Education

By Musa Idris Panshekara

Dear Sir,

I am Musa Idris, an ex-student of Government Secondary School (GSS) Panshekara.

Mr Chairman, news has been spreading like wildfire all over the town that you are planning to sell some parts of GSS Panshekara or build staff quarters on the land.

Mr Chairman, this news became a nightmare not only to the ex-students or the students but to the entire people of Panshekara.

Mr Chairman, I want to let you know that the school bear its name “GSS Panshekara” because it is located there, under Kumbotso local government. The people benefitting from it are not limited to the people of Panshekara or Kumbotso local government. Still, the school accommodates some students from some parts of Madobi and Gwale LGAs.

Mr Chairman, with your plan of selling or building staff quarters in the land, do you know the school has two sections, one in the morning and the other in the evening, senior and junior classes, respectively? This is happening not for style but because of the insufficient classes to accommodate all the students contemporaneously.

Moreover, the school does not have a friendly and conducive learning atmosphere, despite the overpopulation of students per class. As old as the school is, it has no more than four classes with sufficient seats for the students, not to mention the worn-out ceilings and floors which even you, you can not rear your animals inside one of it. The problems are not limited to that – some classes were previously used but are no longer in use now due to the lack of funds for upkeeping them. Nonetheless, about eight incompleted classes have been without cemented floors for over a decade.

Mr Chairman, there are countless problems the school has: liable scientific laboratory, biological garden, etcetera.

Therefore, no one asks you (if so) to rehabilitate the school from your pocket but the local government treasury. If there is no sufficient amount in the local government treasury, you can refer it to the state government. If the state cannot grant, nobody forces you to intervene in rehabilitation.

Mr Chairman, selling this land for the rehabilitation of the school is inept and inappropriate; moreover, it is a lack of priority if you think of building staff quarters on the land. There are previous chairmen before you who left without glancing at the school. So you are not the first and will not be the last. If you could/would not give your contribution, you can leave the school as it is.

In conclusion, Mr Chairman, do not be deceived by all these people parading behind you like a queen bee. They are parasites who would only suck your blood and throw you away. They will not be with you when you leave your position or with you when you go to your grave.

Mr Chairman, I urge you not to consider yourself or people like you. Instead, please consider the vulnerable children of poor masses coming in the 20, 30, 40 years, whose parents can not afford to take their children to private schools.

Mr Chairman, remember that Boko Haram use weapons to kill students, and teachers and destroy schools brutally. So please, you should not use your office to destroy our mother school in the name of reviving the school.

Yours,

Musa Idris Panshekara

By Uzair Adam Imam

Over two thousand people, including university lecturers and students, graduated from the Engausa Global Technology Hub.

The graduates were trained in various skills ranging from science and technology.

The founder and chairman of the technology hub, Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim, disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Wednesday to mark this year’s United Nations World Teachers Day.

Engausa was founded in 2019 and registered in 2022 and recorded numerous successes in teaching people various scientific and technological skills to depend on themselves and become employers of labour.

Engineer Habu said English and other languages inhibit learning progress, especially in northern Nigeria.

He stated, “It doesn’t mean that we are not developed when we teach in our mother tongue. Knowledge can be taught using any language.

“Later, one can learn any other language he feels interested in, like English, Arabic or French.

“But it is not wrong to learn in your mother tongue, as many people perceive. For this reason, we, among others, admit even almajiri, who have no background in western education and are school dropouts, into Engausa Global Technology Hub and teach them in Hausa.

“Today, many such dropouts and almajiri have become teachers in Engausa. They even teach university graduates, MSc and PhD holders as well.”

We give emphasis on the practical aspect

Unlike in tertiary schools and other institutions of learning, the Engausa Global Technology Hub gives emphasis on practical aspects than theories.

This, however, enables the students to fully understand the subject matter rather than mastering theories and definitions of concepts.

Ringim added, “More than 90 per cent of what we do in Engausa is practical. The theoretical aspects do not exceed 10 per cent.”

Unemployment worsens insecurity in Nigeria

Ringim also argued that the rising insecurity in Nigeria is not unconnected with the high unemployment rate in the country.

