The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

  • Did you do your best?

    Did you do your best?

    How well did you do in 2012? If you score yourself 100 percent or excellent, the above question is not for you. If you didn’t do too well or you didn’t accomplish the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year like me, you need to answer the question.

    We all probably have various excuses why things didn’t work out for us and I quite agree that there are lots of factors beyond our control in a country like ours, but we need to sincerely answer these questions: Did you do your best? Did you take advantage of the opportunities you had? Were there not things that you should have done that you left undone?

    This column was informed by the December 21 and 22, 2012 devotional reading from Our Daily Manna published by Dr Chris Kwakpovwe in which he recalled the encounter former President Jimmy Carter had with Admiral Hyman Rickover, former head of the U.S Nuclear Navy during an interview for a submarine programme.

    “How did you stand in your class at the Naval Academy?” Rickover asked Carter. Believing he had done very well, Carter replied, “Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820,” expecting to be congratulated, but he was not.

    Instead, Rickover asked the unexpected question: Did you do your best?. A shocked Carter was honest enough to admit that he didn’t always do his best. “Why not?” the Naval Admiral probed further, leaving Carter dumbfounded as he slowly left the interview room.

    Fifty-ninth in a class of 820 is a good position but Carter could have done better if he did his best always.

    There is indeed a Carter in most of us. We forget that we always have to be at our best to be the best in whatever we do. A preacher once said that the difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is the extra. Going the extra length with all the required diligence, knowledge, and passion is the attitude we need to succeed. There are, however, times we do all that is required and we don’t succeed, but we have to convince ourselves that we have done all that is required to be done.

    Being honest about what we failed to do provides us the opportunity to take necessary steps to accomplish our goals. There is the tendency to always think that somebody else or a government policy is the cause of our failure but if we think deeply we may just find out that we are the cog in our own wheel of progress.

    I set a number of goals for myself during this year which I didn’t accomplish. I don’t need any expert to tell me why I failed. I know I didn’t do my best. I know I procrastinated and didn’t act when I should have acted. I talked too much about my dreams and projects instead of acting on them.

    For the remaining days of this year, critically review how well you have done and be determined to do better next year guided by the goal of doing your best always.

  • Wahala dey

    Wahala dey

    Without doubt and more than ever before, our nation is facing threats to national security and we urgently need solutions before we slip into chaos and anarchy.

    From what can be described as a relatively peaceful country, we have assumed a frightening status of one of the most dangerous countries to live in. Bombing, kidnapping, terrorists’ attacks have become so frequent in Nigeria that it is no longer a major news item.

    T he popular P- Square duo sang, Wahala dey. (There is trouble).

    We have lost count of people who had been killed in various attacks especially in northern parts of the country and many have been forced to relocate to safer parts that are also prone to danger. Kidnapping has also become an almost daily occurrence that no one is sure who is going to be the next victim.

    Professor Kamene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala was recently kidnapped and it took the deployment of soldiers along with other security agencies for her to be released. Others who had been kidnapped before her and after are not as lucky as she is. Families of some kidnapped persons have had to pay ransom, while others have been killed.

    In my travels out of the country, I get asked how we are coping with the Boko Haram attacks and other violent incidents that make major headlines in the foreign media. The International community is worried about the implication of major crisis in Nigeria and we have no choice but to stem the very dangerous degenerating security situation.

    The threats are social, political and religious in nature. They are very intricate and require a lot of wisdom to resolve.

    My hope is that we would be able to come up with some solutions which hopefully those in government and various leadership levels can consider as we struggle to save our country from disintegration.

    Let no one be deceived, crisis, no matter how aggrieved some of us may feel, is an ill-wind that blows no one any good. Those who experienced the civil war and other instances of crisis have frightening stories to tell.

    The experiences of some African countries are heart-rendering and personally my prayer is that sooner than later when it could be too late, we would get our acts right and learn to live together as one. It’s hard to forget two films on the Rwandan genocide I watched, Sometimes in April and Hotel Rwanda. Hopefully we would not get to that stage of man’s inhumanity to man.

    What is the way out of our present predicament?

    Our government has to really be on top of the situation as they always claimed.

    The government, through the various security agencies, has to ensure the safety of the citizens in whatever parts of the country they live.

    We need good governance, lack of which is the root cause of some threats we are experiencing. The ordinary Nigerian needs to feel the impact of the government through well thought-out policies that will guarantee better standard of living.

