Nigeria@50: How we can revive education

At a time in the 60’s and in the 70’s Nigeria’s educational institutions were counted among the best in the world and we were attracting a good number of people from other African nations who come all the way here to pursue their studies or research into various fields of knowledge. School enrolment at the […]

At a time in the 60’s and in the 70’s Nigeria’s educational institutions were counted among the best in the world and we were attracting a good number of people from other African nations who come all the way here to pursue their studies or research into various fields of knowledge. School enrolment at the primary and secondary school level was rising and our young ones were eager to go to school with the firm belief that a sound education holds the key to a better future for them. Our technical schools were also functional and were helping to churn our young Nigerians who were going to be absorbed by our industries. But within the space of some few decades we fell from this lofty height and what we began to experience today in the form of youth violence, ignorance and crime is as a result of our failure as a nation to provide quality education to all our children irrespective of their background and social status so as to give them a fighting chance of making a success out of their life. But having denied them this chance, they have now turned the fight against the society by among other things making themselves available as willing tools in the hands of unsavory politicians who use them to foment trouble and cause unrest.

I believe firmly that we could turn things around by first of all increasing how much we spend in funding education to meet the standard set by UNESCO and by making sure such monies gets to the schools they are meant for. Unfortunately, our political leaders have been failing this test since 1999. I also believe that education could be made free and available to majority of our citizens, especially those who cannot afford it. This is a vision which I am personally committed to making sure happens in my lifetime in our nation, but only if the generality of our citizens play their role of ensuring that only credible people are voted into power to take charge of the affairs of our nation. I am personally worried with the parlous state of education in my home state of Benue which should have been in a far better state than it is at the moment. Providing sound and qualitative education to our citizens is a task that must be accomplished else the future generations will not forgive us. It is a battle that should be fought and won to guarantee the development of our nation and our people.

The time is well past that we should be according lip service to the education sector without putting in the needed effort to salvage the sector. We now live in a digital and information age where education provides the life skills that would enable our citizens key into the growing and evolving world and become participants in the globe rather than mere spectators. This is a right which every government should provide for its citizens. And what is needed to deliver this right is nothing more than a visionary commitment to deliver to our people the best that democracy has to offer, which is nothing more than good governance and purposeful leadership. I believe that a silent storm of change and transformation is slowly rising and gathering momentum. This storm shall with the support of all of us together working for our collective good translate into the change we need to make so as to develop as a nation. Our citizens are one of the most brilliant in the world as attested to by the many feats Nigerians have recorded educationally both at home and abroad. This is a feat we should sustain and make wide reaching.

Maxwell Ahule, an advocate for new leadership in Benue State can be reached at [email protected]