As the year 2013 comes to an end today, analysts have expressed strong concerns that as a country it has not attained her optimum level of development in education.
While many stakeholders and educational watchers were optimistic at the beginning of this year that the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration would bring succour to the ailing sector, judging from his academic background, it is however sad to note that his actions and inactions in the current educational situation appear to be pointing in the opposite direction.
In the review of how the education sector fared throughout 2013 concern stakeholders are of the opinion that the lack of adequate funding especially the citadel of higher learning for research and innovative ideas coupled with industrial action by the various unions, notably ASUU and their polytechnic counterparts in no small ways hindered the growth of the sector.
David Ugolor, executive director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in his assessment attributed strikes either by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) is the state levels as one of the major events that shaped the sector in 2013.
He said strikes embarked by ASUU and NUT members made the sector unstable during the period under review.
“The education sector has been very unstable because strikes have actually paralysed the sector both at the tertiary institutions and primary and post primary schools in some states.
“There is no way we can assess the 2013 education sector and say it is well. It is not well. But I am encouraged that at least the Federal Government has now reflected on the issue and have taken a decision to enter into a new contract with ASUU.
“ASUU has also on their own taken steps to respond to the demands of ASUU and that for me is a welcome development and I am happy that ASUU has also called off the strike and students have continued returning to school.
“I hope that the lost period can be regained but we must all make efforts to make education sector work well because once education works well the whole entire economic will be impacted positively,” he said.
Peter Okebukola, a university professor, believes that it is necessary and possible to position Nigerian universities to stimulate economic growth through a deliberate agenda of producing entrepreneurial graduates, a focus on high-value programmes for rapidly growing the economy, and increased emphasis on research and development.
He further added that Nigeria has to change her value system and invest on education, which is the intellectual laboratory of any nation and the engine that propels the economy. In his word, “it has been noted that ‘without a formidable intellectual base’ it is not likely that any society would move forward.”
Another stakeholder in his assessment of the education sector in 2013 insists that the sector recorded a mixed bag of failure and success depending on the area it is viewed from.
Albert Udegbunamu, an analyst pointed out that among the few successes recorded is that in 2013 new federal universities were established and that donor agencies and the ETF in their right created enabling environment by providing the infrastructure and sponsoring the production of minimum standards as it affects the college of education through NCC.
On his part Adolphus Toby, head of the department of banking and finance, Rivers State University of Science and Technology Associate noted that the educational sector in 2013 was on the average.
According to him, “We expected that the sector would have performed above average but for the disruption in most of the public universities as a result of the ASUU strike. So I believe that with one or two things put in place the sector will perform better in 2014.
He further revealed that sustainable funding of the educational institutions cannot be achieved without a public private sector initiative because the revenues of government are dwindling and the pressures on the revenue portfolio are rising then we must look for other sources of funding educational institutions. “In fact the public private sector initiative (PPSI) is the best way out,” he said.
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