    Where dialogue is needed, it should be considered to address whatever grievance any good any group may have. Community and religious leaders have to keep campaigning for peace since the perpetrators of the criminal acts belong to one community or religious group.

    To keep Nigeria peaceful is a task that has to be done. We all have a role to play even if it is talking about it and proffering solutions like we have been doing.

    Excerpt from a speech at the launch of Cry for Change by Biodun-Thomas Davids in Lagos on Friday, December 14, 2012

  • ‘Our’ corruption rating

    ‘Our’ corruption rating

    There is a way we celebrate negative ratings about our country that it is understandable.

    Due to our frustrations with the running of the country by successive governments, we are usually quick to accept ratings that confirm our perception about the state of our country.

    This explains why the recent poor rating of the country by Transparency International has usual been ‘well received’ by Nigerians as a true reflection of how bad we have sunk on the corruption index.

    Like in previous years, Transparency International, (TI), the global corruption watchdog ranked Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nation. In the 2012 Corruption Perception index released on Wednesday, Nigeria scored 27 out of the maximum 100 marks to place 139 out of the 176 countries assessed for the report. Consequently Nigeria is the 35th most corrupt country globally.

    Many of us would have questioned the outcome of the surveyed if Nigeria’s rating if it has not been that bad. There are even some who would argue that the result is not a true reflection of how bad our situation is.

    I have no reason to disagree with the TI like the Information Minister, Labaran Maku over how correct our rating is. Beyound the expert assessment and opinion survey which are the basis of TI’s verdict, the facts on the high level of corruption in the country are very obvious. This year alone, cases of misuse of public power and public funds for private interests like the fuel subsidy scam, embezzlement of the pension fund and others have left many wondering how effective the federal government’s anti-corruption crusade is.

    It’s hard to blame Nigerians who Maku claims are eager to tell the world how bad Nigeria is. Corruption, particularly in ‘high places’ has robbed the country the necessary development that would have ensure better standard of living for the majority.

    My only worry about the reactions of Nigerian’s to TI’s rating and other similar negative ones is the erroneous impression that only government officials are to blame for the decadence. We are quick to cite cases of corruption at all levels of government when as an author wrote “corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of our society” and many Nigerians are either involved in one form of corrupt practice or the other in public and private life or are guilty of criminal silence when we should speak up.

    If our rating is to improve, we all have a role to play whether we are in government or not. Public officers at all levels have to maintain the highest degree of public trust and stop giving us a bad name when they perpetrate all forms of corrupt practices in local and international transactions. People should stop demanding for gratification for doing what they are officially paid to do.

    Nobody should demand for gratification and nobody should give. Merit should not be sacrificed for pecuniary reasons.

  • The limits of freedom

    The limits of freedom

    The Bauchi State Government recently sacked a staff of the state Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Abbas Faggo, over his comments on Facebook about alleged corruption in the state.

    Before Faggo was sacked, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Almustapha Suleiman, had asked the police to investigate and prosecute him for the alleged Facebook publication, which he described as “injurious falsehood and defamation to Yuguda’s administration.”

    Faggo should have known better that as a civil servant he was taking a big risk by openly criticising the state governor on a controversial issue like corruption, which will be hard for him to prove. Based on the oath of secrecy which civil servants swore to, civil servants, except when authorised, are expected to be seen and not heard.

    The above case raises the issue of how the citizens who are not professional journalists should exercise their freedom of expression on the social media and other online platforms.

    Even for professional journalists, there are codes of ethics which they are expected to abide with. The code addresses among others, the need for fairness, balance and objectivity in reporting. It requires journalists to crosscheck their information, avoid raising false claim and not invading the privacy of people they are seeking information from. Journalists are not supposed to obtain information through unethical means.

    When journalists disobey the ethics of the profession or media laws like libel, they either get penalised by their professional bodies or sued along with their media houses by aggrieved parties.

    It is against this background that one gets worried that online platforms are being abused by some people all in the name of freedom.

    All kinds of unverified allegations are circulated online against not only government officials but other citizens who have to battle hard to state their sides of the story. While some of the citizens-journalists like Faggo are bold enough to use their real identity, others adopt false names.

    Even in responding to published stories on some websites, many people find it difficult to use civil language when they disagree with a point of view. They indulge in name calling and sometimes use abusive language.

