A Local Experience

Saturday, February 13, 2010 was to memory the life I lived 15 years ago. I was on a trip to a local community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. As we drove through the narrow village road, saw the community setting, children walking about from one compound to the other, young people returning from stream and fetching fire wood. There and then, I made use of my phone to get this pictures.

I would wonder why such thought came to me. I have been to several local projects but this time my emotion was different. I tried to imagine what would have happen if I were to stay put there.

Don't mind me, village community life is soft, sweet, affordable. Everyone cares and share. So, how long have you been to your own local place. Take a trip there soon!

The Nigerian Education Sector

Education as we already know is the bedrock of any society and its the connecting rod or the bridge that connects each society to the other. Formal Education is still very necessary. For instance, with no formal education Nigerians would only speak her local languages and not known to other languages. This also facilitates development, which is very obvious in francophone countries. The Nigerian story when it comes to the benefits derived from formal education turns on a different pivot. The crop of leaders in the country are ruling instead of leading. They are self-centred. Even in our youth cycle, youths who have acquired formal education tends to look-down on their peers who have not had such opportunity.

ASUU strike in 2009 was an eye opener showing us that some leaders in the country, if opportune, would deny average Nigerian the rights to formal education. Therefore, having access to primary education (MDGs 1) to tertiary institution should be encouraged among young people. However, formal education is becoming a necessity as a starting point to become an entrepreneur and a professional.

The budgetary allocation for education was N117 billion in 2005, N182.6 billion in 2006, N188 in 2007 and inN210.45 in 2008, somehow this yearly increase tends to comply with UNESCO 26% stipulation for budgetary allocation to education.

But people should look beyond the figures to see how the budgetary process has been used as an effective tool in dealing with the multifarious problems confronting the nation’s education sector.

All the countries that ranked top in the Human Development Index (HDI) released by UNICEF have one thing in common – a highly educated population. Similarly, there is a direct link between a country’s literacy rate and its per capita income. As a result, countries which have the highest rate of higher education also ranked highest in per capita income. In our country, though, the constitution of Nigeria gives all citizens the right to education, government’s commitment to this right is naught.

Its high time, the government place importance on her citizens' right to education by
1. Giving adequate and timely funding to the sector;
2. Ensure that funds are judiciously spent;
3. Stop giving deaf-ears, but monitor how the funds is put to use.