government-owned schools, and the quest for effective ways of funding citadels of learning have erupted the urgency of this essay. Although Nigeria as a nation came into being in 1914, it was not until 1934 that the first form of higher education institution, Yaba Higher College, was established. The nation had to wait till 1948 before her first university, University of Ibadan formerly, University College, Ibadan (UCI) came into existence. In the course of ensuring rise in quality of education in the country and to defend the interest of lecturers, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) which was a subset of the Nigerian Association of university teacher formed in 1965, gained sovereignty in 1978 and began to operate as a union that fights for the right of her members. To ensure the smooth running of the education sector, there have been series of clashes between FG and ASSU. The disputes that have been enumerated for negotiation by ASUU and which shall form the foundation of this preachy and advisory essay are the following: proper funding of tertiary institutions, payment of salaries, conclusion of renegotiation of the 2009 MOU with regard to conditions of service of the running of universities, payment of Earned Academic Allowance to ASUU members, and call for unwavering swimming out of the ocean of conflict to bury the hatchet between FG and the university lecturers. Going forward, the chronicle of tertiary education in Nigeria will be an incomplete chronology and an incomprehensive narration without attributing to series of strike actions after failed attempt to negotiate ASUU demands with FG. From the inception of democracy in the nation in 1999, it is a new normal that every president must encounter the worriment of an industrial strike action demonstrated by trade unions, most especially by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Nevertheless, industrial strike action was initiated to be a solution to resolve the conflict of interest between the employee and the employer on certain issues such as working condition, remuneration issues or terms and condition of operations, none payment of the earned allowance, inadequate funding of the university system and so on. Sadly, collating data from 1999, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had embarked on strike for about 4 years and 2 months in all since the return of democracy in 1999. This means that over 4 years have been lost to strike actions in the last two decades as a result of disagreement between FG and ASUU over protracted series of issues. In fact, the recurrent disrupted academic calendar is causing differential educational settings in higher institutions, hence the observed disparity in the quality of education which ought not to be. This has also subjected the students to face many challenges like loss of interest in education, involvement in social vices like robbery, kidnapping, rape etc. On November 4, 2018, ASUU embarked on an industrial action for three months which was due to the same reason as previous years. The most recent industrial action commenced as a two-week warning strike on March 9, 2020, after a disagreement with the Federal Government over Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and other issues relating to university funding. The ASUU chairman, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi said it was unfortunate that instead of taking the advantage of the two weeks warning strike to show commitment towards the implementation of the 2019 Memorandum of Action, the Federal Government had continued to blackmail the union and engage in misrepresentation of facts aimed at misinforming members of the public on the agreement. A sacrosanct factor associated with the tussle between the university lecturers and FG is perpetual poor student performance and productivity. Having to be on unplanned break for a long period, resuming work will be a little daunting challenge on the part of the student considering the fact that they were not involved in any academic exercise during the strike. This will lead to students failing woefully in their academics. No doubt that all these do not only affect the tertiary educational system but have also soiled the name of the country in mud when place in scale with other universities in various countries of the world. No more time to waste time, FG and ASUU need to take conscious efforts needed for a better Nigeria. WAY FORWARD Without mincing words, pointing out that the Nigerian university system calls for revitalization as it is being vociferously verbalized by ASUU, needs no further contention. To be concise, the infrastructural decay being experienced in schools is monumental. Furthermore, the paucity of unrivaled learning, exceptional research resources, and first-class teaching including those that could have facilitated virtual classes during remotely operated schooling, calls for alarm. The following approach should be adopted by the FG as conscious efforts for the better running of universities and to cater for the demands of ASUU. Increasing Annual Budget on education to a minimum of 10 trillion Naira per annum The government must lead the forefront in demonstrating key interest in education. One of the pressing problems of Nigeria’s higher education system remains the severe underfunding of its institutions. The Federal government, over the past decade, has not significantly increased the share of the government budget dedicated to education, despite exploding the number of students admitted annually. The implementation of a rigid law should be established to mandate the government to allocate 10 trillion naira minimum on education every year. This will help to cater for the smooth running of schools, as well as proper funding of tertiary institutions, payment of