Insecurity has been one of the ongoing challenges facing Nigeria, especially in the northern part, over the years.

He stated, “We need to know that teaching our youths some skills is one of the panaceas to the lingering security challenge in Nigeria. Therefore, society needs to welcome inventions of this sort.

Engausa is gaining global recognition and support from Federal Government and academics like Prof. Abdallah Uba Adamu, Prof. Hafizu Miko Yakasai, and Engr. Isa Musa Gumel, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje, Dr Binta Usman, Dr Hauwa Muhammad Bagaje, among others.

By Rabiu Muhammad Gama

Prof. Yuval N. Harari might be a fake scholar, as some critics are desperately “begging” us to accept and believe. Some critics also imply that he might be the most grossly over-hyped and rigorously marketed scholar in the West. Harari might be basking in unearned attention. He might even be an irritating know-it-all or an intellectual nuisance.

The scientific community might have debunked most of his claims. His works might be riddled with some historical and scientific errors here and there. He might not deserve the wide global acclaim he is receiving today. His works might be replete with idle speculations and groundless generalizations that many scholars find annoying.

However, you cannot dismiss the fact that Harari always asks the big questions – the earthshaking questions that every intellectual worth his salt should be obsessed with. And there’s some “indismissable” magic that seems to clothe his books: when you read his books, you can’t help but feel a bit smarter and/or more informed than anyone who hasn’t read them.

To say Harari is highbrow is a sheer understatement. He is a perfect definition of a polymath. He is blessed with an unusual brain, a razor-sharp brain. His grasp of the esoteric world of science and the humanities is as baffling as it is admirable. Very few scholars can merge science and the humanities as Harari does.

If anything, the torrent of bashings and roastings that Harari is receiving lately from some of the finest critics in the world is a testimony that he has come up with something fascinating that makes his readers curious and his critics restless. Of course, some people might like to dismiss him as a mere talented storyteller. Nonetheless, and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, he is one of the greatest intellectuals around!

Rabiu Gama wrote from Kano, Nigeria via rabiumuhammadgama0@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Malumfashi 

As eloquent people often say, “All leaders after they leave the office are judged on their performance and failures.” So Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State cannot escape this assessment either.

Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, Katsina has never been so unlucky to have a wicked leader like Masari. People often talk about his incompetence when he was Speaker of the National Assembly. I thought that was the Nigerian’s usual outcry (body language), especially when someone they see as less qualified to govern them succeeds their kinsman. They don’t know that they foresaw the monster unleashed on the national progress and what might happen to our dear Katsina since the man started eyeing our governor’s seat.

The kind of policies exemplified by the Masari administration in Katsina have, perhaps by no small means, helped to cripple both the state’s education and economy. The Masari government has failed to show outstanding commitment to boosting the state’s economy and reviving the lost glory of education.

For example, in the economic sphere, take as a case examples a multi-billion naira project, the “Katsina Dubai International Market Project”, launched by the previous government of Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema. Unfortunately, the current Masari government abandoned it due to some political troubles. Likewise, the “Katsina Multi-billion Solar Project”, started by the late former President Yar’adua of blessed memory and a variety of significant projects Masari government inherited, doesn’t bother to complete.

Much less the siphoning off and wasting of local government funds because this government took six years to conduct local government elections, and it is evident to all that they used non-LG polls campaigning tactics against the previous government. Still, they overlooked them once they came to power and exercised their vested interest in government. Also, most of the infrastructures they built are counterfeits. Tell me six out of ten weren’t renovations, and they would claim to be spending more than it could have cost had it been a new project.

Nonetheless, education in Katsina state faces a significant setback without empathy as the relevant authorities cruelly assess the plight. Learning environments are decrepit, making them unfavourable for teachers and students. Go to any local government and see the poor state of learning environments with your naked eyes, despite the huge amount of money that has always been claimed to be spent tackling it. Promotion, recruitment, arrears, gratuity, salary payment in time and other entitlements to improve teachers’/staff welfare are neglected.

