By Emmanuel Edukugho

The year 2011 may not be markedly different from the immediate previous ones in respect of education. Most of 2011 can be regarded as disappointing in education virtually at all levels- primary, basic and tertiary.

Sadly however, what is incontestable is the fact that our fortunes have dipped further with the turmoil and losses in the sector worsened by the indefinite strike declared by lecturers in the public universities, leading to shutdowns and closures.

The crises between Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over failure in implementing a negotiated agreement signed in 2009 is still lingering unresolved. There was also the controversy on Post-UTME test to be scrapped or retained.

More than 12 million children of school age still roam the streets without access to primary education; 115million adults are illiterates. Less than 20% of about 1.5 million candidates that sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in 2011 can only be offered admission into the university system.

Human rights non-governmental organizations committed to promotion and protection of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan, requesting the Federal Government to comply with the ECOWAS judgment on the right of Nigerian children to free, quality and compulsory basic education (Suit No: ECW/CCJ/APP/12/7 refers).

A case was instituted against the Nigerian government and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in which the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice had delivered a judgment in November 2010 requiring the government to provide as a right, free, quality and compulsory basic education to every Nigerian child. The court also asked the government to ensure that the right to education is not undermined by corruption.

The ECOWAS court held that UBEC has the responsibility to ensure that funds disbursed for basic education are properly used for this purpose. It noted that there was prima facie evidence of embezzlement of funds on the basis of the reports of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

The human rights NGOs in the petition to President Jonathan dated 2 June 2011, signed by Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP Executive Director, said since the judgment was delivered, the Nigerian government has neither acknowledged the judgment nor taken steps to implement the letter and spirit of the judgment.

President Jonathan

Among others, they urged government to urgently institute a mechanism to review legal and constitutional remedies for the right to education and bring them into line with the ECOWAS Court judgment.

Make available funds that can be used to replace stolen education funds and cater for the children that have been left behind as a result of corruption in the UBEC.

Work with the anti-corruption agencies to ensure the effective prosecution of those responsible for the theft of UBEC funds and the full recovery of stolen funds.

Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, at a retreat with stakeholders of the Nigerian Basic Education sub-sector said that the total amount of funds which cannot be accessed by some states from UBEC is N30, 633, 564, 719. 97 billion. She urged the affected states to access the funds in order to improve standard of education in Nigeria at primary level.

Top is Ebonyi state with matching grant not accessed from 2006 to August 2011 at N2.2 billion; Benue with N2.1 billion; Bayelsa N2.2 billion; Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Kano states with N1.4 billion each; Ogun N1.3 billion; Imo N1.2 billion.

Rufai told the retreat attended by UBEC top officials from across the country to promote understanding for a united focus on achieving quality basic education that a directive by president Jonathan that funds be domiciled in commercial banks afforded a lot of states opportunity to access their funds from UBEC.

Mr. Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education noted that inability of some states to pay their counterpart funds since 2008 is reason why they have not been able to access UBEC funds.

Efforts have been made also to boost Nursery/Kindergarten education under Early Childhood Care Development Education (ECCDE) with workshops and seminars held for caregivers/teachers on nursery school improvement.

ASUU President, Awuzie

At the public presentation of the nation’s education data survey and launching of the Digest of Education Statistics for the period 2006 to 2010 in Abuja, President Jonathan, represented by Vice President, Namadi Sambo, promised to improve the education sector through vigorous budgetary allocation to make it more responsive to the need and challenges of the country.

He lamented that while the federal budget has continued to increase, that of education remained static, saying it is only through improved, spread and quality education system that his administration would achieve its plan to transform Nigeria.

“The mirage of our problems as a society can be solved through a responsive education system. None of our developmental goals would be achieved if the education system cannot produce men and women to provide solutions to the problems”, he told the gathering.

National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Samaila Makama revealed at the event that 72% of children aged between 6-16 years never attended school in Bornu State. “Non-attendance is highest among states in the North East and North West zones compared with less than 3% in most of the states in the Southern zones”, he said.

