The number of strikes in the Nigerian university makes it impossible to plan or predict your timeline in Nigerian institutions. In each regime, there are numerous strikes from NASU[1], ASUU,[2] NANS[3], SUG[4], etcetera. All these strike actions point towards government’s disinterest in funding and supporting education in Nigeria. The imposed Nigerian constitution provides that “government shall… provide free primary, university education and free adult literacy program… when practicable…”[5]
Just like in other years, the 2016 education budget showed its ‘impracticability’ and unimportance to the Nigerian government. The 2016 federal allocation for education in the Nigerian national budget was 369.6billion naira which is approximately $950 million.[6] And there was no allocation for research institutions in the 2016 national budget,[7] against US$160 billion budget for medical research alone in United States of America. [8]
WHAT IS EDUCATION? Education is a process designed “to give knowledge to or develop the abilities of somebody by teaching.”[9] Progressive societies work towards developing their resources for the benefit of its citizens. They research and teach their citizens how to extract, process, distribute and use the resources in their environment for their wellbeing. Society’s sustenance is guaranteed by the ability of citizens to produce what they consume and tools for the production.[10] And education serves to prepare citizens to use their human and natural resources for common good.
WHAT IS THE STYLE OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA? Education in Nigeria teaches foreign-baked theories that do not often apply to our local situation. “The educational system still trains people for a lifestyle that is unavailable and unaffordable to most Nigerians… alienates the Nigerian from his environment… In contrast to our pre-colonial education, which was tied to our ways of life.”[11] Nigerian education forces students to cram and pour theories for grades, but denies them access to natural resources to apply these theories for productivity. The inefficiency of Nigerian education is institutionalized in the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act, which states that
“… all lands in which minerals have been found in Nigeria and any area covered by its territorial waters or constituency and the Exclusive Economic Zone shall, from the commencement of this Act be acquired by the Government of the Federation…”[12] “No person shall search for or exploit mineral resources in Nigeria or divert or impound any water for the purpose of mining except as provided in this Act.”[13] “The property in mineral resources shall pass from the Government to the person by whom the mineral resources are lawfully won, upon their recovery in accordance with this Act.”[14]
The Nigerian students do not have the money nor political connection to win the access, hence foreign firms win. Nigerian engineers who are supposed to produce items from their mineral resources only go for excursions to admire resources and foreign industries. And not to practice how to produce on their own.
How does the Mineral and Mining Act affect non-engineering courses?
Everybody in the society require physical products for survival. These products are processed through various engineering processes, thereby setting the foundation for human biological sustenance. The process of organizing the society and distributing these products for common good belongs to other disciplines that are not directly oriented to industrial production. The lawyer eats food, not laws and theories. He is employed by people who have resources and need legal advice on relating with others for more productivity. The economists manage resources for the satisfaction of the society, while the traders deal on technically engineered products.
When people cannot produce, they import; and by importing, they rely on the distributors for survival. Now, the only jobs remaining are jobs of counting profits from imported items and exported crude resources. And as long as the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act is on, your education is irrelevant to the government structure or plan. In fact, they feel it is better you are never educated, so they will be justified to extract and sell your resources. This will validate their faulty claim that “Nigerian youth are unemployable”.[15]
They are not training you for anything, since their foreign allies need your resources to produce things. It currently seems that the school is just to keep the people busy; while their foreign friends are paying handsomely for the continued supply of crude resources.
[1] Non-Academic-Staff-Union
[2] Academic-Staff-University-Union
[3] National-Association-of-Nigerian-Students
[4] Student-Union-Government
[5] Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2011 as amended, Section 18, subsection 3, paragraphs i, ii, iii
[6]Channels Television. December 22, 2015, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday presented a 2016 budget proposal of 6.07 trillion Naira. http://www.channelstv.com/2015/12/22/breakdown-of-nigerias-2016-budget/
[7] Channels Television. February 12, 2016, 2016 Budget: Scientists Lament Zero Allocation To Research Institutions. http://www.channelstv.com/2016/02/12/2016-budget-scientists-lament-zero-allocation-to-research-institutions/
[8] Cf. Dan Dunkley, http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60149-X/fulltext?rss=yes
[9] Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
[10] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, YouWin: government’s MMM abi lottery, obtained on 16th August 2017. http://restartnaija.com/2017/08/16/youwin-governments-mmm-abi-lottery/
[11] Ogban Ogban-Iyam, Re-Inventing Nigeria through Pre-colonial Traditions In Issues in contemporary political economy of Nigeria.edited by Hassan A. Saliu.(Ilorin: T.A. Olayeri press, 1999). P73
[12] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[13] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 2, paragraph 1
[14] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 3
[15] https://icirnigeria.org/why-nigerian-graduates-are-unemployable-dg-science-tech-agency/