I have always wondered what an ungrateful person Masari is, someone who has told the world that he was raised as an orphan and mowed grass to feed himself or funded his education. I thought someone like him who went through these would have known the reality of life and taken public education seriously as his priority. Still, the kind of negligence he shows towards public education, even those born with silver spoons, could not have done that.

Based on the controversy surrounding his school qualifications, I am not surprised by the carefree attitude that a half-literate like him has towards education. After all, even the highly educated people in Nigeria today have not given education the highest priority. Just look at his questionable educational qualifications published by some of his supporters. They said he attended Kafur/Malumfashi Primary School, Government Secondary School, Funtua AWS Training School, Middlesex Polytechnic, London and Administrative Staff College, Badagary. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Water Quality Control and Management. He has taken various courses in and out of the country and earned a Post Graduate Diploma in Water Quality Control and Management from Middlesex Polytechnic, the UK, in 1982, etc.

Although someone might say that education is not a gauge of one’s dominance, to be honest, it is. Meanwhile, reading his interview with Eric Osagie (The Sun Reporter), he refuted some of the qualifications attributed to him: “Why should I advocate having anything I don’t possess?” It doesn’t sound that fascinating to me. He knows the kind of politics played in Nigeria.

Not to mention the fate of the state’s public higher education, which is now in decay. While other state governors are striving hard to find lasting solutions for their citizens to avoid excessive stagnation at home due to the ASUU strike, Masari still wanders in his sleep. He daydreams about what to do to fix problems with Katsina’s academic Staff union of the university so that the school can reopen. Students can resume classes and finish their hanging courses on time.

This administration also scores a capital distinction in breach of trust because it is no longer strange news for Katsina’s citizens to see a headline about missing money in the state’s accounts. Only in Katsina would you wake up and hear the shocking news of your life about missing funds. Instead, our government would simply go to the media and inform the public that this and that animal or theft swelled hundreds of millions by the unknown individual. 

Regarding security, Masari can’t even score zero because Katsina faces serious security challenges, so nowhere is safe! As clearly stated in the Nigerian constitution’s provision, any government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens’ life and property. Any government that has not done so has nothing to do in office. Yet, four or more villages in Katsina state are attacked daily, indicating a lack of leadership in the state’s security framework.

It is unfortunate that any government requires its people to defend themselves against bandit attacks. However, this clearly defines what kind of leader Masari is. How on earth would a sane leader urge his followers to take up arms and defend themselves against the enemies, and yet he remains in power, refusing to step down to allow anyone with the ability to be in command to take over?

Muhammad Malumfashi is a cynic essayist and can be reached via muhammadisyakumalumfashi@gmail.com.

By Salisu Yusuf

Like other teachers in the so-called Third World countries, Nigerian teachers of English have their dilemma and challenges ranging from sociocultural issues to pedagogical, personality, and condition of service. A teacher has a lot to contend with.

Teaching (at the higher level) in the 21st century has evolved from the traditional teacher-centred to a more pragmatic students-centred approach. Teachers are no longer the dominating forces in the classroom. Instead, they serve as coordinators while students run the show. Ultimately, communicative situations are created in the classroom. Consequently, teachers of English need to be acquainted with the role and place of theatre and drama in education, a method that makes teaching a communicative endeavour.

Unfortunately, students in 21st century Nigeria are no longer interested in communicative situations as education at primary and secondary schools has gone below the standard bar. A teacher, therefore, ought to devise a way to motivate a class of passive learners.

Besides students’ lack of communicative approach, teachers of English in Nigeria are confronted with a dual phonetic issue; a teacher is expected to teach the British phonetic patterning of speech in a strictly diverse Nigerian environment with students under the influence of Nigerian phonetics. The confusion in most Nigerian phonetic realisations emanates from a mix-up of British and American dialects in our daily usage.

Most English words are pronounced in American phonetic realisations. Moreover, Yoruba language phonemics has hugely influenced how we pronounce English words. Therefore, an English teacher must fully explain the phonetic versions to his students. For example, the word “minor” has double pronunciations; the British /ˈmʌɪnə/ and Nigerian /ˈmʌɪnɔː/. Students should know this difference and why the former is the aptest while the latter is strictly Nigerian.

