Responding to an online question whether they could sell their B.Sc. Certificates for hundred-million-naira, many Nigeria respondents answered yes. Some funny respondents offered to include their primary, secondary, future M.sc and PhD certificates for the buyer. Without discovering its purpose, a beautiful knife believes it was meant for decoration, and will not get sharp. Without discovering their purpose, humans believe they are meant for eating, working, mating and bragging, and would not develop themselves. And unless Nigerian education is evaluated and reordered for social impact, it may remain a joke.
Education is the act of acquiring knowledge, or process designed “to give knowledge to or develop the abilities of somebody by teaching.”[1] Progressive societies teach their citizens to collaborate peacefully in managing their human and mineral resources for social wellbeing.And the society’s sustenance is ensured by the ability of citizens to produce what they consume and tools for the production.[2] So, the role of education is to prepare citizens to use their human and natural resources for common good.[3] In summary, education helps people to understand themselves, relate well with other people and use their human and natural resources for the society’s good.
Unfortunately, Nigerian education seem disconnected from the Nigerian reality, not having a true impact on the society. In Nigeria, it is observed that a professor of agriculture does not have nor work in a farm; a professor of physics is a miracle-professing pastor by day and traditional diviner at night, without physicist solution to problems in Nigeria; a professor of mechanical engineering has never designed a real engine, or worked on an old one; a professor of philosophy does not know his people’s cultural influences and thoughts, but knows those of Greek and Rome; many Nigerian students know more about American and European history than they know of Nigerian history.
Nigeria was created by British colonialists who yoked several unconsented communities and kingdoms under a militarized federal government. Using the same military force, the government seizes and sells the different communities’ resources to foreigners.[4][5][6] And the foreigners then use the resources to produce the goods and services which they later sell costly to Nigeria. With the seizing and sale of their natural resources to foreigners, local engineers are denied access to resources for research and local industry. Then, the politicians and their cronies import and distribute few foreign goods and services at inflated prices as dividends of democracy.
A major cause of this problem is that Nigeria’s academic curriculum came from the former colonialists. And the colonial desire for people’s natural resources did not disappear with granting independence to Nigeria. Instead, the interest was embedded into Nigerian education system through policies that alienate Nigerians from their resources.[7] Hence, instead of studying to transform human and natural resources in their environment, Nigerians study to count, use and report imported goods and ideas.[8] “The educational system still trains people for a life style 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.”[9]
With the barring of access to mineral resources, the demand for intellectual productivity is removed from Nigerian education. So, the paradigm for academic excellence changed from ability to practically transform nature, to the ability to count, distribute, use or report imported goods, services and ideas. Since the imported goods and services are not enough, government limits the number of people who qualify through admission obstacles. This is why there are few universities and multiple tests and obstacles for limiting admission as import-sharing-qualification. The attempt to limit number of high-grade graduates for import-sharing leads to education anxiety, cheating, cramming and ‘sorting’ lecturers. Thence, millions of unadmitted youths and low-grade graduates loiter the street till they become criminals.
Repositioning Nigerian education requires an understanding of the main features of education:
- Essence – the essence of education is the development of an individual’s capacity for harmonized transformation of him/herself, others and environment. Each individual has some genius, and the role of education is to discover, develop and incorporate each individual’s capacity in the society. This includes the capacity to understand one’s own personality, limitations and potentials, the capacity to work with others and the capacity to transform natural resources and other materials in a society. So, footballers, artists, engineers, teachers, doctors, psychologists, leaders and other members of the society are all trained to develop themselves for social transformation.
- The material cause of education (how it is done): the material cause of education is the physical process that develop human capacity for transforming nature. This process involves two stages of INFORMATION and FORMATION, which are meant to introduce people to the objects of their education. Information stage provides correct details about the subject-matter, while formation stage provides avenue for guided contact with the subject matter. For instance, learning piano begins with getting right information about key-combinations, followed by formation of ability by constant practice on a real piano. After some time of practicing right information on a piano, it becomes part of you, and you transform to a professional. So, right information passes through constant formation as practice to become transformation.
Unfortunately, Many Nigerian institutions provide information that are never verified in practice, nor ingrained by formation, thus quickly forgotten. Using the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act, government seizes and sells different people’s mineral resources. Thus, science subjects are made extremely difficult and unattractive by enforcing cramming of formulas and jargons without real contact with natural resources.[10] Science is defined as the “knowledge about the structure and behaviour of the natural and physical world, based on facts that you can prove, for example by experiments.”[11] So, without encountering the mineral resources for experiments, Nigerian science becomes mysticism, while Nigerian scientists and engineers exemplify native doctors vomiting scientific incantations for defending their certificates without real productivity.
The lack of constant formation after information overload also manifests in arts and humanities. Many Nigerian institutions make their students cram and pour foreign-baked arts theories without verification or time for formation. Also, due to science and technology impotence in Nigeria, there is insufficient materials for mobilizing the verification of acquired information. Yet the suffocation with unverified and impracticable information continues in schools, lesson-centres, extramural classes and home-works. Thus, students are made to bury their life-passions as they compete for grades in reproducing unpractised information.
