Decade Blogs
Seun Fakuade is one of those young Nigerian thinkers that helps retain the faith I have in Nigeria when I left for Europe almost a quarter of a Century ago.
At
the end of his write-up, Seun asks one question, “Will the best and brightest citizens rise or whine?”
I
have watched how he has striven and struggled to make sense of the malaise that
afflicts Nigeria and how he with like-minded people have joined up leveraging
tools at their disposal to seek out solutions to its many problems.
There
are people in Nigeria who have a higher calling beyond the corrupt and
unconscionable kakistocracy of the ruling class that seems to have a vice-grip on the neck of Nigeria and I count Seun as one of such Nigerians.
His
contribution to my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series
commemorating my Decade of Blogging closes
5 weeks of interesting insight from 35 remarkable people but opens up many
questions about Nigeria’s future.
Whilst this is a
long read, it is an essential and critical read too, it is about education in
Nigeria, from the products entering the job market with literally no marketable
skills, or even suffering from the consequences of strikes as explained by Chuba
Ezekwesili’s contribution to this series to the powder-keg of over 10 million
out of school children.
No matter what the government parrots bandy about as statistics and gains, this is a disgrace and an emergency that has been put in the hands of garrulous political jobber – Nyesom Wike, the Minister of Education. His profile shows he has no pedigree or
antecedents that qualify him for such a critical task, however, I must not
write Seun’s blog.
‘Seun Fakuade blogs at www.seunfakze.wordpress.com;
microblogs on Twitter with the @seunfakze
handle, he is the founder, social entrepreneur and change advocate at Beacons Development Foundation; and is a business entrepreneur at Bedazzle Media. Contact him if you may at seunfakze@yahoo.com
Groping
In The Dark
10 years. Wow. That
is how long Akin has been blogging. When Akin writes, he leaves you with impressions:
his literary expressions leave you awed at the vocabularies, his grammatical
constructs and oft time – more confused while trying to make sense of all. In
all, you just have to like him.
Self-deprecating,
mingling, a definite sense of dignity, and all an understanding that one must
follow before he leads. Akin is over 40, yet considers some of us decades
before him as his comrades. That is humility if you ask me. Seeing that he has
kept on blogging for 10 years is a jolt for me to take time away and resume
blogging.
Egbon Akin, as I fondly refer to him, left me awed the first time we spoke on the phone: baritone voice, but with unmistaken command of the English letter, and an astounding grasp of issues. He called shortly after the #occupynigeria protest – one which had left most of us angry, irritated, confused, and even disappointed. After about 20 minutes, his compelling soothing words left me better than I initially was.
Nigeria is blessed
with many men like Akin. One of such is Ade. He had picked me up twice at the
airport: well built, soft-spoken, well mannered, and with a demeanor that shows
refinement in all measures. I am quite observant, so the third time he picked
me up, I was curious enough to ask him why he was a taxi driver despite his
impeccable command of English.
Ade confirmed what I had suspected: he was a graduate who resorted to driving to make ends meet after three years of futile search. Since that day, I developed a more empathetic affection for him and I have always utilized his services anytime I don’t have family to pick me up. Ade, like many other jobless graduates, exists in many localities across states in Nigeria.
10 years. Long
enough to juxtapose where we were in 1999 and where we are now. Long enough to
ask “are we better off”? 10 years; enough to cast reflections on Nigeria and its
myriad problems. 10 years, with the same challenges and new ones; with the same
unsolved national problems despite monies spent.
10 years is enough
to reflect on Nigeria’s torturous path to redemption, to escape from oblivion;
enough time to find out if Nigeria’s democracy is worth it in the first
instance. 10 years is more than enough to weigh our options; to consider as
citizens what we must do if Nigeria as a nation must advance in growth and
development; not just throwing around numbers and digits as measures of growth.
10 years.
Sufficient time for me to see the widening disparity between the rich and poor,
to see the growing unrest amongst the youthful population, to see children hawk
more in growing numbers on our expressways, to see that nothing significant has
changed regardless of the deceptive words thrown around by sycophants and
growth propagandists – if you may.
10 years. Enough
time to see Nigeria plunge from a steady and gradual path to redemption back to
years of impunity and government-backed or sponsored corruption. 10 years has
enabled us see politicians make promises that they won’t keep; seen years of
waste in almost every sector of the Nigerian state.
Human
Capital
You can determine
where a nation is heading with its investment on the human capital of its people. Lee Kuan Yew, the founder
of Singapore as Prime
Minister steered the annual per capita income from $400 in 1959 to about an
estimated $51,709 compared to Nigeria’s $1,555 (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD).
[Context: Four Asian
Tigers (Wikipedia) The Economy of Singapore
(Wikipedia)]
Yew believed that “the quality of a
nation’s manpower resources is the single most important factor determining
national competitiveness. It is the people’s innovativeness, entrepreneurship,
team work, and their work ethic that gives them that sharp keen edge in
competitiveness.”
