By Amaka Abayomi

Following the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari at the March 28 polls, concerned educationists and stakeholders have called on the President-elect to make education top priority in his administration, saying no nation can progress without educating her people.

Nigeria’s education sector is currently battling with corruption, inadequate funding, low enrolment of students in basic education as Nigeria houses over 10 million out of school children, low quality of teachers at all levels of education, poor performance of students in public examinations, among others.

During his presidential campaign, Buhari promised that, if elected, his administration would provide free education, one free meal a day to students in primary and secondary schools, decent accommodation and involvement of teachers in school-related decisions, and provision of allowance to discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members who are in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes, among others.

Entrepreneurial development

Also, while receiving a delegation from his home state on a congratulatory visit, the President-elect said, “If you give education to a man or woman, you have empowered them to be productive. There is no better way to empowerment.”

To this end, the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) has called on the President-elect to make education his major focus. Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria, the National Vice President (West), Mr. Alfred Jimoh, said that having been a one-time president of the country, Buhari has a better understanding of the needs of the sector and its strategic place in national development.

According to Jimoh, “For a nation to attain its dreams of becoming a top economy as well as be respected among the comity of nations, it must have a sound education sector that will enhance human capital development. “General Buhari seems to understand the system and that education, among other key sectors, is one of the areas he would strive to turn around, when he takes over the mantle of leadership as there are many challenges bedeviling the sector which needs urgent intervention.

“We actually want a situation where he would quickly convene a meeting of stakeholders in the sector, in order to table all burning issues and come out with lasting solutions. Such meeting will, in no small measure, bring about the desired change that has been long expected in the sector and therefore the long expected national transformation and development attained.”

Calling on the President-elect to address university education by looking into the process of recruiting Vice Chancellors and accreditation of varsity programmes, an Associate Professor of Mathematics, American University of Nigeria, Leonard Karshima Shilgba, said this would reduce instances whereby poor leadership of any enterprise would yield poor outcomes.

Speaking in a separate interview, Shilgba said “Vice Chancellors (university presidents) should be the real CEOs of their varsity in all practical ways, and search for VCs of federal varsities should attain international prestige and outlook. “Reputable international hiring agencies must be engaged to recruit VCs of repute, taking into consideration experience and influence in the corporate world, ability to attract funds, and ability to manage human resources. Appointment of VCs must not be part of rewarding political associates. The status quo is corrupt, and must be stopped.”

For independent scholar and former Dean, Faculty of Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, the education sector remains in crisis despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts at increasing access to education with the establishment of more varsities. “What Gen. Buhari should concern himself with is the quality of these varsities and making sure that they are properly equipped and funded for them to perform optimally. Also, the issue of varsity autonomy should be decided upon and the idea of picking anybody to be in varsities’ councils should discontinue.

“There is no need to establish more public varsities in another decade, rather, efforts should be concentrated on adequately funding and equipping the existing ones to function well. Also, focus on primary and secondary education should be priority as Nigeria still has over 10 million out of school children, one of the highest in the world.” Stressing that the reasonable funding available should be monitored for high impact, the President, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Mr. Chibuzor Asomugha, said this would ensure that public education is given its pride of place.

He said “whichever way you look at it, the education sector is at an all time low and there is no coordination among the various strata, agencies, and stakeholders as every compartment of the system operates in isolation. Even where there are extant policies, there is dearth of diligent execution and lack of focus on performance and quality.

Private franchise

“Education has almost lost identity as a public trust, rather it has become a private franchise thus denying the less privileged access to tertiary education. “I expect that under Buhari, while existing programmes and policies are pursued in the short and medium terms, a sustainable long term plan should be pursued expeditiously and the reasonable funding available should be monitored for high impact. Public education must be given pride of place.”

For a teacher in one of the government-owned schools, Mrs. Kathrine Oragui, more teachers should be employed to ease the stress public school teachers go through. According to her, “I’m the only teacher handling the whole primary six class in my school and it is not an easy task. I expect that under Buhari’s administration, more teachers would be employed as most schools lack teachers. Also, there is the need to improve the standard of education and increase the salaries of teachers.