Our students’ lack of reading culture has immensely affected English and literary studies. For instance, some students in literature class don’t want to frequent libraries and read selected texts. Instead, they prefer to visit internet sites, download summaries and read haphazardly. Teachers ought to be mentors in this regard.

A contemporary English teacher must keep abreast with modern English usage. For instance, some years back, a professor of English told our class that the plural of compound nouns such as female teacher and male servant are ‘females teachers’ and ‘males servants’, respectively. While some compound nouns are turned to plural from their first or last elements, the above two and many more are pluralised from their first and last elements. His assertion is, however, today obsolete; contemporary grammar has massively changed such patterns; female teachers and male servants have replaced the former.

 A teacher of English must not lose his head to the identity crisis. Some learners in philosophy and literature subsume into ideological attributes of these fields, thereby becoming victims of pull and inferiority complex. They can only feel superior when they identify with the other culture.

A teacher of English should see himself as a second language user who teaches a foreign language. He should not see himself as an English teacher but as a teacher of English. I have seen a colleague with cultural schizophrenia due mainly to an obsession with English culture. A second language user who sees himself as a  first language user usually suffers from identity crisis, culminating in cultural schizophrenia and, ultimately, psychological turmoil. Many I know have lost their faith and turned to atheism.

A teacher should see himself as someone who mediates between cultures in order to reach cultural equivalence. He should not pretend to be an English man, nor should he speak sleek English through a pointed nose. Rather, he should speak as an African who teaches a foreign language.

This doesn’t free him from strictly adhering to rules governing language use. He should be a traditional grammarian in his pedagogical engagements; he employs some aspects of contemporary grammar in both his classroom and outside classroom engagements.

Girl child abuse, pornography and sexual objectification have immensely affected the teaching profession in the 21st century. Victorianism, that 19th-century literary movement with all its attendant moral lashings, could not stop these deviations in academia. Some teachers see their female students as objects of beautification to be exploited. Female students stereotype and generalise their male teachers as admirers of their sleek bodies. Male students use their female counterparts as shields before their teachers, especially when looking for favours. These and many more are some of the causes of sexual scandals.

A teacher should see his female students as his congenial sisters whom he feeds with knowledge, no more, no less than this.

Many see teachers of English as grammar police, therefore, prescriptivists. I was numerously called a representative of her majesty, the late Queen. A teacher should do away with such social constructs and stereotypes and tackle his work head down. He’s a second language user called by fate to teach a foreign language, foreign culture. Therefore, he cannot escape such naming.

Last but not least, Nigeria’s teachers suffer from poor service conditions. Politicians have turned almost all other professions into… besides their own. Today, a month’s take-home pay of a politician can only be earned by a public servant for his entire working career. An instructor at a college in the neighbouring Niger Republic earns twice my wage.

 A teacher should consider his profession service to humanity, not a means to an end.

Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Sule Muhammad Zubairu, (PhD)

“I appeal to the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the Education sector for the country to be able to change the fortunes of the system. Indeed, even among Sub-Saharan African countries, we are trailing far behind smaller and less endowed nations in terms of our investment in education. There is a need for a major investment in education in the national interest” – Adamu Adamu, 2017.

Let me express my sincere sympathy to the patriotic Nigerians in the education profession for their sheer sacrifices and selfless services for the betterment of public education. It is a heartfelt piece of article that aimed at mourning the last relic of the educational sector in a country where its policy makers think that university education is a mere burden that needs to be dropped aside. I am always in disbelief whenever I woke up to see how pitiful is the condition of the public universities in this country. Most often, I ask myself what went wrong with our leaders? Is this borne out of capitalists’ instincts, ignorance, self aggrandisements, corruption or a combination of all?

Nigerians and Elitist’s Sheer Hypocrisy:
In fact, if one wishes to see the real ‘educational apartheid’ then, one should have a look into the Nigeria’s educational system. Paradoxically, the primary stakeholders, managing the affairs of Nigeria’s public education are largely not enrolling their children in the public universities. For how long the masses will be deceived? How on earth this could even be possible? We have seen lots of graduation photos and selfies from foreign universities with their children, year in year out. Indeed, recently, we have seen them sending their pictures from Harvard University, while the public universities back home are still shutdown for months.