Rufai said that how to access credible data on Nigerian education had been of concern, even as an academic, efforts made by her and other colleagues to obtain education data for research were futile. With production of the the 2010 Nigeria Education Data Survey, the Federal Ministry of Education will now have accurate data at their disposal, to effectively deploy resources to tackle identified challenges.

The Federal Government, through National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) supplied modern equipment worth N12.5 billion to 51 polytechnics and monotechnics across the country to replace obsolete ones in those institutions.

Said Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai at the presentation event: “The basic thrust of the need for modern equipment was predicated on the fact that scientific advances, technological changes and innovations have become the hallmark of the economic performance of any country”.

T he Council of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology in Nigeria (COHEADS) held its 123rd regular meeting at Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, seen as a major stakeholder in the formulation and implementation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies and programmes in Nigeria.

A directory of Accredited Programmes, a periodic publication which is both a database and reference material for TVET institutions that run approved programmes of study in the country was launched at the NBTE centre of Excellence, Kaduna.

The Rectors resolved that the National Board for Technical Education should advise all Polytechnic Proprietors  especially State Governments to ensure that there is parity in the remuneration of all staff of polytechnics and colleges of Technology to avert a situation where quality staff in the state polytechnics drift towards the Federal Polytechnics.

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has been created out of the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to concentrate on higher institutions with Prof. Mahmod Yakubu as its executive secretary.

Nigeria’s Permanent representative to UNESCO, Mrs. Maryam Katagum was elected into the executive of the organization at the 36th General Conference held in Paris, France.

There were serious concern that the set targets of 2015 Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Developments Goals (MDGS) might not be met by several countries including Nigeria.

But the Federal Government said it is committed to achieve EFA goals by 2015. Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike assured that government has laid out programmes to ensure access to quality education for less privileged Nigerians. That government is giving priority attention to the development of infrastructure for girl child education, the Almajiri, Nomadic and children of fishermen in schools and strengthening of capacity of teachers.

About 22 of the 36 State Universal Basic Education Boards(SUBEB) are not providing education for pupils with special needs, because they refuse to access the special education funds that would have been used to help such pupils. Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed decried the situation and admonished affected states to urgently take the right steps to provide education for people with special needs.

Education Minister, Rufai

At the 27th Convocation of University of Ilorin, President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by the Minister of Youths Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi, called for character training of graduates in their various fields before being awarded their degree to instill discipline  and patriotism for national goals and vision , and also advocated more private funding of universities.

Lags State University (LASU) gets new Vice Chancellor in the person of Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa. A controversial new fee regime introduced which hiked fees by over 750%. Students protested, but to no avail. The National Universities Commission (NUC) deacredited some academic programmes run by LASU.

Floods destroyed property estimated at N10billionin University of Ibadan. Also floods wrecked havoc in the Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto causing huge damage to infrastructure.

Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) held its conference 2011 at the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. It was attended by vice-chancellors of state, federal and private universities.

There were roundtable discussions while papers were presented on various topics concerning the university system.

While Prof. Peter Okebukola, former NUC executive secretary, delivered a lecture on Nigerian Universities and World Ranking : Issues, strategies  and Forward planning, host Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Aize Obayan, of Covenant University, presented a paper on “ Quality Management and Assurance Drivers in the 21st Century University”.

The 2011 Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award was conferred by All Africa Students Union (Union Pan Africaine Des Etudiants) on Babcock University , Ilishan-Remo, Ogun state, Nigeria as “Best private university in Africa”, and Prof. J.A.Kayode Makinde, President /Vice Chancellor, Babcock University as “Africa’s Most Outstanding Vice Chancellor”.

Crisis rocked University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE) Efurum, Delta state, over removal and reinstatement of the registrar and vice chancellor

But above all is the strike declared by ASUU currently ongoing which has paralysed academic activities in universities across the country over the FGN/ASUU Agreement 2009 which has not been fully implemented. About 90 universities are affected.

The Federal Ministry of Education organized an Examination Summit for stakeholders designed to critically examine the factors responsible for the poor performance of Nigerian students in public examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) with a view to improving performance.