With the curtains set to fall on the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, students in tertiary institutions did an appraisal of his performance in education, raised concerns about challenges and urged the incoming administration to hit the ground running. EMMANUEL OCHAYI (UNILAG), HALEEMAH BALOGUN (KWASU) and FADEELAH ADEYEMO (UNIMAID) report.
Education remains the lifeblood of a nation; driver and sustainer of development. The dysfunctional state of education in the country continues to raise concerns. Stakeholders argued that government merely discusses the challenges without taking adequate action to resolve them. Students are becoming disillusioned with public education.
Throughout the years, successive governments only organised summits and conferences to address issues already extensively analysed and solutions proposed, but with no concrete action afterwards.
When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, students had expected the dwindling fortunes of education to change. Sadly, it was not to be. One major challenge they will never forget is the incessant industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The union’s strikes under Buhari account for the highest number of days the lecturers have downed tools under any President since the nation returned to democracy in 1999. According to statistics, ASUU has gone on strike for over 600 days since this administration came on board.
Now, it is 11 days to go for Buhari and many are already looking forward to what the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised youths and students.
However, in a mixed grill of assessment, students bared the minds on how education had fared under the leadership of Buhari. Some praised him for creation of new universities, bridging the HND/ B.Sc dichotomy, school feeding programme,among others; others criticised him for superintending over the longest ASUU strike in the country’s history, kidnapping of students due to poor security and failure to address the welfare of other unions– ASUP, COEASU; which also resulted in regular strikes.
Ojugbele Daniel Babatunde, a 400-Level student of Mathematics Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka(UNN), blamed this outgoing administration for adequately funding education, infrastructural gaps, incessant strikes that disrupted academic calendar.
“Strikes disrupted academic calendar, and the issue of out-of-school children remained unresolved. Efforts were made to promote technical and vocational education to align with the labour market’s needs, though.
“To improve the sector, the incoming administration should focus on increasing funding, boosting infrastructure, enhancing teacher training and well-being, modernising the curriculum, integrating technology, addressing out-of-school children, collaborating with stakeholders, implementing effective monitoring and evaluation, fostering public-private partnerships, and developing long-term plans. These efforts will lead to better quality education and equipped students,” he said.
But Mabinuori Adekoya Folorunsho, a recent graduate of Sociology from Lagos State University, Ojo (LASU) believes that the Buhari administration has done the best it could despite incessant strikes. He implored the incoming government to tackle the crisis and make education attractive to students.
He said: “President Buhari’s administration has done what it could do, but still not enough as industrial actions were observed by staff of higher institutions.
“Formal education can serve as a pull factor when it is standardised both in structure and function. It is pertinent for the incoming administration to address the FG vs ASUU/ASUP/NASU, etc crisis, as it affects the curriculum and social acceptability of the academic activities. The provision of amenities and rehabilitation of dilapidated institutions must be prioritised. The government should also place a premium on indigenous knowledge otherwise known as traditional science. It will not only boost Internally Generated Revenue, it would also increase the zeal to seek knowledge by citizens.”
Precious Awire, a 300-Level Mass Communication student at Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Kwara State, said: “Education was one of the key agendas in President Buhari’s manifesto of change, a promise which he has mostly failed to deliver.
His key point agenda included, allocating up to 20 per cent of the National Budget to Education. He couldn’t achieve that and the education sector remains underfunded.
“Incessant strikes in various polytechnics and universities at different times also crippled the sector. There is a decline in the teaching profession with over 40 per cent of Nigerian teachers underqualified as they do not possess the recommended minimum qualifications for teaching.
“Nigeria’s literacy level has not increased. We currently have over 65 million illiterates according to UNESCO .Only 450,000 of the nomadic school-aged children are actually accessing any form of schooling out of the earlier estimated 3.5 million by the PMB administration and also about 10.5 million school-aged Nigerian children are out of school making the country the highest with illiteracy rate in the world.
“With tuition fees on the rise in several Federal universities, we can say the PMB administration has once again failed in that regard.
“The 2021 World Bank report says only 35 per cent of Young Nigerian Adults who have completed primary education is able to read and write which is a milestone failure for the PMB administration.”
Chike Marvellous Ebuka, an ND1 student of General Art at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), said the Buhari administration didn’t achieve much in terms of funding, addressing brain drain and industrial action. He urged the incoming administration to learn from his mistakes and re-position education.
Elizabeth Bankole, a 300-Level student at the University of Lagos(UNILAG) said: “I feel that the government is not concerned about the education of students. Since I gained admission in 2018, I have experienced strike more than twice. The last strike was the longest of all. Students shouldn’t keep experiencing the ordeal of waiting for a strike to be called off before they continue their education. I also feel that our educators’ welfare is not the concern of the government. The payment of lecturers’ salaries should be a priority so that strikes will no longer be prevalent in Nigeria.
“My advice for the incoming administration regarding education and how it can improve the sector is that lecturers should be paid on time so that strikes can be reduced to the barest minimum. Also, more money should be allocated to education. Lastly, I do suggest that no other person, than one who is passionate about improving the standard of education in Nigeria should be appointed as the Minister of Education.”
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A student who craved anonymity said: “It won’t be fair to assess the Buhari administration performance in education without considering the administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The reason is that Jonathan largely oversaw the 2009 Memorandum of Agreement signed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua between the Federal Government and ASUU. Undoubtedly, Jonathan failed to honour that agreement. What Buhari’s administration failed to do is two-pronged: one, it failed to honour the agreement; two, it could not come up with another agreement or means of solving the education crisis.
“There should be a couple of changes by the next administration. First, universities should be autonomous. The push for student loan cannot work in Nigeria due to lack of comprehensive central database. There is also no guarantee that corruption will not creep in. Another change that should happen is that there should be focus on skill acquisition. Many undergraduates are, frankly, just occupying space, studying what they do not love or understand, and end up working as bank tellers or marketers. All avenues should be explored before a young person decides that he needs a Bachelor’s Degree. It should be a necessity to that person, not a requirement to survive.”
According to Bundi Abdullahi, a student at University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), the Buhari administration made some efforts to improve education, but there are still significant challenges that need to be addressed.
“One of the major initiatives introduced by the Buhari administration in the education sector is the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, which provides free meals to primary school pupils across the country. This helped to increase school enrollment and attendance, especially in disadvantaged areas.
“The government took steps to improve teacher training and recruitment, with the goal of increasing the quality and quantity of teachers in the country. In addition, the administration launched a number of programme aimed at improving the quality of education, including the establishment of additional universities and polytechnics, and the expansion of access to vocational and technical education.
“Despite these efforts, however, Nigeria still faces significant challenges in the education sector, including inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, and a high rate of out-of-school children. The COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on education in the country, with school closures and disruptions to learning affecting millions of students.
“Overall, while the Buhari administration has made some progress in improving education, there is still a long way to go to ensure that all children in the country have access to quality education. The incoming administration will need to continue to prioritise education and work towards addressing the challenges,” he said.
Abdullateef Alabi, a 400-Level Building Technology Education student at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said: “President Buhari has been in power since May 29, 2015, and his administration has made some steps to promote the education sector. However, there are issues surrounding the government’s education policy and execution.
One of the primary issues is the financing of universities and other post-secondary institutions. There have been instances of strikes by university lecturers over unpaid salary and insufficient financing for research and infrastructural development.
“There have also been efforts to improve the regulation and accreditation of tertiary institutions to ensure that they meet certain standards. However, this has not been going as planned because of lack of significant changes.
In addition, obsolete curriculum, insufficient teaching staff and inadequate facilities should be addressed. The outgoing administration has made some efforts to ensure the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) provide funds for infrastructure and research in higher institutions.
In summary, President Buhari has tried to improve education, but there are still many challenges that need to be addressed swiftly.”