The poor attention given to our university education in this is simply about creating and maintaining different classes between so-called elite and others, the masses. But, they don’t want you to see it that way. Those in power may argue that they have been doing a great service to our educational sector, particularly the universities. Logically, if that is true why are they not patronizing them?

The sheer hypocrisy of the ruling elites in this country is a real source of concern and disturbing. But, I don’t think these guys understand it very well. I’m still wondering why up to this time there is no comprehensive statistics of children of high ranking office holders that school abroad. Imagine they use tax payers money to educate their children and leave those of poor in darkness. What a shame!

I pity my fellow poor Nigerians for generations to come, if they are destined to be ruled by these types of leaders. The writing is clear on the wall: the university education, as we know it, would be only for the rich!

ASUU members and their families’ woes:
I also pity ASUU members across the country for their steadfastness dodgedness to defend the remnants of our universities’ past glories. However, when dealing with shameless people one needs to be extra careful and have a rethink. In other words, how can you deal with a situation when some of the officials are thinking that education is not a critical issue, falsifying the outcomes of their own committees, and the Head of state seems not to be fully aware or even grasp the core issues at stake? In serious societies, education always tops the table and takes a reasonable share of their annual budget.

Shockingly, they are punishing the only set of people who stand against the total collapse of our public university system, by inflicting hunger, starvation and threats on them and their innocent family members. What a country! I sometimes use to thinking that the hate from our current ruling elites towards ASUU members and their families in this country is by far bigger than that of Boko Haram members, Niger Delta militants and treasury looters. Because these guys have been enjoying series of amnesties and even presidential pardon. I argue that even the Palestinians, black Americans (during the civil right movement) and black South Africans (during the Apartheid) have experienced fair or even better treatments from their oppressors than what ASUU members and their families are experiencing currently in their sovereign country.

My fellow ASUU members, whenever any second thought pops in your mind, you should remember what Adamu Adamu once said: “This nation owes a debt of gratitude to ASUU and the strike should not be called off until the government accepts to do and does what is required. So, instead of hectoring ASUU to call off its strike, the nation should be praying for more of its kind in other sectors of the economy” – Adamu Adamu, 2013.

To this end, as a concerned citizen, I pray to God, to guide us and our leaders to the right path and save public education from total collapse, amen.

Zubairu teaches Geography at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He can be reached via; sulemuhd@gmail.com

By Uzair Adam Imam 

Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, has decried the worrisome development of ‘sex for grades’ rocking the tertiary institutions in Nigeria today, urging the male lecturers to zip up trousers.

The senator representing Delta State described the development as an “extraordinary harm that negatively impacts the standard of education.”

The Daily Trust reported that Omo-Agege made the disclosure Saturday, August 20, 2022, at Sofadondo 2023 National Conference in Abuja.

The conference was themed; “Sex For Marks And Marks For Sex, Establishing The Change Mantra For National Growth And Development”.

Omo-Agege asserted that harassment instils fear, and fear has no place in the world of intellectualism.

He added, “Without question, the scourge of sexual harassment with its obnoxious sub-culture of sex for grades in our tertiary institutions is extraordinary harm that negatively impacts the standards of education in our tertiary institutions.

“The sexual harassment law protects the right of students to learn peaceably deprived of any form of harassment. Without any doubt, our students, especially daughters and wives, deserve tertiary learning environments devoid of sexual harassment.

“The essence of university education is to expose students to new research and technology. Studying at a university encourages creative and independent thought, which could bring about positive socioeconomic transformation in society. 

“Higher institutions retain the singular ability to transform this nation for greater developmental exploits because that is where the base of our most productive youths reside. They represent the hope of our salvation for national growth and development.

“Harassment instils fear, and fear has no place in the world of intellectualism. If students are unable to express themselves because lecturers are mean, fraudulent, lecherous, manipulating and self-seeking, predatory, wicked, and uncaring, then where will innovations come from? 

