About the Writer: Kanayo A Odoe (BL, J.D., MSc, BSc) is a lawyer, engineer and chemist.

He practices law in Nigeria. He loves philosophy and history.August 2012

EDUCATION There has been a steady free fall in the quality and standard of education in the past eighteen years or so in Nigeria. There is no clear-cut policy to tackle the rot in the current system of education. Every problem has been met with the same solution: merely throwing money at some schools or setting up of committees by the executive branch. Money alone without depth of thought has never been known to solve a problem. One wonders what happened to the power of reason in the use of addressing and finding solutions to problems. Sadly, about a month (July 2012) ago the Federal Government donated about 3 billion Naira each donated to several Federal Universities in order to support universities. The thoughtlessness of such donation raises the question as to whether the need of each of the universities was the same. Why give the same amount to different universities with different financial needs, in different geographical terrain, and with different student population? Common sense demands that money should be spent according to justified need. Perhaps, merely donating money to these universities has improved education in Nigeria. Recently, Governor Obi gave out books in Anambra in a bid to uplift education in his state. Throwing money in the form of books or building structures will not give Nigeria the type of education that will prepare her for the demands of the 21st Century. It is time to train a quality teaching staff, to equip our institutions of learning with tools of the 21st Century and to admit students into institutions based on merit. The education sector is the most important sector in Nigeria more important than the Ministry of Petroleum. Looking at the terrain in Nigeria, one can only conclude that the current education policy is not in line with the reality of todays world. We are yet to

grapple with the current problems in the education sector. There are those who will point to the fact that a lot of people in the education sector have PHDs in varied fields of educational endeavor. A PHD without more will not solve our problem. We need administrators, men and women of deep thinking. Nigeria does not have a clear policy definition and goal as to what a proper education entails and how best to achieve it. I agree that our goals, no matter how noble, are at best an Ideal. But it is also a noble to aspire towards the ideal. In my view, within the Nigerian context, that ideal is providing free quality education for children from ages 3-17 years. It is my firm belief that University education should be paid for by those who value it that much. But our secondary education should prepare the school leavers with the basic tools needed to function as citizens of the Nigerian state. I will get back to this later. With all the complaints from various quarters in Nigeria about our collapsing education sector, it seems that we are yet to understand the essence of an Education. The complaints and attention given to our education comes up when children fail an external exam. The failing education seems to be analyzed only within the context of external SSCE results. But before I address the numerous concerns and feelings related to this sector, we must set out to define EDUCATION. The goal of education is human excellence in both private and public life. Great Conversation. For any society to survive or attain greatness, there must be focus on education. Education seeks to prepare the future generation for the future of governance and direction of their land. Education awakens the human spirit. It builds and strengthens the ego. We learn about virtues and learn to hate vices. What it means to be great within the context of our society and the world. The Western world has achieved greatness in all human endeavors because of education. It seems that here in Nigeria we confuse education with getting a livelihood. Securing a livelihood can be secured by learning a trade,

carpentry or driving. An educational system is the societys attempt to perpetuate itself and its own ideals. If a society wishes to improve, it will use its system of education to achieve that goal. If Nigeria is to gain its respect in the comity of nations, it will do so through an educated populace. Respect and quality of the human spirit will not be gained by how much oil was sold in the world market. This is the time for those in power to make a serious commitment to thinking about how best to achieve an enlightened mass. From the words and actions of those in power it is quite apparent that the issue of a quality education has not been thoroughly understood or for that matter investigated. The heart is in the right direction but the head fails it. Globally, education has evolved. Up until twenty or more years ago, one was considered knowledgeable if he or she could cram a book and regurgitate answers on the day of exams or before a panel. Today, however, the hallmark of education has evolved to: how a person applies knowledge- applied knowledge. It is not enough to cram all the pages of a text book; beyond that, a child or student should know how to use what he or she has learned to better their surroundings, environment or nation. It is in light of this evolution of knowledge that the Western World is making groundbreaking advancements in science and technology never known to any generation. The evolution of education is slowly leading to the extinction of the biro and Onward exercise book; the Tablet and the computer are quickly taking its place. The Nigerian government should wake up to this fact and act accordingly. This begs the question as to the urgent need of steady power supply. The current school curriculum is prehistoric and cannot produce a generation that can compete in the age of globalization. Nigerians should note that it can no longer produce graduates for Nigeria; Nigeria should be producing graduates for the world. It is my humble view that the Federal Government should focus more on policy for schools and education standards. I posit that the Federal Government should develop a curriculum telling the states in the Federation