- Efficient cause (who performs the education) – the elements of information and formation, which form the basis for education and transformation are formally administered by teachers. Though teachers take charge of education, environment and other social elements, relatives, movies, songs and religious doctrines highly influence education. Yet, the teachers research, evaluate and organize information for students in clear and attractive ways to sustain students’ interests. Also, they exemplify, guide and supervise the students’ practical contact with the objects of education for proper formation.
But in Nigerian cases where teachers only got loads of information without practical formation or productivity, they are unable to form students for actual transformation. The inability to transform nature leads to further dependence on importation, and a disposition to maximise profits from academic institutions. Hence, some teachers and schools, especially private schools, engage in exam-malpractice and push-overs to advertise their schools and qualify their students for import-sharing. Then, many unsupervised public school teachers, who were often employed as political favour without adequate qualification, transact their personal businesses in schools.
- Final cause (purpose of education) – the purpose of education is common good, which is an ethical responsibility of the individual for the society. Human society is formed for humans to actualize their different potentials by contributing to the society and earning from the society. Progressive societies establish proper education for almost all social endeavours and talents in the society. Hence, education is not just focused on medicine, law and engineering, but also on leadership, security, sports, music, morality, entertainment, waste-management, shoe-making, leather-works, nanny-work, modern-taxation, fine arts, fashion, religion and other fields of human endeavour through which people contribute to common good.
Without identifying common good as the main purpose of education, people are tempted to use their capacities to exploit the society. So, the absence of agreement for collaborative productivity and common good in Nigeria turned Nigerians against one another, thereby promoting individual survival against common good. This is why various displays of intelligence, that could combine to deliver Nigeria from unproductivity and extreme dependency, now clash against one another in the struggle for imported goods.
Repositioning Nigerian education requires a reorganisation of the society according to its constituent communities, to reflect the need for generating original ideas, goods and services. Without a defined role and provision for applying Nigerian education in developing the human and natural resources in the various communities, it remains ineffective. The first step in redirecting Nigerian education is to distinguish and redefine the Nigeria’s component communities as different from Europe’s colonial definition. Human knowledge moves from particular to general, and if we do not distinguish and understand the parts of our society, and how they can link and function together productively, we may never get a functional society. Other steps that will follow after the distinction of the constituent communities and their specific resources include:
- Validating and retraining teachers for productivity, and not just repetition of foreign curriculum. Thence, awarding higher degrees will be based on productivity and local reality, instead of just consistency with foreign academic traditions.
- Teaching the Basic English language to Nigerians at various levels and through different mediums. This includes subsidized adult education centres, academic video-games, online tutorials, public school drives, radio/television and even church programs for teaching basic communication skills. Thence, every Nigerian will be able to speak English and his local language. This is necessary to form a background upon which Nigerians can dialogue and contribute ideas for the society. It also demonstrates the emotional preconditions for having productive communication.
- Using movies, social gatherings, songs and other ways to show our common humanity and social responsibility, despite ethnic differences. This stage encourages Nigerians to meet and physically interact with one another as humans; to feel the joy, pain, suffering and joys of one another in playgrounds, cinemas, open-air festivals, carnivals and games. This is necessary to show common good as the purpose for which humans form a society and educate themselves. Also, talented people in these areas will show their potentials and are enrolled for proper training.
- Encouraging communities to involve experts/safety-teams in exploring and studying the natural resources within their environments for possible productivity. This is necessary for people to know and appreciate the resources in their environment, even for future use.
- Introducing people to possible products that are derivable from the various natural resources in or outside their communities. This is necessary to elicit curiosity and identify people’s productive interests and demonstrated potentials.
- Using videos, games, workshops and other medium to demonstrate the level of interpersonal and intercommunal collaboration for processing natural resources in the production of goods and services. This is necessary to encourage industrial collaboration, inter-communal trade and social responsibility.
In conclusion, Nigerian education is yet to position for impacting Nigeria positively. Some people say we have an expired curriculum, while others blame poverty, greed and other factors for the divorce between Nigerian education and reality. Yet, the main cause is the disrupted social order restricting natives from resources for demonstrating knowledge, pitching them against one another in a struggle for imported goods. To reposition Nigerian education for social impact, Nigerian ethnic communities and kingdoms have to negotiate to distinguish themselves and their resources, before learning how to develop and combine their resources for productivity.
[1] Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
[2] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, YouWin: government’s MMM abi lottery, obtained on 16th August 2017. http://restartnaija.com/2017/08/16/youwin-governments-mmm-abi-lottery/
[3] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, Nigeria is not interested in your education.
[4] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[5] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 2, paragraph 1
[6] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 3
[7] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[8] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, Restartnaija videos, episode 13.
[9] 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
[10] Cf. Kaku Michu, The worst day of my life, YouTube interview
[11] Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, New 8th Edition, International Student’s Edition
