NIGERIA EDUCATION

In other societies, education is the process or art of imparting knowledge, skill and judgments. But in

Nigeria education is far from that; In Nigeria, education is the process of going through the four walls of an institution in other to obtain certification in a particular discipline, so that at the end one can be gainfully employed by a multinational company in Nigeria. From the Nigerian definition of education, it is clear that the actual reason why education institutions were set up has been defeated. People only go to school just to acquire certificates, without caring about getting the knowledge. Then when you talk about knowledge they will laugh at you and say something like “knowledge, who cares about what you know in Nigeria, the only thing you need in this country is contact” but you can’t blame them, the dubious nature of government officials during recruitment exercises, has made many people loss faith in government recruitment process. Furthermore, prior to this time, Nigeria mostly had government controlled establishments which means that government provided majority of the employment. Another thing that seriously contributed to this problem is the fact that government of the past made it almost a must that whoever graduates from the higher institution is already sure of a good paying job. Making education a sure path for employment –though they did it then because Nigeria lacked manpower, now things have changed but the mindset Nigerians have about job and education has not changed.

Apart from employment, the institutions in charge of training young Nigerians have also failed in their responsibility, why? –the obvious reason being the lack of funds. When we say lack of funds, it is not as if we are expecting government to start funding the numerous institutions it owns. No! The government cannot do that because of the exorbitant funds involved in funding each of such institution. It is high time for our institutions management to start sourcing for funds on their own instead of waiting for the government. When I say source for funds, I am not saying that the schools must task student and add to student tuition. NO! What I mean is that the school should bring their entire intellectual asset together, so that they can generate funds through creative means.
Presently though with the growth of private sector, Nigerians would in the nearest future, would be forced to getting knowledge and not just passing through the four walls of the higher institution. Why! This is because the private sector, is a profit oriented sector and so do not really care about whoever you know. What they after is what you can do. Even if you have a very strong contact, you must still know 60% of what you are doing.
Though the system is bad now, but with the way things are going, it is clear that the education system would definitely improve. So Nigerians wake up. For more visit www.emmyjoach.blogspot.com

Categories: