To check absconding teachers and salvage education sector ( 2)

REGRETTABLY, the education sector in Nigeria has been in a coma. We now have universities and tertiary institutions that churn out graduates after four or five years of intellectual dissipation without equipping them with the necessary job- acquisition skills. The chances these young graduates have of acquiring a good job after graduation have long been smothered. From outside, many public Nigerian universities look like glorified secondary schools. Their buildings and architectural structures are in a decrepit state. Spurred on by insecurity in the teaching profession, most university and tertiary institution lecturers have fled the country to seek the so- called greener pastures abroad. Over the successive years, we find ourselves asking the same pertinent question: What does the future hold for us and our children? The answer is obviously blowing in the wind.

The truth is that a bleak future awaits Nigerian children, who are supposed to be the real treasure of Nigeria. The greatest crime any government can commit is to destroy the treasure of the country. This explains why the Federal Government should prioritise education. In order to educate their citizenry and, by extension, save the future, many countries are prepared to invest their most precious human and material resources to make it come true. But the contrary is the case in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the Federal Government budgets a pittance for education but budgets a gargantuan sum of N15 billion in renovating the residence of the Vice President and N3 billion in furnishing the residence of a presidential aide. When a country squanders her most prized treasure in stupid inanity or, for the sake of a plate of porridge, there is great cause for concern. If Nigeria fails to realise that the future of her humanity is built on the education and positive dynamism and potentials of her youths, her leaders labour in vain.

Therefore, for the umpteenth time, we call on the Federal Government to give the education sector the attention it deserves. The teaching profession must be given its pride of place as in the past. We must invest heavily in the education sector. To save education from total collapse, the 9th House of Representatives declared a state of emergency in the education sector and even mandated its committee on education to investigate what it dubbed the “deplorable state of education in Nigeria.” Since education is the most potent vehicle for the integral development of any country, the 10th House of Representatives should take a cue from the 9th House of Representatives and declare an emergency in the education sector in Nigeria.

Sadly enough, Nigeria’s annual public spending on education is negligible compared to the amount spent on wasteful expenditure. If Nigeria really wants to reap good dividends from education, it must budget a large sum of money in her annual Budget. Most of the country’s public universities have become decrepit. For example, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka ( UNN), is in a serious state of disrepair. The UNN is not just any university; it is Nigeria’s first indigenous university. Therefore, the UNN is a national monument that belongs to our national pantheon. All over the world, first autonomous universities like the UNN are always well- preserved. But the UNN is always in bad shape. For instance, the UNN Sports Complex has been taken over by the bush.

Therefore, in addition to the TETFUND, the Federal Government should approve a Direct Emergency Fund for the renovation and the upgrading of the decayed infrastructure at the country’s universities and tertiary institutions. Since higher education, unarguably, is one of the fundamental benefits of human civilisation, it is no luxury for the Federal Government to invest heavily in repairing the broken infrastructure in our universities. For example, most of the buildings housing the different faculties and departments looked so unkempt and unmaintained since they were constructed about 55 years ago. The louvre blades and louvre glasses in the lecturers’ apartments are all broken down, leaving the apartments in a very miserable state. Therefore, the various moribund Work Departments, Physical Planning Departments in our various universities and tertiary institutions should be resuscitated. Membership of the National University Committee ( NUC), University Visitation, University Councils, National Committees on Tertiary Institutions should only comprise men and women of integrity who operate within ethical standards. The nauseating academic politics disrupting the free flow of academic programmes in our Universities and tertiary institutions should be discouraged and stopped.

Given the wobbling and erratic academic system in our universities, the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) is overdue for self- cleansing. Lecturers who have migrated abroad, leaving their university quotas unoccupied and their faculties and departments in tatters, should be relieved of their various appointments. Since these lecturers are not planning to return to Nigeria to continue their former jobs, their positions should be given to deserving academics. Absconding lecturers trained abroad with TETFUND, refusing to return and serve their fatherland, should refund the money used in training them with interest; failure to do so should result in repatriation.

ASUU should stop embarking on incessant strikes to avoid continuing disruptions of academic programmes in our universities. Having said this, we have observed that the Federal Government has developed a certain proclivity for reneging on agreements over the years, as shown in the lingering feuds involving the government and ASUU. Therefore, we call on the Federal Government to show stronger commitment to upholding its agreements with ASUU. It is the frequent breaches of these agreements that cause incessant ASUU strikes.

In the last analysis, the future of any country lies in its human capital. Any country that places much emphasis on economic and political development with less focus on human capital formation is courting a disaster for itself. In fact, no nation aspiring to greatness wants to toy with its educational system. Therefore, our university lecturers should be accorded due respect as important stakeholders in nation- building, as witnessed in the past in Nigeria. Lecturers’ salaries and emoluments should be constantly reviewed upward to adequately motivate them in their teaching career and to encourage them to continue teaching in Nigeria.