To Heal a Fractured Nation: Education and leadership for a new Nigeria( Continue from last week)

such lucrative ones as fuel subsidy or pension fund scams, kidnapping or oil bunkering, which are the preoccupation of their ex and current students! Other nations have not been as irresponsible and criminal as Nigeria has been despite having the same colonial roots and experiences. Asian and Latin American countries have used education to uplift […]

such lucrative ones as fuel subsidy or pension fund scams, kidnapping or oil bunkering, which are the preoccupation of their ex and current students! Other nations have not been as irresponsible and criminal as Nigeria has been despite having the same colonial roots and experiences. Asian and Latin American countries have used education to uplift their people, restore their dignity and create viable nations. The problems have not gone away, but clearly, from these, we have a few lessons to learn.
Costa Rica
Take Costa Rica, a small country which in many respects is the model for the value of Education. I came into contact with the news of their system purely by accident. In 1998, I was invited to speak at a conference in the United States on the military and the struggle for Democracy. After my presentation, we went on a tea break. A man walked up to me and introduced himself. I am Oscar, he said, to me, Oscar Arias. The name rang a bell but I did not wish to speculate. He moved me gently in the direction where coffee was being served. Our conversation went something like this: Father, he said to me, I enjoyed your presentation and your enthusiasm. But I must tell you, the military is not what you think it is. It is not as powerful as you think. It can be overthrown peacefully. You do not need the military. My country has the experience and I can show you how this can be done. I wondered who this man was. His humility was striking and his eloquence suggested a man who had a lot of experience in what he was talking about. He continued: Education is the key to ridding any country of the virus of the military. In my country, we invested a lot in education and we have reaped the fruits. Now, we do not have a military and, rather than feel threatened, we actually feel stronger as a people and as a nation.
He went on to explain how the founders of modern Costa Rica had battled to lay the foundation for a sound educational system as the basis for security. They believed that an educated populace would be able to defend themselves against the greatest enemy, ignorance and poverty. Suddenly, the co-ordinator of the Conference walked to us and I heard him say, This way, Mr. Arias, the next session is about to start and you are the Chairman. He walked away and it was when he was introduced at the session that I realized that I had been with Mr. Oscar Arias, the former President of Costa Rica and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace!
Arias was also the epitome of those leaders who left their countries, got a good education and came back home with a clear idea of how to fix their societies. He received his education in Costa Rica, but then went on to Boston University in Massachusetts, London School of Economics, and the University of Essex, United Kingdom. These roundly educated persons often are great reformers who often effect change arising from the quality of education they received and the time they may have had to plan a future for themselves and their countries. Dr Arias was President from 1986-1990 and received a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1987 for the great and courageous work he did to bring about Peace in the Americas.
Yes, Costa Rica still has no military.  They also have no Oil or any known resources.  Education is their Oil and it is the anchor for almost every facet of life. Teaching is the most prestigious and precious calling-card for every citizen. If you want to win elections in Costa Rica, it is not money that you need to have. No, if you are lucky to have Parents or even better still grand parents who were teachers, you have nothing to fear. Teaching is the most prestigious engagement and that is why they can afford to be a country without an Army and still be one of the most peaceful countries. Dr. Arias received the Peace Prize at a period of the greatest display of US power in region. It was a measure of the triumph of moral authority over weapons that he won the Prize with no standing army!
As an aside, let me divert our attention a bit. In our own situation, Nigerians have also demonstrated that if they are truly allowed to make their choices, they value the Teacher, his probity and his contribution. Teachers have also received their reward here on earth in ways that Nigerians would seem to have forgotten or do not appreciate. Let me give you some examples: President Shagari was a Teacher before politics. He was neither rich nor ambitious for politics. This is why his biography is titled, Beckoned to Serve! Governor Ibrahim Shekarau was a teacher before politics. He won his elections as Governor of Kano State even though he was unemployed and had no house of his own at the time he joined politics. Today, Dr Goodluck Jonathan is President of Nigeria was a teacher. Today, both Jonathan and Shekarau are President and Minister of Education respectively. We expect to see qualitative and measurable changes.
Singapore
The world continues to bow to Singapore and South Korea among other Asian countries. Since Nigeria’s return to Democracy, Lee Kwan Yew’s autobiography, From Third World to First has sold more copies in Nigeria than anywhere else in the whole world. President Obasanjo and his successors apparently ensured that all Ministers had copies of the book. While it is doubtful if these Ministers ever went beyond the first few pages, it is even more doubtful that those who may have managed to read the book had any real intention of borrowing the sense of discipline and patriotism that Mr. Yew so eloquently spoke of. It is a measure of our dilemma that, apart from Alhaji Shehu Shagari, none of our former Heads of State has had the courage to publish an autobiography.  