    As an online Editor, I usually spend hours going through comments. There is the erroneous impression that freedom to express oneself is freedom not to respect the right of the other person.

    Some comments are insensitive and one cannot but wonder why people who write them are not conscious of the need not to abuse the opportunity they have to express their views.

    When the deaths of some top personalities were announced, some readers don’t have any problem with abusing the dead and their families. The President makes a statement and some angry writers want websites and blogs to publish their responses calling him a fool.

    I support freedom of expression but what should be clear to citizen-journalists is that they should express it with the highest level of discretion. Faggo should have left his name out of the Facebook posting instead of being unnecessarily daring and getting sacked. When we get any report, our first action should not be to put it on our Facebook wall or tweet it. When things happen around us, especially accidents, the first thought on our mind should not be to take picture and share it on social media.

    Freedom without limit can be abused and is being abused in the country now. It should not take security officials to call anyone to order. People should learn to know what to write on, how to write and when to write.

  • Universities or glorified higher schools?

    Universities or glorified higher schools?

    Even without the recently released report of the Needs Assessment Committee on public Universities, the state of rot in the institutions has been apparent to anyone who cared to know.

    What the report of the committee established following the 2009/ASUU/FG agreement has succeeded in doing is to provide a graphic detail of the decay of the public universities which we should be ashamed of as a country that claims to be the giant of Africa.

    With the report, we no longer need to wonder why our public universities do not rate high among universities in the continent, talk less at the global level.

    Among other findings, the committee confirmed that physical facilities for teaching and learning in government owned universities were inadequate, dilapidated, over-stretched and improvised. Laboratories and workshops are old with inappropriate furnishing.

    Some Engineering workshops are operating under zinc sheds and trees, while some Science-based faculties ran “Dry-lab” due to lack of regents and tools for real experiment.

    The manpower crisis in the institutions was also exposed by the report which indicated that only 43 percent of the academic staff had the required PhD qualification. Majority of the universities are grossly understaffed, they rely on part-time and visiting lecturers, have under-qualified academic and have no effective staff development programme.

    In terms of hostel facilities, the report stated that “lavatories in most of the hostels in Nigerian universities are both inadequate and unfit for human use”. In Michael Okpara University for instance, female students take their bath in the open!

    It is very unfortunate that the public universities, many of which used to be the pride of the nation globally have degenerated to their present pitiable level.

    How can we produce employable and competent graduates from institutions that lack virtually every required facility conducive for learning?

    I recently addressed some post graduate students of a federal university in a lecture room with tattered rug and torn window blinds and was very sad about the very depressing environment students have to learn. It is not unusual for students to scramble for seats in overcrowded lecture halls and sometimes there are no classrooms for lectures.

    More than 25 years after being a squatter in Eni Njoku Hall of the University of Lagos, I was in the hall three years ago and couldn’t imagine how students managed to live in the hall with its state of dilapidation. The toilets stink, new students who had paid for hostel accommodation had to look for the doors of their rooms which had been detached and the double bunk beds were in bad shape.

    With the rot now documented, one can only hope that the government will not allow the report to gather dust like many others before now. The recommendations of the committee should be urgently considered and implemented if the institutions have to continue being called universities instead of glorified higher school

    Provision of standard education is supposed to be one of the priorities of the government. It is bad enough that successive governments have not given university education the attention it deserves and yet we are quick to complain about the quality of graduates of the institutions.

    What is apparent from the report is that not enough funds have been provided for the universities and even what has been provided has been mismanaged.

    The time to act is now before any further decline that could further devalue the certificates issued by these institutions.

  • Patience’s second chance

    Patience’s second chance

    I join the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, in thanking God for returning ‘hale and hearty’ from her recent ‘trip’ to Germany.

    Considering speculations over her health while her six-week stay abroad lasted, she really has reasons to thank God that she came back alive. Among the speculations was that she went for a tummy-tuck operation, while some said she had a terminal disease.

    I remember seeing a particular edition of a soft-sell magazine with a headline that she was down with Parkinson syndrome being sold on the streets of Lagos. Much as I had doubt over the authenticity of the report I was really worried for Dame Patience.

    Apparently shocked by the wild speculations, the first lady on arrival immediately denied the reports but stated that “God has given me a second chance.” While Dame Patience should be angered by the speculations which indeed amount to unethical practices by the media organisations concerned, the presidency should be blamed for refusing to give a clear picture of why she was suddenly flown abroad.

