ON February 14, 2012  the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson exhibiting his love, zeal and passion for effective and functional education delivery pronounced a policy of free education for all, and went further to declare a state of emergency in the sector.

Ordinarily, governments pronounce a state of emergency for security reasons such as quelling riots and conflicts, while it is the people that usually agitate for change when a government is unproductive.

A revolutionary policy declaration to revamp a vast and critical sector like education with huge financial burden is indeed visionary and a show of commitment to salvage the people from under-development. It is a responsible and people-oriented government that will take the pains to impose on itself this enormous developmental task in the face of competing interests for limited resources.

This gesture demonstrates the Governor’s extreme concern and awareness for the need for functional education and the fact that for too long, teaching and learning has been in a moribund or comatose state, leading to high levels of un-productivity and under-development.

For instance, even within the underdeveloped education context in Nigeria, Bayelsa State is further categorised as one of the educationally disadvantaged states. Moreover, it is occupying a geographic enclave considered difficult for any meaningful development, while its land is suffering from severe oil exploitation leading to high levels of poverty. Therefore, this move by the Governor underscores his recognition of the urgency to use education as a springboard to facilitate long term development of the State.

This was what Professor Babs Fafunwa, a leading educationist and one time Minister of Education,  proposed. According to him, educational development is imperative and urgent and must be treated as a national emergency, second only to war and must move with the momentum of a revolution, with special attention to primary education which is the foundation for good secondary and tertiary education. Without this, neither the economy nor its people will progress as poverty, ignorance and disease will be their constant companion.

The Governor is motivated on the understanding that the daunting developmental strides of the world in the scientific, technological, information, creative and artistic fields that have stunned the human race in the past few centuries are credited to good education delivery.

He knows that in today’s globalised world and knowledge-driven economy, any society desiring to develop must have a proper and well articulated education system that is implemented vigorously in a committed manner or else it will continue to decline and possibly face gradual extinction.

The Governor has strong and repulsive distaste for this situation and so cannot allow it to happen to his homeland.  As a home grown country-man committed to restoring the Ezon-ebe glory, he is conscious of and ready to satisfy the wishes and desires of Bayelsans that their State and people also develop and enjoy modernisation ideals typified by freedom from poverty, illiteracy, disease, ignorance and injustice. His target is to use functional education as a tool to overcome these challenges that so glaringly threaten our common existence and have stalled our progress for long.

The Governor’s heartbeat and eventual declaration is not founded on fantasy but on sound policy and theoretical basis at both international and national levels. It is a truism that all over the world nations striving to develop have adopted human capital development as the key.

The World Bank (1999), in declaring that the capital of the poor man is himself, asserted that the stakes of providing functional education are high and the choices developing nations make will lead to divergent outcomes. Countries that respond astutely would experience progress while others risk stagnation and even slipping backwards, thus widening the already existing socio-economic gaps, and sowing the seeds of unrest.

Similarly, the World Development Report (2007) said labour is the main asset of the poor, therefore efforts at building a stronger base of human capital and making it more productive are the best ways to reduce poverty.

In the same vein, human capital economists such as Harbison (1973) postulated that human resources constitute the ultimate bases for the wealth of nations, not capital, nor income, nor material resources as these are passive factors of production, but it is human beings that are the active agents that carry forward national development.

To this end, astute educationists such as Professor J. A. Aghenta have said that in order to develop, a country must have a considerable proportion of trained educated citizens, not only to act as doctors, engineers, teachers, agriculturists, scientists, etc, but must create a new class of educated citizenry that is sufficiently large and strong to establish its own values, justice and selection on merit. Hence the National Policy on Education (2004) states that education in Nigeria is an instrument “par excellence” for effecting individual and national development.

Despite the hope placed on education as the overriding factor to heal all the pathologies of human existence, it has been in doldrums as functionality has eluded the system in Nigeria and Bayelsa State in particular. For instance, Professor Mon Nwadiani bemoaned that the educational system in Nigeria has collapsed as children are not learning and teachers are not teaching, while all the inputs to facilitate the system are scarce.

Governor Dickson’s inspiration is hinged on the understanding that the education system like any other production industry requires serious commitment to succeed because it exists in a complex mix of contextual analysis leading to the provision of inputs; processes that are targeted at delineating and implementing the education programme; outputs in terms of product quality; and the obvious recycling of decisions.

This makes the operational modalities of the system not only complex and dynamic in the input- process mix but intertwined in the management and decision process to ensure an efficient input-output ratio with accountability in mind. The implication is that when the educational process is not given enough commitment in terms of funding and management, the resultant effect is wastage of scarce resources and low product quality.

These unintended outcomes that are antithesis to any meaningful development have been the bane of the education system the governor is positively motivated to rescue. He is certain that ensuring quality outputs is not the only reward of adequate education provision, but its unending profit.

Therefore educational functionality should be the watch word, the pain, the concern and the vigor of not only the governor but all stake holders and educationists in particular.

As a focused and hard working man from humble beginning, Honourable Seriake Dickson recognises that his strive for upward social mobility has been greatly enhanced by good and appropriate education and hence he is very conscious of the role functional education delivery can play in the lives of young Bayelsans.

He knows that neither ill luck nor low IQ is responsible for the dismal performance of our children in schools, but a systematic decline in teaching and learning accentuated by poor infrastructure; low quality of teachers; poor supervision and management; lack of commitment; lack of incentives; and general apathy to learning resulting from the geometric increase in the educated who are unemployed.

The direct consequence of these anomalies have been mass failure, examination malpractice, youth restiveness, cultism, poor self image and low self value, all of which are negative vices that have long plagued our dear State. These are serious issues begging for urgent attention and proactive correctional measures which the energetic and well focused Governor is driven to address.

The declaration therefore signals the prioritisation of education for development and alerts citizens and educationists of government’s seriousness to re-invent education; spur individuals to change past behaviors that have frustrated the education system; and comply with new plans and programmes.

Within this context, the declaration of a state of emergency focuses this government on its commitment to deal with a situation needing urgent attention and maximum co-ordination. Therefore the call is for all stake holders particularly educationists; opinion leaders; parents; and even the children the system is meant to serve to take full advantage of this restoration effort and be committed in playing their respective roles.

Government is conscious that change is difficult and often met with resistance and criticism but we all know that change is a constant phenomenon in human history and existence. Again, we must know that remaining the way we are and doing nothing is not an alternative and hence this advocacy for all to work assiduously to effect this change successfully for the good of all Bayelsans now and in the future.

. Government is well informed and aware of the enormous responsibilities ahead in terms of policy, funding and management of the system towards functionality and success.

It means education now requires more refined, systematic and pragmatic policies; funds to provide the needed physical infrastructure in terms of facilities, equipment, materials and supplies; subventions to enable School Heads carry out their duties; supply of teachers in terms of quality, subject specialty and experience particularly in areas of need; as well as better management; adequate and committed supervision; and measures to eliminate examination malpractice.

The business of education must therefore be carried out by all practitioners in the most cost effective manner with input and product accountability as the guiding principle to avoid waste and duplication. The desire in this era is that, teachers must teach and students must learn, in order to bring about desirable outcomes.

The driving conviction for this revolution is that all children deserve good education to enhance their lives and society regardless of sex, location or socio-economic background. This is the rationale and the expectations surrounding the birth of this revolution.

Mrs. STELLA PEREMOBOERE  is SSA to Governor Dickson of Bayelsa State.