THE latest report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which rated Nigeria high among nations with a huge population of school-age children who are out of school, is heart-rending. Going by the report, one out of every five Nigerian children is out of school. Put together by the UNESCO Education-for-All Global Monitoring Report (EAGMR), it revealed that 10.5 million school-age children are out of school, accounting for about 47 per cent of the out-of-school population of the 12 nations ranked. Other countries include Pakistan (5.1 million), Ethiopia (2.4 million), India (2.3 million), Philippines (1.5 million), Cote d’Ivoire (1.2 million), Burkina Faso (1 million), Niger (1 million), Kenya (1 million), Yemen (0.9 million), Mali (0.8 million) and South Africa (0.7 million). The record also shows, quite intriguingly, that Nigeria’s children out of school increased in number with the advent of civil rule since 1999.
Let this be noted: Without the capacity to guarantee a measure of security or prosperity for tomorrow, governance loses its essence. The future of children often called the ‘leaders of tomorrow’ is one thing that any responsible government must work hard to guarantee. Thus, everything is usually deployed to ensure that the nation’s children live in no fear of tomorrow. This is not fully the case in Nigeria today as governments at all levels have failed to make appropriate investments in the future of Nigerian children. That future is neglected while state resources are looted or frittered away. Education, which is the foundation upon which a prosperous future is built receives scant attention in conception and financial planning.
The consequence of this attitude is a large population of children without a future or, at best, a scary future as those children receive an education that is so warped and shallow it is incapable of equipping them for competition in the global market place.
Nigeria has not performed well in most areas in recent global rankings. Latest report by African Union Commission on the 2012 MDGs rating, placed 15 African countries ahead of the list of 20 countries that made the greatest progress globally and Nigeria did not make the list, which included Benin Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malawi and Rwanda. Although the global organisation explained the increase in the number of children out of school in terms of shortfall in aid, especially between 2010 and 2011, this does not remove the stigma on Africa’s giant doing so woefully in children enrolment in school. The causes of the increase indeed are to be sought in the political economy of the affected countries.
This is very pertinent in the case of Nigeria, which occupies the scandalous position of a country with most of its children out of school. Despite huge income from oil, this has hardly translated into improvement in the lives of children. Corruption reigns in all spheres of governance in the country. The Universal Basic Education (UBE) policy funds are either being squandered or misapplied with the corresponding result of no basic education for the Nigerian children. The consequent misfortune is unspeakable. In Kano alone, about two million of Nigerian youths have turned commercial motorbike riders. The figure varies from state to state, but it is the same story nationwide. This, of course, undermines the growth figures being touted by the handlers of the economy. Education is the first line of investment for any nation. It is the future; it is progress.
Interestingly, the trouble with Nigeria is not the absence of good policies but the absence of responsible leadership and strong-willed public officials to drive the policies. Free and compulsory enrolment was one of the cardinals of the education policy in Western Nigeria in 1954, the result of which is still evident. Today, corrupt interventionist and disorganised educational policies are being pursued even when there are sound, productive ones in the files.
Nigeria needs schools, good schools for all Nigerians. Nigerian children deserve good beginning in education and they must be given one. The government should implement a compulsory enrolment policy backed by sanctions. All children from the age of four until 16 must be in school. The country has enough resources to achieve this objective. Indeed, once the cost of governance is reduced to an acceptable or tolerable level, savings therefrom are enough to fund education in a way that will guarantee Nigeria’s future. Education is one thing on which all nations desiring progress put their smart money. Nigeria should not be an exception.
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