“Through such a process, the lecturers will promote those who are undeserving, elevate the mediocre and frustrate brilliant students.

“University education is a serious business that requires commitment and focus. We, therefore, need to create a new paradigm for university education in the country. We need to change the objective of education so that we work towards productivity. We must see our children inventing and innovating things and taking control of their own future and the future of the country.

“It is now the responsibility of every Nigerian to fight this tyranny on campuses. Society itself needs to deliberately give proper orientation to our children. There is a need to break the culture of silence come out of stigmatization. 

The more people speak out about this evil and call out its perpetrators, the more we liberate Nigeria’s youth from bondage and ensure the country’s future. This will also activate the legal and judicial system, which is not just largely untested but also overdue for an overhaul to take care of this menace.

“I also call on journalists, human rights activists, and indeed all stakeholders to be part of this fight. I urge male lecturers to zip up and uphold the ethics of their profession. They should not hesitate to cry out in good time when experiencing any pressure from any female student, whether directly or indirectly,” he stated.

By Adamu Tilde, PhD

This tribute should have come earlier. I have tried to write something about Mallam Ali Garba several times, but it always ended in a stalemate. Not that I can capture the essence of Mallam in a few paragraphs, but I, nevertheless, will share what Mallam meant to me.

It is trite to discuss the mutual distrust between the few Western-educated elites and the remaining populace of the Muslim North. The condescending looks the former harbour for the latter has inadvertently led to animosity, disdain, estrangement, and suspicion. This mutual distrust has stalemated the needed cultural and social changes and transformation for growth and development. 

For long, the ordinary populace cannot find reasons to associate with the educated elites; the elites, on the other hand, cannot understand why the public views them with utter cynicism. In my view, the effortless meandering of this contradiction tells the essence of Mallam.

Mallam was educated in Kent up to PhD level, published books and articles in reputable journals, worked in some elite organizations and finally settled in Bayero University Kano (BUK), Department of Business Administration, until his demise. This impressive resumé only made Mallam more courteous, down-to-earth, and humble. So, how did he surmount what appears to be an insurmountable challenge? I will come back to that later.

I first met Mallam in 2014 at Kano Central Hotel. I was selected for a workshop on entrepreneurship by Hajiya Amina Ado Kurawa. Mallam was one of the resource persons. Given how Hajiya Amina praised Mallam Ali, we waited with bated breath for this all-important resource person. We were not disappointed. Mallam delivered a flawless presentation. I could not wait to engage him after the presentation, only for Mallam to excuse himself for another engagement. I later searched for his name on Facebook. 

Mallam interspersed his discussions, teachings and writings with ‘barkwanci’ (humour). This invited a lot of traffic to his wall; it also made his students and followers feel at ease in his presence which thus facilitated two-way communication. You would feel confident asking Mallam anything.

Another charming trait that won Mallam many hearts was the extent to which he would reach to correct you without belittling you or making you look/sound foolish. This all the more made him endearing and welcoming. 

Mallam knew he had a lot to share, and we were not making better use of his knowledge and experience. He looked at us (Tijjani, Marzuq, and I) in one instance and said: “Use me.” In another instance, during our first visit to his house, he invited us upstairs, introduced us to his wives, and finally said to us: “This is your house. Come whenever you want.” We were not alone. He did this to many. This unassuming and welcoming personality made Mallam a darling to many and led to the birth and polishing of innovative business ideas. Maryam Gatawa’s Gatmeals is one example. 

Muslim North has no shortage of brilliant minds bristling with excellent ideas that can transform its economic prospects into reality. However, I suspect that the knowledge of how to harness and translate these innovative, transformative ideas into reality is in short supply.

One way of achieving this is to bridge the gap of access between the two aforementioned mutually distrusting classes. This is the essence of Mallam Ali Garba. And this was what Dr Waziri Junaidu cautioned us against in 1971: “Let not your degrees, research and publications be an excuse to feel haughty amongst your own people. Knowledge is at best when it is universally useful, and the best scholars are those whom the ordinary man fears neither to encounter nor to address.”

