Education

By Uzair Adam Imam

A lecturer with Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Ibrahim Bello Kano (aka IBK), has described the Nigerian universities as entirely unsuccessful and unproductive, adding that both the lecturers and students are good plagiarists who solely depend on online resources.

Prof. IBK raised this argument on November 25, 2021, at the 3rd Social Sciences Public Lecture organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Bayero University, Kano.

However, the lecture generated responses, which eventually led to a debate among the audience. While some of the audience members agreed with Prof. IBK, others disagreed with him.

In response to the debate, IBK lamented, “Some professors never bother to read new information in their declared research field of interest. Only very few among our colleagues keep their head above the stagnant academic pool.”

He added that in Nigerian universities, some lecturers give lectures to the students, who pretend to take down notes. “When it is time for class tests, the assignment or examination, the students migrate en mass to online searches for relevant information,” he stated.

IBK, who seemed to have been speaking from his heart, described how sad he feels seeing lecturers and students openly plagiarising online academic materials.

“Students openly plagiarized online academic materials and pass them off as their own hard, independent research. Some of the lecturers are in relatively the same situation.” He lamented.

The lecture had many influential personalities both within and outside the university in attendance. Some of them included: The Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, represented by Dr Musa Auyo; Prof. Abdullah Uba Adam, former Vice-Chancellor, National Open University, Prof Ahmad M. Tsauni, among many others.

By Mukhtar Ya’u Madobi

The alarming rate of insurgency, banditry and kidnappings are rising across Nigeria without any sign of abating.

These myriads of insecurity challenges have been inflicting wanton damages on the country’s political, socio-economic, and educational institutions.

Initially, the prime targets of kidnappers are wealthy individuals who can afford a ransom of any sum to regain their freedom. But nowadays, the narrative has since dramatically changed, as individuals who live from hand to mouth have now become the targets of these blood-sucking demons.

Worse still, this heinous act has been extended to the education sector, looking at how mass abductions of students have become a norm.  These students end up in the kidnappers’ den and get subjected to different forms of torture, leading to the premature death of some of them, while the lucky ones that survive usually go a long way battling with post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) due to the horrific experience they were exposed to.

According to the latest edition of Nigeria’s National Security Strategy (NNSS) 2019, a document released by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), retired Major General Babagana Monguno, it was emphasized that kidnapping, armed banditry and militia constituted about 40% incidences of national insecurity in Nigeria.

Reports have indicated that several schools have come under attack by bandits since late last year in which innocent students were horrifically abducted. Records have shown that 20 attacks had been carried out on some Nigerian schools in which about 1,436 children were kidnapped and 16 dead, while 200 children are still unaccounted for.  It is with dismay that many schools were closed, thereby pushing the country’s education system on the cross.

Several schools in Northern Nigeria have been raided by bandits in which mass students were abducted. Notable among them are Government Science Secondary School Kankara, Katsina State, Government Girl Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State and Government Science College, Kagara in Niger state. In addition, bandits have also stormed and kidnapped students from tertiary institutions in Nigeria, such as the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka and Greenfield University, both in Kaduna State.

The continuous infiltration of Nigerian schools by bandits, especially in Northwestern Nigeria, is pervasive and disastrous. Currently, students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kujama in Kaduna State and Federal Government College, Yauri, in Kebbi State are still being held in bandits’ camps for more than four months with a slim hope of ever regaining freedom. Meanwhile, the abducted pupils of Salihu Tanko Islamiyyah School, Tegina, in Niger state, did regain their freedom in August after spending about 88days in bandits’ enclave.

UNICEF raised the alarm not long ago, saying that at least one million school children across more than 37 schools in Nigeria are afraid to return to school. According to the agency, the fears by the children were a result of insecurity in the country, especially abductions that had taken place in some schools across the country.

Reports indicated that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. For every five children that are not attending school globally, one of them is Nigerian. And this is mainly attributed to the danger the students face in their school from the anti-educational forces.

However, the question that is still begging for an answer is, what are the necessary measures taken by the government towards preventing the recurrence of kidnappings in our schools?

Albeit, armed groups, have since proliferated and become more sophisticated over the years. Henceforth, enhanced coordination between state and federal governments will surely improve the response to banditry and general insecurity. Part of this strategy should involve the use of early warning and early response systems involving the federal government, state governments, local vigilantes and community leaders.