     No official statement was issued on her trip until the online media was abuzz with speculations. Even when journalists requested for the whereabouts of the first lady, her media aide, Ayo Osinlu, first claimed that his boss was retiring, after the rigours of hosting the African First Ladies Summit.

    Thereafter he and other presidency officials declined to speak on the very sensitive issue and gave room for more fertile imaginations by the speculators. The president also kept mute over the issue and recently went to visit his wife who was supposed to be ‘resting’ in Germany. If indeed she was resting, there was no justification for the president’s visit. It was bad enough that our president’s wife could not rest at home and had to incur God-knows-how-much money to ‘rest’ abroad.

    Nigerians would have been more sympathetic if the truth of Dame Patience’s trip had been disclosed.

    Just like any human being, she could take ill and Nigerians deserve the right to know. If the best treatment she could get is abroad, so be it, but to have smuggled the First Lady out of the country and kept quiet about what was wrong with her amounts to the height of deception and undue secrecy about what should be public knowledge.

    This second chance is an opportunity to be the First Lady she should be.

    Now that she is back, she needs to work hard at making the best use of the second chance God has given her as she acknowledged. She should cut down her self-imposed multiple public functions which most times keep her in the news for the wrong reasons.

    She needs to operate more from the background than getting into controversies that rub off negatively on her husband. Since the role of the First Lady is not constitutional, Dame Jonathan should stop throwing her weight around like she has done on occasions when she clashed with elected officials.

    On this second chance, she should be modest in implementing whatever pet project she is running and not incur unnecessary expenditure like some first ladies before her, whose projects don’t outlive their stay in office.

  • Media women of substance

    Media women of substance

    There are not many women who have made it to the top of the media profession in Nigeria like in other parts of the world. It is not for want of trying but journalism is very ‘masculine’ in many ways, making it difficult for many women to stay long enough to excel and prove that what a man can do, a woman can do better.

    There are, however, a few who have overcome the gender limitation in the media industry. One of them is Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who clocked 60 last week. To her credit she had also served creditably as the Special Adviser on Media to President Olusegun Obansanjo and was the first female President of Nigeria Guild of Editors.

    Under her leadership, the NAN has regained its lost glories as a foremost news agency in the continent.

    Her commitment to the development of the media profession which she has demonstrated over the years in the various positions she has served is very commendable.

    Honourable Abike Dabiri- Erewa of the House of Representative who also clocked 50 last week is another female journalist of note who should be celebrated for being a pride of the profession.

    From being an outstanding broadcast journalist in her days at the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Abike has moved on to becoming a notable legislator. She has done very well to earn a two-term tenure during which she has served as Chairman of the Media Committee and now Diaspora Committee.

    I congratulate these two women of substance and wish them many years of service to not only the media but the nation and humanity at large.

    Season of anomie

    The gruesome killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt in the Aluu community in Rivers State last week is yet another indication of the kind of times we live in. I managed to look at some of the pictures of the victims before and after they were killed but I have refused to watch the video recording of the incident.

    The agony on the face of one of the victims in one of the pictures I saw online has stuck in my memory that I am sure that watching the video will leave me too heartbroken. The killing of the students further confirms how cheap death has become in our society. I still shudder to think of the ease with which those who committed the savage act and their collaborators who cheered them carried on without any fear that the law would catch up with them.

    The various versions of the circumstances that led to the arrest of the students suggest that some of the villagers were just determined to kill the boys for whatever personal reasons. Whatever offence they might have committed, if indeed they did, does not justify the jungle justice they were subjected to.

    In the attempt to get even with criminals, some communities in the county have resorted to taking the law into their hands, and like in this case, innocent people have been killed. I would rather prefer that a criminal escape than for an innocent person to be killed. Sooner or later, the law will catch up with the criminals and they will be made to pay for their evil deeds.

    This particular case should be thoroughly investigated and all the perpetrators of the dastardly act brought to book to serve as a deterrent for others who have indulged in this kind of miscarriage of justice. Some security personnel were said to have witnessed the killing, they should not be spared as they could have called the killers to order if they really knew their duty. If they feared that they could be overwhelmed, they could have called for reinforcement instead of being onlookers like other civilians.