Adieu, Professor Ali Muhammad Garba.

By Hadiza Abdullahi

Many parents do not care to deliver their responsibilities, leading to different social problems in Nigeria and the world. In layman’s terms, parental negligence can be seen as the failure or inability of parents to fulfil their parental responsibilities of providing the proper and adequate care and attention to their children.

The child-parent relationship is supposed to be affectionate, harmonious, supportive, and productive, but this relationship is becoming conflicting, unsupportive, destructive and agonizing due to certain factors. For example, some parents may be emotionally unsupportive to their children yet provide all their basic needs, i.e. food, clothing and shelter, while some are not supportive.

A study conducted on improper parenting and parental negligence by Dr Manzoor Hussain pointed out that good parenting quality depends on several factors. They include; the mature personality of the parents, which is an essential element of good quality parenting, stable and intimate marital relationship, as well as the form of the pregnancy, i.e. planned or not, as planned pregnancy implies better preparation to be a parent.

On the other hand, a broken home is believed to be the primary factor that contributes enormously to the issue of neglectful parenting, as children from such families are usually brought up by either their biological parent or a step-parent. These children often undergo different sorts of challenges, trauma and agonies from the step-parents, particularly stepmothers, who do not like having a stepchild under their custody. 

A typical example is the case of two minor Almajiris, an eight-year-old Habu and his six-year-old younger brother Tanko (not real names), whose parents got separated and had to live with their father and his new wife. Although the father is financially stable and could cater for their basic needs and education, he refused to do so due to the influence of their stepmother, who rejected them. As a result, the innocent boys left the house, roaming the street as Almajiris.

Research has indicated that couples’ desperation toward becoming a parent also promotes this issue. Some couples, especially the rural residents, who consider the number of children as pride, are only interested in giving birth to as many children as possible without having any adequate plan for their wellbeing. Instead, they exploit the children by engaging them in different forms of child labour such as domestic chores, street hawking, street begging or even working as house helps, all in the name of sourcing for income. The World Health Organization (WHO) regards it as child abuse. This exposes children to dangers when they mingle with bad people who may negatively influence and/or harm them.

These children quickly go astray because their parents are not around to watch and caution their wrong behaviours. Hence most of them end up going into drug abuse, prostitution or even being recruited into terrorist groups, among other crimes.

Hajiya Salamatu Yaqub, a housewife and a mother, lamented that the absence of adequate face-to-face interaction (which is an essential principle for a good parent-child relationship, in which both children and their parents understand each other’s needs, views, emotions, and brings about strong and growing intimacy between them) contributes immensely to this problem.

Similarly, Malama Maryam, another mother, expressed her grief over how some so-called civilized and educated Nigerian parents, especially young mothers, adopt an improper way of parenting. They focus more on their jobs, education, and other forms of businesses instead of the primary role of every traditional Nigerian parent, specifically mothers who are supposed to put the welfare of their families ahead of anything else. However, some abandon these responsibilities altogether while some entrust the responsibilities to nannies and other house helps, who may not be morally upright and talk more of instilling moral values in children.

A teenager (who refused to be named) and a victim of neglectful parenting said, “being neglected by your own parent is the worst and most traumatizing experience of every child”. She further disclosed how she and her siblings went through a lot due to this issue. Even though their parents took proper care of all their basic needs, they are always absent to watch over them, support them emotionally and caution them. She added, “we miss our parents badly and do a lot of things we should not do and mingle with people we would not have been mingling with supposing our parents are around”.

Children with intellectual, psychological, emotional and developmental disabilities are especially vulnerable to being forced into child labour and are more likely to face threats of violence and abuse. These children— especially girls—are often victims of trafficking, prostitution, domestic enslavement, forced marriage and other forms of abuse. In addition, some children who have physical and visual disabilities, visible congenital disabilities, or disfigurement are forced by traffickers to beg. In extreme cases, traffickers intentionally disfigure children to exploit them through forced begging. 

