The subject of education in Nigeria is very important that this writer will always engage in it when the opportunity presents itself. Education is one of the key factors for improving the quality of people in order to develop new skills, cultural values and behavioral patterns needed in the industry. No nation can rise beyond the intellectual capacity of its citizens.
Our rulers have always thought that Nigerians are as gifted as other people in developed societies. They have equally thought erroneously though, that Nigeria is contributing its fair share to the world’s stock of scientific and technological knowledge and instead of taking comparative studies that will put Nigeria’s human resources in context, our rulers merely isolate individuals.
It is on record that few respected Nigerians including globally acclaimed men of letters who by their hard work and talent have been acknowledged in international organizations and research institutions. Nigerian rulers use these few outstanding intellectuals to generalize that Nigerians are gifted. But for the population of about 200 million people, the number of such gifted Nigerians is insignificant. Without any contradiction, those few Nigerians who have excelled in their chosen careers have done so because of their exposure to quality education at home and abroad.
Nations formulate policies which reflect an intended course of action for addressing specific problem(s) in a given sector of the nation’s economy. In this case the education sector. Technocrats define the problem(s), collect data, analyze available data in a context applicable to the problem, and create a set of possible solutions to the problems. Policies are not to compound existing problems but to proffer solutions which government could use on the basis of a systematic analysis of available data. Policy drives strategy. And while strategizing, nations make clear cut choices about how they want to compete and survive in a competitive world. It is only quality education that converts labour into human capital for survival of a nation. For a very long time, policy makers are aware that education is good but they have not predicted accurately the type of education relevant for techno-economic development of Nigeria.
On 2 June 2016 however, Nigeria’s techno-economic development efforts suffered a devastating blow when the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu reportedly scrapped the post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Nigeria, while officially decreeing 180 marks as the officially cut-off mark for 2016 admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. With this policy, some experts are of the view that “…mediocrity is officially endorsed.” This writer now inquires respectfully in this column if mediocrity is officially endorsed.
It is alarming that the Minister of Education dropped the bar this low whilst the standard of education is falling. Education policies should be designed to raise the standard of our students, not lower it. We all live in a world that is driven by knowledge and innovation. Does Nigeria want half-baked graduates to drive entrepreneurship and industry in the future? Whilst local industrialists are complaining that graduates of today are not pro-industry, what does this mean to the Minister of Education? The minister’s understanding of the problem of the industry in Nigeria is reflected in his policy. After graduation, what happens to graduates of tertiary institutions?
The Minister and his team have assumed wrongly that local industry is requesting the federal government to lower the standard of education. Education policy should however increase quality of students eligible for university education and provide quality teachers. It should provide good working conditions for staff and conducive learning environment for students. Importantly, education policy should provide in large quantity qualified workforce for the industry and the highest office in government at local, state and federal levels. Development starts with quality people who are educated, organized and disciplined.
This writer thinks that the strategy of the minister would have been how to disburse the N369.6 billion approved for education in the 2016 budget in order to ensure key investments in education infrastructure and human capacity development. Thus, one would have expected the minister to articulate ways and means of achieving an objective within the scope of the 2016 budget that will enable Nigerian graduates to be employable.
With an official endorsement of 45 percent as pass mark in 2016 UTME, Nigeria has therefore politicized education. If the truth must be told, Nigeria is not prepared yet to embrace meritocracy. Unfortunately, it is from the set of students with low cut-off mark that Nigeria’s future leaders will emerge. This set of students will produce future university lecturers and administrators. In fact, some odd students out of the lot will someday parade themselves as presidents of Nigeria, ministers and legislatures. Guess what happens next. They may likely reduce the pass mark further to 120 marks out of 400. Since they have benefitted from a poor standard of education, they could give an order that there should be no JAMB, while entrance examination to tertiary institutions in Nigeria be stopped.
If this policy is sustained however, the consequences in the future will be as follows: Firstly, Nigeria will not be able to contribute its fair share to the world’s stock of scientific and technological knowledge. Secondly, Nigerians will not be able to assimilate technology and internalize the contributions of others. Thirdly, Nigeria’s stock of first class brains required for Research and Development activities will be below par. Fourthly, local industries will not get quality graduates who have the skill and knowledge that are pro-industry. Lastly, Nigeria will produce intellectually lazy workforce who are not creative to enhance its global competitiveness status.
In summary, inspiration is drawn from the late sage and politician, Obafemi Awolowo in 1968 theorize that “any system of education which does not help a man to have a healthy and sound body and alert brain, and balanced and disciplined instinctive urges, is both misconceived and dangerous.”
MA Johnson