Yew’s administration sustained an investment in the education of its young people, ensuring that the best and brightest of its citizens are sent to the world’s Ivy League schools each year; and re-absorbed into the country’s leadership (public offices) to steer change and utilize their human capital as fit.
Contrast
that with Nigeria where public leaders are less interested in the future of the
nation (as actions imply); less concerned about investment in education; and
the education sector is riddled with years of cyclical union unrest (the
University Union – ASUU – last week ended
another 5 months strike that has become typical of administrations in
Nigeria); rote learning, reductive and outdated curriculum and unmotivated
tutors/teachers.
Nigeria, currently
the world’s seventh most populous nation, is projected to be around 440 million
in population by 2050, ultimately becoming the world’s third most populous
nation. By 2050, 37 years from now, if Nigeria fails to develop its much-needed
infrastructure and other capacities, the population explosion will overwhelm
the dwindling resources available. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jun/13/nigeria-larger-population-us-2050
The hope for
Nigeria lies in its young: the impressionable, malleable and bubbling
population; as such, a clearly-focused leadership needs to pay due attention to
building its capital through a rigorously policy-driven investment in world
class education that will solve its present and future challenges. The capital
investments in the past 5 years in education, have they been driven by sound
accurate data that reflects what priorities and focus should be?
Skills mismatch contributes, in part, to the ridiculously high unemployment rates in Nigeria amongst young people: young ones are either studying what is not specific or tailored to their career path, or being taught by outdated methods/techniques in over-crowded classrooms; leaders are barely interested in sound solutions than they are in the transactional contracts in education; and unfortunately, citizens are rarely interested in the process so long as they obtain a certificate.
Every quarter, the National Youth
Service Corps churns out about 72,000 new graduates (2,000 per state):
half-baked, ill-equipped to contribute “meaningfully” to the economy or
innovatively create jobs themselves as entrepreneurs!
Science and
technological advancements in nations are brought about by innovations and
entrepreneurial creativity driven by citizens/private sector; based on a
solidly sound foundational cutting edge education. The lopsided policies,
distorted leadership and unpatriotic greedy characters in Nigeria’s political
leadership give no room for arresting Nigeria’s educational backlog of
problems. The statistics weigh against a bright future.
Despite the 8%
capital investment in the education sector (a shortcoming of UNESCO’s
recommended 26%), it seems Nigeria is making no in-roads to solving most of its
pressing challenges. The out-of-school tragedy in Nigeria validates my
unsettling worries.
Aggressive investment in education backed by thorough sound policies has resulted in marked reduction in arresting the trend of out-of-school children across other regions and in other countries; seen remarkably in India and Ethiopia.
Why, in contrast,
has Nigeria’s case being different?
Who enacts
educational policy in Nigeria?
What data do they
draw in from policy decisions?
The 10.6 million
out-of-school children [PDF] population in Nigeria is highest in the world
- the exact size of Tunisia as a nation, twice the size of Singapore as a
nation. The socio-economic implications of these children in the next 10 years
should be a great source of concern for all Nigerians. If resolved, viable
individuals can transform the economy of Nigeria in no small measure,
contribute meaningfully to their families and live a sustained vibrant
community. If unresolved, high unemployment will result in more crimes,
violence and terror cells to mention a few.
Foreign aid in
education has resulted in little or no progress as desired. If policies are
meant to determine the appropriate investment, what specific data has education
public servants been using to deduce their policies? It behooves on every
patriotic citizen to call leaders to wake to the tragedy ahead. It is important
that anyone who has the ears of decision-makers in education call them to the
ticking time bomb the neglect in education will cause.
A nation with
viable human capital has many advantages socially, economically and
politically. Capital must be emphasized on, not only during political campaigns
or with speeches and beautiful rhetoric but backed with accurate data alongside
aggressive and measured actions. The leadership in Nigeria in the next 10 years
has an unenviable job of fixing the rot, the problems and averting impending
tragedies of the future.
The next 10 years
will depend on active citizens who will make constant demands, participate and
engage in the democratic process. Corruption thrives in an environment riddled with
unaccountable leadership. An awakened and participatory citizenry is a
guaranteed check for corrupt leadership.
To this end, it is essential
that citizen voices are not silenced by any means, through legislative censure
or otherwise. Censorship of dissenting but critical citizen voices is inimical
to democratic growth. This is why the proposed intelligence surveillance on
Nigerians by the Goodluck
Jonathan administration is a threat to the expression of critical voices
against all forms of corruption and impunity.
Nigeria has all the
best human and natural resources needed to be the greatest country in the world
IF the best and brightest people
lead.
Will the best and
brightest citizens rise or whine?
Truly, is there
hope for true transformational growth and quantifiable development for the next
10 years?
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