Yusuf Muhammad Daura, a student at the Department of Special Education, Bayero University, Kano, described parents who take advantage of their children’s physical disabilities and refuse to work hard, instead using them as a source of income, as irresponsible and self-centred. He added that when interviewed, most of these children seen on the street begging or hawking explained how they were forced into it and if they were to have an opportunity of living a normal life, they would be more than happy to join their mates in going to school.

However, it is understood that some children undergo neglectful parenting not because the parents or guardians are not around to support them emotionally or failed to provide for their basic needs. It’s, instead, due to their inability to home train and discipline the children properly.

The implications of parental negligence are many. They include a lack of mutual understanding and affection between parents and their children; children’s needs also weaken the close bond that is supposed to exist between their parents and their children. In addition, the children may feel the parent are worthless since they cannot cater for them, which might make them disrespect or hate the parents.

Research indicates that children who lack proper parenting behave aggressively and violently and perform poorly in academic activities. When interviewed, Mr Yahuza Abdullahi, a primary school teacher, confirmed that most children going through improper parenting perform poorly in academics and recreational activities as they do not have the extra support they need, such as helping them with their home works and getting the necessary learning materials.

Therefore, it is paramount that couples must be physically, psychologically and financially ready before they venture into the demanding task of parenting. As someone planning to have a child, prepare for your children or unborn children on how you intend to take adequate care of them. Make provisions for their basic needs, i.e. food, clothing, shelter, education and proper medical care. Also, provide a conducive environment to protect and keep them safe while instilling sound morals and values in them and having a plan on how you intend to caution and correct them whenever they are wrong. 

Also, the government has a critical role in tackling this menace because, as citizens of Nigeria, these children have fundamental rights that the government must protect. Thus, the government should have the full authority to punish any parent or guardian caught abusing or neglecting their parental responsibilities. 

Hadiza Abdullahi, Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano.

By Muhammad Sabiu

A Nothern Nigerian technology firm, Engausa Global Tech Hub, has trained and certified 1353 persons, including men and women, in different modern technical skills in its effort to reduce the rate of the ravaging unemployment affecting the country.

In attendance at the certification event were the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Malam Kashifu Inuwa, and representatives of the Emir of Kano and Emir of Karaye, among other dignitaries.

Speaking on the purpose of establishing the firm and training the young people, the founder of the firm, Engr Mustapha Habu Ringim, said they had saddled themselves with the responsibility to train young people in digital technology in their mother tongue (Hausa).

He added that every human has the right to learn technology through his mother tongue, and “ENGAUSA is here to break barriers and bridge gaps” in teaching technology.

“We brought out those who speak Hausa, even if they understand Arabic or English, to train them,” according to Engr. Ringim.

While commending dignitaries on the high table, Mr Ringim said his firm wouldn’t have achieved all it achieved in the past three years without their collective efforts, stressing that he could not have done the work alone.

He noted that you mustn’t understand English before you begin to innovate, as there is what is called formal and informal education.

“Here in Northern Nigeria, we have this misperception that anybody who is not into formal education is not regarded as a literate person. This is a big mistake because the basis of this formal education you see was developed from non-formal education.

“One of our most significant efforts is getting these over 1000 young people we just concluded training. And it’s only for this year. In the year 2020, we trained over 300 people. This is proof that the knowledge of science and technology can be learned in one’s mother tongue because that was when we started featuring innovative young people, like Osama. Now, Osama owns a firm, and any is an employer.

“We also have Muhammad, who fabricated an excavator made from cartons and has now started fabricating a solar-powered generator. The BBC came here and covered what we were doing at Engausa. The news went viral. Afterwards, Muhammad is also now an employer.

“If these young people didn’t get to understand that we at Engausa teach in Hausa [mixed with English], they wouldn’t have come here to get trained,” Ringim is quoted as saying.

The firm’s founder further noted that by bridging the gap in the medium of imparting knowledge of technology, Engausa is in no way discouraging its learners from acquiring knowledge of the English language because efforts are underway to begin English, Arabic and French classes.

“We are doing all these because we have understood that the language barrier is one of the reasons that bar our people from understanding Mathematics, Physics and so on,” he said.

Another milestone achieved is that of those trained previously; about a hundred of them now own their own firms.