Honestly, it will be apt should the Federal Government return to the drawing board to invigorate the earlier established Safe School Initiative program. The Safe School Initiative was unveiled in 2014 in Abuja during the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) by the Nigerian government in collaboration with the United Nations to rebuild, rehabilitate and restore normalcy in the education sector. It was launched in May 2014 after the abduction of more than 270 Chibok girls from their school in Borno State.

The program was established to build community security groups to promote safe education zones, consisting of teachers, parents, police, community leaders and young people. In the longer term, the program will further focus on bolstering the safety of schools by providing school guards and police in partnership with Nigerian authorities, training staff as school safety officers, and providing counsellors to schools at risk of attack.

Additionally, this initiative constituted a series of research, campaign and programmatic activities in collaboration between Theirworld and the Global Business Coalition for Education to raise the profile of safe schools and learning environments in times of conflict and emergencies.

The policy had been successfully launched and recorded tremendous successes in some countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and Latin America. Safe School Initiative offers supervision, services and teaching in saving children’s lives in the short term and helping them develop in the long term.

Presently, it is heartwarming to learn that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has commissioned an all-female squad mandated to safeguard schools from any harm by either bandits or kidnappers. This is part of its efforts to promote the Safe School Initiative and provide full-proof security for schools as directed by the federal government.

However, the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawal, has lamented that the Safe School Initiative program in Nigeria was designed to fail. This is because the Education Ministry was not involved in the funding or application of funds for the program, as the Ministry of Finance handles all these activities entirely.

The time is long overdue to stem the tide of banditry and kidnappings, as Nigeria must be liberated from the hands of ‘aliens who have turned to blood-sucking demons.’ Otherwise, this will retard the bright future of our children and the country they tend to inherit.

Mukhtar wrote from Kano State via ymukhtar944@gmail.com.

By Salisu Uba Kofar-Wambai

By Muhammad Sabiu

Dear Buni,

We need to talk; governance is beyond speeches. It requires actions, commitment and foresight. There is no place in history for those that failed to deliver the mandate given to them in any democratic polity. The world’s political leaders continue to champion the ideal democracy, tell voters you know the best, use your voice to bring change and take ownership of your destiny in knowing the details and aspects of governance. This gives prudent leaders the zeal and passion for taking responsibility, for leading by example. To incorporate new ideas and creativities, which provide an avenue for feedback and to believe in criticisms. These are the attributes that make them stand out amidst many challenges.

However, if we are to measure the growth and progress of our society, the indices we can use is education because acquiring quality and functional education is the concern of every community. That is why scholars in the field of public policy emphasize that, when it comes to educational policy, the stakeholders and actors are paramount to the policy’s success. They need to be integrated, involved, and allowed to participate freely without hindrance from the policy formulation and implementation stage. All their ideas and contribution need to be examined, analyzed and incorporated into the policy. They need to feel important in every step of the policy process. This will give them ample opportunity to take ownership and responsibility for its success and bring about a higher level of commitment in implementing the objective of the policy.

You declared a ‘state of emergency on basic and secondary education’ on your assumption of office. We all cheered and understood something needed to be done to save the sorry state of education. We believe in your powerful speeches on the first-ever ‘Educational Summit’ held in Yobe state. You declared that “I know there are a lot of complaints about some teachers, who are not qualified to teach, and complaints about some teachers who are not able to speak or write well in [the] English Language. This has to change”. We all hailed again, thinking the messiah and symbol of hope had arrived.

From your oratory speeches, we develop confidence that today’s governance transcends what had happened in the previous administrations. We all got a sigh of relief and hoped new ideas and philosophies would guide your administration. The people of outstanding calibre would be called to serve the state, people with foresight and reason.

The problems facing the Basic and Secondary Education policy are many. The broad objective of the policy was in papers, and in practice, it did not demonstrate what it entails. The problem emanated from the formation of the team or committee saddled with the responsibility to craft the policy and to non-involvement and proper participation of actual stakeholders: Teachers, Headmasters/Headmistress, Education Secretaries, etc. Supervisors, Zonal Inspectorates, former and serving Principals and parents of the pupils/students. These are the most important actors and stakeholders alongside the legislative and civil society organizations (CSOs).