Like others who have been to Singapore, the beauty, order, serenity, and the sense of patriotism, efficiency, dedication and commitment of the Singaporeans, struck me. Most of what the country is today has been attributed to the vision of Lee Kwan Yew. But visions are not enough if you do not build a sound educational system to inspire sharers of your vision to see through your window. Lee himself speaks about the deliberate efforts he made to reserve and recruit some of the most brilliant minds into public life and politics. Neither patriotism nor anything else in life can be left to chance.
For example, there is a fascinating educational grid in Singapore that ensures that all Singaporean children acquire certain values and traits as they go through the system. It is organized in such a way that all children are literally indoctrinated to achieve an already defined outcome. The result is that in the end, there is a set of shared values that all children imbibe from Primary to Secondary and Junior College. That means that by the time one finishes Junior College and is ready for University, between the ages of 16-18, these values would already have been deeply ingrained. This ensures that after 18, when one has become an adult and is released into the larger society, one is fully equipped with what it is to be a Singaporean citizen, prepared to take his/her place in society. The table below speaks to the story :  
After Primary School    After Secondary School    After Junior College
Children should distinguish between right and wrong    Children must have imbibed Moral Integrity    Youth must be resilient and resolute
Learnt the art of sharing and putting others first    Have care and concern for others    Have a sense of social responsibility
Must know how to build friendships with others    Be able to work in Teams and value contribution    Understand how to inspire others
Developed intellectual curiosity    Be enterprising and innovative    Have an entrepreneurial and creative spirit
Must know how to think and self expression    Possession of the foundation for further education    Able to think independently and creatively
Take pride in work    Believe in their personal ability    Strive for Excellence
Cultivate healthy habits    Have an appreciation of Aesthetics    Have a zest for Life
Love SINGAPORE    Believe in SINGAPORE    Know what it takes to lead SINGAPORE
Moving Forward in Nigeria through Education
We do not need to look far to know why our nation has seemingly lost its soul. Education which constitutes the backbone, the central nervous system, of any nation has collapsed in our country. It is not as if the system has been taken over by bad men and women. No. It is just that we have had a complete system collapse, triggered by years of military rule which had total disregard for systems and processes. It is not that bad or unpatriotic soldiers governed us. On the contrary, with all the derision and criticisms, we have had some of the most patriotic leaders who actually were convinced that they were doing their best for this nation. Sadly, they were like men driving expensive cars, driving real hard, but in the wrong direction. This has resulted in a fractured society with no shared values and no clear navigational aids.
Today, from top to bottom, the rut is noticeable. The noble ideas behind the engagement of the Federal government’s involvement in Education have been compromised by a combination of wrong policy options and poor vigilance. The noble ideas for national unity behind the establishment and funding of institutions like the Federal Government Unity Colleges, Federal Special Science Colleges, Federal Colleges of Education, Federal Universities, Polytechnics and so on have been reduced to mere fiefdoms at the mercy of local cabals.
Appointments, promotions and so on have been hijacked by local tribal, regional and religious war lords who see these institutions as federal government patronage to their territory while a morally weakened Federal Government sees these institutions as extensions of domains of patronage to the local elites. The bureaucrats, politicians and public officers have filled up these Federal schools with their children not because they measure up but because of nepotism. The result is that the sense of common citizenship and nationhood that guided these visions has been severely compromised. How can these institutions possibly breed graduates that can, as they say in Singapore, know, believe and dream of what it takes to lead Nigeria?
 In fairness to ex President Obasanjo, he did a lot in his second term to reverse the rut in Education. He set up Universal platforms to initiatives to bridge the gaps and deficits in the Educational systems from Primary to the University. The problems here relate to the fact that the State Governments have turned these Boards into platforms for patronage of their political cronies. There is more emphasis on procurements, construction, renovation and other avenues for slush funds.
Given the complexity of our nation, can we find a Professor of Fulfulde in the University of Ibadan, a Professor of Tiv in Benin, or a Professor of Hausa in Uyo, or a Professor of Efik in Usman Dan Fodio? Are there specialists in Nok or Ife civilizations in the University of Madiguri or specialists in the Sokoto caliphate in the University of Lagos? Are our Universities prepared to confront the demons of our past historical experiences? Can a Fulani Professor teach history of the civil war, or an Igbo Professor specialize in the history of the caliphate? What will the results of their research look like? These are the demons that the academia must confront if we are dredge up and confront our common histories and narratives. This incestuous territoriality and domestication of the academia has stunted national politics and discourse and the result is that even the best of our academicians are vulnerable to be bait of their regional, religious and ethnic hegemons. Can we carry on like this and hope to build a nation?