what is expected of a child at every stage of his or her schooling and for that matter, what is expected by the time a child leaves secondary school. Some of the questions that must be addressed in the curriculum amongst other things are: What it means to be a Nigerian, What it means to be a citizen of the world, Legacy, Basic understanding of governance in a democratic setting, The bill of rights guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution; What it means to be a Patriot, etc.

It is also my firm belief that there must be a strong private sector participation in the new education drive. The private sector should be actively engaged in developing departments in schools. Scholarships should be set up for students from disadvantaged homes that have shown drive for excellence. In this stead, I must commend the Old Boys of Kings College Lagos which has set a great example worthy of mention. Let me propose the USA method, some thinking person can come up with a better method and approach. The developed man knows that greatness and legacy is defined by service to the many and not how much is in his or her bank account. Some of us seek to be remembered even years after we die while some of us love humanity. When Nigerians start to look to enduring legacy, Nigeria will start on the right path. As it relates to education, private individuals with financial means and love for mankind can set up departments in Universities or secondary schools. For instance we know that the most highly ranked school of government in the USA and indeed the world is the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The great institutions in North America are funded by great men of wealth, means and most importantly love for humanity. It is quite a source of irritation that all sorts of universities keep springing up in Nigeria the standards are rarely there. Rather than build new universities every month, patrons should sponsor and donate structures to existing institutions. The Universities in turn would name these structures after the patrons if they so desire. The patrons through created Trusts can give conditions needed to perpetually maintain these structures and departments even long after their deaths. For instance, our so-called billionaires can

sponsor a department of material science in one of our universities. Those billionaires in the telecommunications industry can sponsor the creation of a department of telecommunications engineering in one of our Nigerian universities and set up terms for admitting students. And the billionaires in the financial industry can develop a department of accountancy or government in one of our universities. All these developed departments can be named after these men. In Harvard for instance, it is an unspoken understanding that children of the patrons have an exclusive right of first refusal into the departments or universities.

Let the Federal Government fund primary schools and secondary schools but private involvement should also be encouraged. The Universities should be funded by private sector, which include wealthy individuals and school fees.

The Federal Government should fund universities in research and development. Innovative universities will generate money through Intellectual Property laws. Bold universities can develop machines, equipments, systems and policies used to solve social problems. For instance, a combined effort of FUTA and FUTO can lead to the discovery of unmanned air vehicles (drones) that will help in fighting high crime rate. If such a system is built, the institutions can make money by selling the machines to the Government and through intellectual property laws. The Federal Government in aiding and donating towards research will also have a stake in any discovery. All monies gained if discovery is made will be shared by the Federal Government, University or private sector that invested in the research. I also believe that there is no need for a Teachers training. Teachers should be trained in universities where they will obtain a degree in education, Bachelors in Education (B.Ed). The government should not duplicate functions or divert focus and finances to something that can be easily addressed in a tertiary institution. Producing teachers through a university will

set the standard where teachers meet a certain criteria before admission to study and on graduation we know what is expected from them. Corruption has ruined everything in Nigeria and I know that there is nothing I write here that the average child does not know about the debilitating effect of corruption in all things Nigeria. Bribery has found its way from the State house to the schoolhouse. The indecency we see in every facet of our endeavour is now within our school halls. I would like to reiterate that we need a more dynamic team or dynamism in the current education team to address our failed education sector. The current team is well intentioned but they seem to lack what it takes to get us there. It is still the same old problem. Perhaps, it is a problem beyond them as no sector is entirely independent of other sectors in any economy.