  • Calling NYSC

    Calling NYSC

    Last Wednesday, Served, a book on the compulsory one-year national youth service experience of Joe Agbro Jnr, a staff of The Nation, was presented in Lagos.

    At a time when many are questioning the relevance of the scheme and calling for its discontinuation, Agbro Jnr deserves commendation for publishing a book which makes a good case for the retention of the service.

    The interesting experiences he shared in the book confirm how the service has truly been an opportunity for young Nigerians to know more about the people and places of the country. That Agbo Jnr from Delta State who grew up in Lagos still cherishes the year he spent in Ebonyi, which he says is like his second home, confirms that the scheme has indeed been accomplishing the objective of enhancing the unity of the country.

    By the time I went for my national youth service in the old Sokoto State in 1985, I had never gone beyond Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States. Serving in Sokoto gave me a better understanding and appreciation of the northern parts of the country.

    Each time I hear of Sokoto, I remember the Bodinga camp, Sokoto township, Illela border town, Kaura Namoda, now in Zamfara State and many other places I visited during the service. Years after the service, I keep running into the people we served together in Sokoto, some of whom we have remained friends.

    While some of us like Joe Agbro Jnr would want the scheme retained, there is need for an overhaul of the service.

    Recent cases of killings of corps members in the north have made it imperative for the issue of security of the young graduates to be taken more seriously.

    In deploying corps members, priority should be given to places where their security can be guaranteed. State governments and communities that cannot protect corps members don’t deserve to have them posted to their states.

    The welfare of the corps members who have accepted to serve their country should be given better attention. Much as we want to expose them to the reality of the situation in the country, the orientation camps should have basic amenities.

    The situation where camps don’t have water, toilets and other basic facilities despite the yearly allocations for Orientation Camps is not good enough. Their allowances have to be paid promptly instead of subjecting them to hardship occasioned by delays like the recent case when they waited for another month before they were paid.

    Unfortunately, when some corps members after waiting endlessly for an official explanation wrote about their plight, the NYSC in Ebonyi State for example invoked the provision of a bye law to extend the service of Samson Folarin, a graduate of University of Lagos, for a month without pay.

    The punishment for Folarin and some corps members over the years like that of another ex-corps member in Sokoto who also wrote about the extension of his service for a similar reason is unjust.

    If the NYSC fails to discharge its responsibilities to the corps members who are far away from where they can get money to take care of themselves, it is not right to penalise them for speaking out. If the corps members can write about the positive sides of their service years and not get punished, it is wrong for them to be punished when they draw attention to lapses.

    The bye law being invoked by the NYSC which says corps members should not grant press interviews on the policies of the organisation needs to be reviewed. Despite all efforts made by Joe Agbo Jnr, the national, state and local government levels of the NYSC were not represented at the launch of his book. The lack of interest of the NYSC in a book that will prepare future corps members for the year ahead of them and those who are about to begin their service is not the way to reward young people like Agbo, who have opted to remain patriotic to their fatherland despite the challenges they have faced.

    Served or any other that has been written about the one-year service year is a book every intending and serving corps member should read if the NYSC gets it acts right.

  • The lure for Ghana Universities

    The lure for Ghana Universities

    The Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Dr Wale Babalakin, recently disclosed that no fewer than 75,000 Nigerian students are currently studying in three Ghanaian universities incurring a total of N160billion expenditure annually.

    In this report, The Nation Online reports on why Nigerian students are trooping to Ghana for university education.

    The obvious reason why many are opting for Ghana is the limited spaces available especially in public universities. Many applicants are unable to get admission even when they perform well in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board examination and have to wait for years. It should bother us that Nigerians are spending so much to get university education not only in Ghana but in some other countries that don’t even have better resources.

    There is an urgent need to provide adequate budget for education to substantially meet the desire of Nigerians for quality university education at minimal cost.

    LACK OF ADMISSION OPPORTUNITIES IN NIGERIA

    With the large number of qualified students who are unable to get university admission in Nigeria, Ghanaian universities and others in neighbouring West African region have become major attractions. According to a Nigerian student studying in a Ghanaian university, “it’s not that Nigerians prefer Ghanaian Universities… it’s just that to gain admission into Ghanaian universities is relatively easier than our universities in Nigeria. Trying to get admission in Nigeria is like gambling, which is not the case in Ghana. If you are qualified and you can pay for it you will get admission.”