The popular saying “Education is the bedrock of development” interpret the understanding of education as the pivot for sustainable growth and advancement in any society. In fact, one can best say the level of educational quality in a country determines her level of pace in reforms and development. The importance of education cannot be over emphasized especially in the twenty first century. Taking Nigeria as a case study, we see a contrary nature in the educational sector most especially at the tertiary level. A major contributor to the educational crisis that has bedeviled the academic domain is the regular face off between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The rift between the two parties has made major headlines for decades in the news space along with the frequent strike embarked upon by ASUU. This unabated issue rendered the standard and quality of tertiary education in Nigeria in suffering state begging for resue. On several occasions, ASUU has raised various valid concern faced by the universities before the federal government. They laid emphasis on the revitalization of public universities, improved renumeration for staff members, granting autonomy to universities from undue bureaucratic process and other issues. The indifference shown on the part of federal government over the concern of ASUU made them embark on consistent strike grounding academic activities in the public universities. Consequently, the incessant strike by ASUU has come with attendant effects in the educational segment. They include but not limited to disruption of planned academic calendar or program, delay in student graduation, undue prolongation of students years in school and altering the life plan of Students. This educational crisis has made school unattractive to both advanced and incoming students. Now, the youths have drifted their attention from education to the trending get rich syndrome because they have lost confidence in the Nigerian educational system. The sacred mandate of a university is to provide a platform for impacting knowledge, engaging research and provision of academic solutions to immediate problems of local society. However, a good number of our universities have not lived up to this mandate due to poor funding and inadequate learning facilities. Haven acknowledged that the state of education in Nigeria is facing crisis, there is urgent need to make sincere effort in preventing it from exacerbating to a level beyond repair and project a way forward. The truth of the matter is that, the bulk of work lies on the government shoulder to tackle the prevailing causes of diminishing standard of education in Nigeria. The federal government must recognize the educational sector as an important area of necessity and thus, should not be joked with. The federal government should display an honest approach in the implementation of her agreement brookered with the Academic Staff Union of Universities to put an end to their incessant strike. Nigeria continues to witness increase number in out of school children because of numerous challenges in the educational sector. To tackle this, the government should stop paying lip service over the poor state of education in the country by providing adequate funding, formulating and enforcing feasible policies that can may the system better. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) should as a matter of national interest engage alternative means in getting at the government other than strike. This is because, over the years, the use of strike as a force to get government attention has been counterproductive most especially when it is a prolonged strike. ASUU should exercise other strategic means stipulated by the labour laws to vent their agitation. This is with a view to allow the consistent and continuous running of academic activities without obstruction. ASUU, as a major stakeholder, must recognize their role in promoting educational value and therefore, should comform their operations in a way that promote greater good than harm in the academic ecosystem. The federal government should know that it’s persistent neglect over the decadence in the educational sector amounts to misplaced priority and negligence. Education should be treated with all the importance it deserves and the aftermath will be nothing but all round development both in human capacity and infrastructure. The government must empower robustly the universities under her care to live up to its mandate in providing solutions to societal problems through advanced research and transfer of knowledge. Every nation that aspires to attain all round development and growth gets the secret code from her educational space which constitute her body of knowledge. In other words, any society that pays less attention in standardizing its educational system will parade itself as an illiterate society. Nigeria should now begin to appreciate immensely the sensible role of education in her level of development by championing every course that edifices her educational and developmental status. The engagement between ASUU and the federal government should not be like a religious ritual without direction but one that invigorates drastic measures in curbing the exacerbation of educational crisis and lingering strike. All hands must be on deck both on the part of ASUU and federal government to deal decisively with the issues confronting the progress of education in Nigeria. Nigeria needs change to attain steady and gradual development, and that change can only come from a qualitative educational system. This is better emphasized in the words of Nelson Mandela of blessed memory “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Victor Okonjo is a student of Computer Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure. He has a keen drive in the creative expression of thought and ideas through the Pen. He can be reached at okonjovico@gmail.com
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Ireland is a little Island in western Europe separated from the North East of the United Kingdom by the North channel of the Atlantic ocean. With a population of just six and a half million and a GDP?capita of over $62,000, it is a destination of study with many prospects. Studying in this part of Europe can be expensive but there are still ways to get around that for the determined student. There are scores of scholarships available for international students including Nigerians from different sources such as the Government of Ireland, the Irish higher education institutions and other local and international organisations. The scholarships are mostly awarded at the discretion of the individual organisations based on set down qualification criteria. Yours truly have put together a number of sites to aid potential students to explore numerous means of getting a scholarship to study in Ireland. scholarship positions 3ciconsulting and Top careers More details may be found on the education in Ireland site. As usual, you can thank me later.