This action makes the policy a product of educational elitism or an avenue of wasting state resources. It did not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the general populace. It did not cover every stakeholder because most of the committee members are teaching in higher institutions of learning. They don’t have actual expertise in what it takes to make primary and secondary education functional. The committee lacks the wisdom or vision to go beyond their thinking to involve the real stakeholders in generating the policy ideas.

Since the signing of the committee’s report on January 16, 2020, by you, and declared that “all hands must be on deck to actualize the goals of the policy”, eleven months later, on December 16, 2020, Daily Trust released a survey of the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria by Nigerian Education Data Survey (NEDS). Yobe state has 57 per cent of school children in the country, and this figure corresponds with the technical committee’s report that 40% of Yobe children are out of school.

What have you done to improve the students’ enrollment and retention in the state, enhance teachers’ capacity, and employ new ones to fill the gap? The emergency is not about pronouncing a word; it requires action, and, in this part, you failed to lead and hold the oath of office you took to manage the affairs of state that you’re ready to make education functional and accessible. Leadership is all about making an impact in people lives you promise to govern.

I was surprised by the emergency in education, particularly the deduction of teachers’ salaries in August and September. Everybody knew there was uncertainty in revenue generated and allocated to the state, but this would not be an excuse. You need to understand, the critical stakeholders in achieving the goals of your policy are teachers. How can you declare an emergency on a sector hoping to improve it but end up eating their hard-earned cake?

You need to double teachers’ salaries and allowances, provide proper capacity building training, provide accommodation, and motivate them to work hard. This singular action smeared the image of your administration. Unless you reverse this policy of salaries deduction and apologize to them for the hardship and problem your administration causes them, you’re heading in the wrong direction.

Moreover, as we all know, the significant source of revenue to finance all the intended projects are Federal Allocation. Due to uncertainties in the global oil market, the government should review the policy and allow all relevant stakeholders to review and execute the policy. The government should cut the cost of governance, reduce unnecessary expenses, and accommodate all the projects you intend to achieve in realizing functional education in the state.

In all the projects done in some schools across the state, the major funders of these projects are donor agencies and development partners in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and North East Development Commission. However, what is the role of other institutions, especially the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, in complementing the efforts of these Donor agencies in making and realizing the objective of the policy? Unfortunately, we do not see their visibility, even the recruitment of SUBEB, for almost a year, there is no result.

Given the background above, we need to sit down and talk about governance. History is there to those who leave a golden legacy or otherwise ensure your government adopts a participatory approach to policymaking involving all stakeholders. The policy should be the product of citizenry wishes and aspirations by allowing them to participate in policy design and implementation, enhance teachers’ and administrators’ capacity with the sole aims of improving their productivity and increasing their salaries and allowances.

Funding is key to achieving the policy’s objectives; 26% of budgetary should be allocated to education and ensure proper utilization. In addition, you need to create a Basic Education Trust Fund (BETF), be managed by accomplished education administrators, and provide robust and proper collaboration and partnership with Donor Agencies and Development partners. What we want from you is action and taking responsibility to show you can do it.

Umar Yahaya Dan-Inu wrote from Hausari Ward, Nguru. He can be contacted via umarnguru2015@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earmarked N500 million grant to the universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.

CBN said that the effort is to help the teeming youths in tertiary institutions to promote entrepreneurship and also reduce unemployment.

In the report titled: “Guidelines for the implementation of tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme”, CBN made this known on Wednesday

“Five top Nigerian polytechnics and universities with the best entrepreneurial pitches/ideas shall be awarded as follows: first place – N150m; second place – N120m; third place – N100m; fourth place – N80m; and fifth place – N50m,” it said.

According to the guideline, the aim of the scheme is to promote access to finance by undergraduates and graduates of universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.

Students will be help with innovative Entrepreneurial and technological ideas to enable them build their future.

The guidline added that Individuals will be entitled to a loan limit of N5.0 million to be paid within the maximum period of 5 years at an interest rate of 5 percent for each year.

Compiled by Aisar Fagge

Today, October 5, is designated as World Teacher’s Day. Students across the globe are celebrating the day with their teachers by sending them flowers, cards, taking them out for dinner and writing goodwill messages on various social media platforms.

The Daily Reality collects some opinions of Nigerian students about this day. Here are some: