THREE governors, one senator, two professors and Confederation of African Football (CAF) chief yesterday identified post-primary school education as a critical step to guaranteeing a stable and prosperous future for Nigeria.
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode; Bornu State Governor Kashim Shettima and Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson said a well-developed secondary school education system would stem the tide of militancy, insurgency and instability threatening some parts of the country.
They spoke in Lagos on ‘Raising a wise generation: Revamping Nigeria’s secondary education’ at a colloquium organised by Government College Ughelli Old Boys Association (Class of September 73).
The event was chaired by Nigeria’s first female Vice-Chancellor Grace Alele Williams (former VC, University of Benin). Senator Oluremi Tinubu was special guest of honour.
Other guests and speakers included the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ish-aq Oloyede; Chairman, Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick, Prof. John Pepper Clark, his brother Ambassador B. A. Clark and Independent Chairperson of the Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) Aisha Falode.
The event also featured a fundraiser for a proposed N500 million technology centre at the college to groom pupils on entrepreneurial skills.
Chief host and special guest of honour, Ambode, who was represented by Special Adviser on Education Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said secondary education is a critical stage in the education ladder “because it builds on the foundation laid at the primary level and also prepares students for the challenges of tertiary education”.
He lamented the decline in education standards from what obtain in pre and early post-independence years.
“The questions that come to mind on occasions such as this are: where and how did we get it wrong?
“What is clear, however, is that the level to which our secondary education and by extension the education sector generally has degenerated, did not happen in one day.
“It has been a progressive decline as a result of a combination of factors. The most talked about is inadequate funding,” Ambode said.
The governor noted that revamping secondary education to raise a wise generation will require paying attention to “physical infrastructure to guarantee a conducive learning environment, provision of modern learning materials and equipment, competent and well-motivated teachers; and a curriculum whose content must be capable of imparting the right skills relevant to the needs of the 21st century”.
The governor observed, however, that “funding alone will not guarantee the desired results if it is not complemented with strategic planning driven by creative and innovative ideas”.
He explained that the launch of “Code Lagos”, “which would ensure that a million Lagosians will learn how to code in three years”, was part of his government’s effort to boost the quality of education.
Shettima, who focused on girl-child education, lamented that the poor secondary education standard in the Northeast had multiple and wide ranging effects on the human development index.
Shettima noted that terror group Boko Haram understood the importance of modern education that was why it forbade it.
He said: “Boko Haram destroyed a total of 5,600 classrooms in Bornu State alone and they produced a total of 54,911 widows and 52,311 orphans.
“We have no option as leaders but to invest in the education of our youths, because these orphans and widows, if we fail to take care of them, in 10 to 15 years, they will become the Frankenstein monster that will destroy all of us.”
Dickson said the militancy in his part of the Niger Delta started seeing a marked reduction following extensive investment in developing post-secondary school infrastructure.
“When I took over, there was not a single boarding school in Bayelsa State. If you’re wondering why some places have issues of militancy, insurgency, instability, criminality, unemployability and other similar crises, you just need to look at the state of and investment in education.
“When I became governor in 2012, standing on the podium at my inaugural speech, I declared a state of emergency on education. When I came down, a lot of my friends told me I had destroyed my government. ‘Where are you going to get the money to fund such a weighty declaration?’ For me, it was a question of priority.
“Now in Bayelsa, we have almost 15 model boarding schools. We also set up our flagship secondary school, the Ijaw National Academy, with over 1,000 students. All of them are on state government scholarships. We selected the best boys and girls from all the primary schools, irrespective of the background, capacity or pedigree of their parents, in all the Ijaw speaking areas along the coastline of Nigeria from Ondo to Awka Ibom.”
Senator Tinubu urged Nigerians to invest in improving education standards across the country, as no government could do it alone.
She said: “Many of us are dissatisfied with the state of education in Nigeria today. Indeed, those who understand the full ramifications, of defective, incomplete, non-competitive or non-existent education will be appalled. Already, it has been noted that due to inaccessibility of education and high incidences of drop outs, Africa lacks a critical mass of skilled labour.
“Beyond the inaccessibility of formal schooling, we must also avert our minds to the quality of our schools.
“We should be concerned about the nexus between the type, structure and standard of education in our country on the one hand and the quality of the students that graduate from our schools on the other hand.
“We should concern ourselves with the curriculum and the need for relevant, current, useful and globally competitive education. We must also pay attention to the state of infrastructure, staffing, teacher training, and enrollment capacity vis-a-vis total population; the integrity of our examinations and the resultant certifications they confer.
Prof. Williams urged the elite to focus on assisting teachers to upgrade their skills so they can impart world-class education on pupils.