@ikhide: Interesting how Western liberals react with outrage and condescension whenever an African thinker departs from liberal orthodoxy and tries to think for him or herself; witness the troubles Adichie and Ngugi have been in for daring to have independent views on contemporary issues. The above tweet which I came across this morning got me thinking. Is it that Western liberals who by the way often lay claim to championing globalisation and equality believe it must be achieved on their own terms? or that Africans are unwilling to take a stand and grab the bull by its horns to emancipate ourselves from the shackles of the slave mentality? At the Night of ideas event which held at the prestigious Quai d’Orsay Paris, home of the Foreign Ministry, a French journalist had asked our globally acclaimed Chimamanda if Nigeria has bookstores. A question which did not go down well with the award-winning author and outspoken feminist. In a typical manner, her response was predictable “I think it reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask me that question,” she quipped. Whether Caroline Broué was ignorant or just being mischievous is anyone’s guess, but that has taken the backstage. The discourse elicited by the uncanny exchange is now centred on racism and colonial prejudices. Expectedly many Nigerians took to the social media to hurl expletives at the lady, she was labelled arrogant, insolent, ignorant and of course racist. For me, however, the issue presents an opportunity for us to critically interrogate the dwindling reading culture which by extrapolation is responsible for the falling standard of education we have in our society currently. Not long ago I discussed a tweet about Nigeria’s unemployment problems on my facebook wall. Agreed we have unemployment problem which appears to be well known, but we have even a bigger problem of unemployability because of the low educational standards. Can we honestly put side by side many of today’s graduates with those of the 70s and 80s? of course not. Growing up as secondary school students in the coal city, we were always excited to visit Prince Bookshops opposite UNEC gate or the National Library both of which were walking distances from CIC. Memories of Marvel, Tiger and Speed, Western Comics remain evergreen just like the hardcover series of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and many others endure. A common phrase from one of my extramural class teachers back then was that “exceptional intellectuals are usually products of libraries”. That line ultimately resulted in the acquisition of novels as bragging rights and has never departed my consciousness in the quest for more knowledge till date. Today our national libraries spread across the country are in such deplorable state that many are hardly recognisable. Whatsmore, besides the silly excuse of convoluted bureaucracy, a larger portion of the meagre funds for these libraries when eventually released often end up in the pockets of those in charge. I can vividly recollect watching the protest staged by the Workers of the National Library of Nigeria last October. They ‘ve obviously had enough of the stalling and poor financial allocation to a project which commenced close to 20 years ago. Who would have believed that our National Library in Abuja is still on a rented property? What a shame! How did we get here one is often forced to ask. It is partly because successive governments have failed to meet the UN recommended budgetary allocation for bridging the educational funding gap in developing countries. With a Minister of Education who publicly claimed to have inquired about the ‘much-touted’ 26% budgetary benchmark on education from UNESCO and discovered it was false, one can rightly say that the danger signal is definitely lost on this government. Mr Adamu did not deem it wise to state the figure he got from his ignominious inquiry but rather chose to defend the 7% allocation which was far below the actual UN figure of 15-20%. The problem is also worsened by a populace that continues to relegate the importance of a reading culture that once motivated top-notch authors like Achebe and publishers like Macmillan. These two gave us Things Fall Apart and the unforgettable collection of pacesetter novels respectively. The focus nowadays is on getting a certificate by any possible means. Most students are willing to do just about anything to pass their exams. Unfortunately, many parents across the nation largely support this oddity. At the University of Cardiff, the library was where you spent the most time after classes. It is an integral part of your life as a student. I recollect that back in the 80s freshmen in Nigerian universities normally go through an induction process where they are acquainted with the library and the discipline that comes with it. I doubt the number of our universities that still practice it now. That perhaps explains my surprise when I met an undergraduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University buying a lot of old African novels in a bookstore at the temporary site. From our little chit-chat, I gathered that she was studying English which typically required a lot of reading. However, it was gladdening to learn that having come from a background where reading is a habit, some of the books were not recommended coursework but just for her reading pleasure. Of course, there is a global decline in the reading culture. All thanks to the digital technology age we find ourselves in, but what are we doing as a nation to curb the trend? The only public Library in Awka South Local Government located in Amawbia is derelict whereas there are libraries spread across the counties (the equivalent of LGAs) in Ireland. For instance, Cork City with a population of just over a hundred thousand people has at least 7 public libraries and many other private ones. The bookstores? Oh, there are hundreds of them at the city centre excluding the online ones. It is also sad that our environment is generally
The aim should always be to exceed the UN benchmark of 26 % and not the other way round. It is the proper thing and will go a long way in addressing some of our long-term problems like tribalism, intolerance and poverty.
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