    In acknowledgement of the increasing number of Nigerians seeking admission in Ghana, President Goodluck Jonathan during a visit to the country said, “despite the number of federal, states’ and private universities in Nigeria, yet we do not have enough. So if Ghana can provide solid education for our people and other African countries they should do it.”

    UNINTERRUPTED ACADEMIC CALENDAR

    Regular disruption of academic calendar due to frequent strikes by both academic and non-academic staff of Nigerian Universities has necessitated students spending more years than expected for various courses. In Ghana, it is reported that there is hardly cases of strikes in Universities making it possible for students to graduate on schedule. The academic session is said to be stable and predictable.

    BETTER PERCEPTION OF GHANA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM

    Despite having more universities with acclaimed academicians and professionals home and abroad, the Ghanaian educational system is still perceived to be better than that of Nigeria globally. The rising image of Ghana as a stable democracy has obviously rubbed off on the rating of its educational institutions whose certificates are said to be well respected globally. For some Nigerians, studying in Ghana is like studying abroad and getting an international certificate which can enhance their chances for post graduate studies and job search.

    Nigerian students interviewed were divided on the question of the standard offered by Ghanaian universities compared with that of Nigeria. Some said the standard is the same while others noted the Ghanaian lecturers are more thorough in their teaching and the curriculum is more diverse.

    COST IS NOT A FACTOR

    Except for a few top range private universities in Nigeria, it is comparatively more expensive to study in Ghana. The average tuition fee for private universities in Ghana attended by majority of the Nigerian students in the country is put at about $2500, while international students pay much higher in public universities. Many parents are ready to pay the high cost as long as their children can get the admission and quality education.

    Culled from www.staging.thenationonlineng.net

     

  • The case for public schools

    The case for public schools

    Early this year, I was invited by a Non Governmental Organisation to address some students of a public secondary school in Ikorodu, Lagos during a career programme.

    As I stood before the packed hall of students with some of them not having a seat, it occurred to me that some of them may be wondering if they could ever become as ‘successful’ as I appeared to be based on the introduction by an official of the NGO. I therefore started by telling the students how I used to be like them. I recalled how I grew up in Ajegunle in Lagos and attended Ajeromi Ifelodun Public School. I asked if they know a town called Iperu in Remo local government area of Ogun State where I had my secondary education- Christ Apostolic Grammar School- only two of them raised their hands.

    If I could accomplish whatever I have in journalism despite attending the obscure primary and secondary schools, I assured the students that they can do better as their future does not depend on the schools they attended, but their will power and how serious they take their education.

    I told them how lucky they are schooling in Lagos State as many of their colleagues in schools in many remote parts of the country do not have half of the facilities and teachers they have.

    I was reminded of the career talk last week while listening to a three- part phone-in programme on the quality and cost of education in private and public schools on Inspiration FM, my favourite radio station.

    Like most people of my generation, I attended public schools from primary to the university level. There were a few private primary and secondary schools then, majority of which were owned by missionaries but at a time the military government took them over.

    Because the government then at all levels largely lived up to their responsibility of providing qualitative education, the quality of instruction was good and the cost was affordable by the majority. Some governments even offered free education and bursaries.

    So much has, however, changed in recent years with the quality of education in public schools being so poor that attending private schools from primary to University levels is becoming the order of the day. If most Nigerians have their way, they would prefer to send their children to private schools in the country and abroad like many are already doing.

    Due to poor budgetary allocations for education, the standard of public schools has fallen in addition to lack of basic facilities for learning. Notwithstanding, some public schools have managed to retain an above average performance and their students sometimes do better than graduates of private schools.

    Expectedly, the fees charged by private schools are very high and not affordable by many who particularly at the university level are unable to get admission even when they perform well due to limited spaces.

    There have been concerns about the high fees charged by private institutions, which have not provided them an alternative for those who at the university level cannot get admission even when they do well in the matriculation examination.

    At the rate we are going, good education is gradually becoming the privilege of the minority who can afford them and not the right of everyone as it should be.

    Government at all levels more than ever before have to allocate adequate resources for public schools to retain the high quality they were associated with. If most of the present leaders benefitted from government funded education, they owe it a duty to provide same for all now instead of leaving parents at the mercies of some school proprietors who have turned education to big business even when what they are offering is not necessary excellent.