2015 elections: Which Messiah will deliver education?

Ever since campaigns for the 2015 elections began, education
has been mentioned in bits and pieces by candidates of the
ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and its main
opposition, the All Progressives Congress, APC. However, no
educational issue has been given as much attention as the
‘certificate saga’ associated with General Muhammad Buhari,
the APC’s presidential candidate. For a nation that cares so
much about a 53-year old certificate, it only seems natural
that education would be at the forefront of burning issues in a
time like this. Stakeholders in the sector worry that this is not
the case.
Buhari & Jonathan
“This is a matter which has bothered us sorely since the
commencement of political campaigns;” said Dr. Chibuzo
Asomugha, the national President of the Academic Staff Union
of Polytechnics, ASUP, “we have monitored the expressed
programmes of the vocal candidates and we are yet to receive
reassuring signals of a serious focus on the education sector.
While one party is preoccupied with reeling out its perceived
landmark impact on education, the other party is not even
paying the subject any significant attention. It appears the
parties and their candidates are more concerned with the
seemingly more exigent issues of security and the economy
and may not have considered education as a captive subject
matter for maximum electoral capital.”
Although the vocal focus might be on security, the economy
and job creation, both parties do give education a significant
mention in their manifestoes. The APC in its ‘Roadmap for
free, relevant quality education says that the party will: “Make
the right of every Nigerian child to receive a free, relevant and
quality education a reality, based on free and comprehensive
primary and secondary education; Provide free tertiary
education to students pursuing Science and Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM); Provide free tertiary education
to education majors and stipends prior to their employment as
teachers; Create incentives and dedicate special attention to
the education of girls.
The party also promises to “ensure that every child attending
primary school is properly nourished and ready to learn by
providing a free meal a day; Invest in better equipping and
staffing Teacher Training Colleges and provide financial and
progression incentives to attract and retain good teachers;
Revamp and restructure education curricula from primary to
tertiary levels with a view to ensuring students acquire the
right skills for employment, entrepreneurship and innovation;
Prepare young adults for the jobs of the future by expanding
the focus on science and technology at our colleges and
universities; Improve the ability of people to gain employment
in a variety of fields through greater access to technical and
vocational training.
The PDP Manifesto states that “Education is an important
social instrument for national unity amongst the diverse
peoples of Nigeria,” and that “the party in government shall
ensure that the educational system is improved upon;
Ultimately provide free, functional education at all levels;
Integrate into the formal education system the political
education of the citizenry with emphasis on the provision of
the Constitution, the state and democratic principles;Foster
and expand education all levels and fields of knowledge; and
encourage private and voluntary organizations to establish
schools subject to compliance and adherence to existing
government policies.”
The ruling party plans to do these in an eighteen point
strategy, which includes the promotion of pre-primary
education by encouraging the establishment of private
Nursery schools in such a way that every Nigerian child shall
have the opportunity to start education at the nursery levels;
the Provision of free and compulsory primary education; Free
and compulsory junior secondary education; and Free
qualitative senior secondary education” among others.
But for the National Coordinator of the Education Rights
Campaign, Mr. Hassan Soweto, both manifestoes are just talk,
and not enough talk at that. He told Saturday School Life,
SSL: “In my opinion, none of these candidates have paid due
attention to education in their manifestoes. There has been no
mention of specific policies and strategies to improve the
quality of education and make it more accessible. No one is
promising 26% budgetary allocation according to UNESCO’S
stipulation.
No one is talking about cancelling the outrageous fee hikes
across many universities. There is no talk about eradicating
the commercialization of the education system. There are no
plans to put the 10.5mn out of school children back in school.
All we have heard is talk about transforming Nigerian
education into that befitting the 21st century.
Nothing concrete has been said. Even with the new
universities that have been built, there is still no improvement
in the admission crisis. This is despite the fact that tertiary
education is not even readily affordable. It is not a question of
who wins, but the policies that anyone who wins the elections
will come up with.”
This is in line with the ASUP boss’ assertion that “the
trajectory of the degeneration in our education sector goes
beyond the present administration, and indeed, goes beyond
any single government. A serial layering of policy confusion,
weak political will, corruption, and lack of diligence has
brought us to the present sorry state.
In fairness to the present at the centre, funding to the sector
has recorded some increase, but still not on a scale that could
significantly ameliorate the deep rot that has festered in the
system. We will continue to insist that for the decay to be
stemmed and perhaps reversed, the political class must
muster the will to set education on a strong footing.
For instance, government, any government, must commit to
devoting at least 26% of the nation’s annual budget to
education; government must develop and pursue a
developmental programme for basic and secondary education;
government must set a global agenda for higher education.”
But Mr. Monsur Adeyemo, former Zonal Coordinator at the
National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, believes that
the future of education is inextricable tied to whoever emerges
as President after the 2015 elections. He said: “The present
administration has not kept its promise to us with regards to
education. Nothing anybody says will convince me of that
fact. And as we speak, there is still crisis in the education
sector. And people all over the country are clamouring for
change.
All the sectors are intertwined. I believe that one of the
reasons why education has not been properly funded is
because security has gulped a lot of money. So anyone who
can handle the issue of insecurity in the country would be able
to salvage money for proper funding of education. The crux of
every administration is its leadership, and the fates of the
different sectors depend largely on the man at the helm of
affairs.”
The National Treasurer, Academic Staff Union of Universities,
Dr. Demola Aremu, also had a similar view. He told SSL : “Any
good government will focus on education as a priority. This
has not been the case for the present administration. You can
see it in the meagre allocations to education for the past few
years. ASUU was on strike in 2013 and entered into
negotiations with the government. This same government
made some commitments during those negotiations that are
yet to be implemented as we speak.
It was the same issue with ASUP. We definitely need a change
because this present government has taken us nowhere in
education. Democracy is about giving someone a chance to
prove himself, and if they do not succeed we get to change
them in the next elections. I think we should give Buhari a
chance. If he wins and does not succeed in rescuing the
sector, then we can vote him out.
One might say that Buhari himself has not spoken a lot about
his plans for the sector, but the APC manifesto has a lot to
say about education. Look at the states run by the APC,
check out their education status, and look at the states run by
the PDP and do the same. It is beyond just building
universities in places you need to garner political support.
How well are the existing schools being funded?”
Soweto however argues that “where the PDP has failed, the
APC has also failed. The Lagos State University, for example
was until recently, the most expensive government school in
the country where students were paying between N150, 000
and N350,000 yearly. It took three years of struggle before
this fee hike was reversed. So if we are waiting for any of
these candidates to be our messiah in the education sector, it
will not happen. In the aftermath of the elections and whoever
might emerge as leader, we as students, parents and workers
in the education sector must continue to be united in our
struggle for our rights to education.”
The Senate President of the National Association of
Polytechnic students, Mr. Adeyemi Lukman, argued that
although both parties stressed education in their manifestoes,
the action plans are not stated clearly enough. Although he
agrees that the present Minister of education, “Mallam Ibrahim
Shekarau, a competent hand appointed by the President,
brought some calm into the sector, polytechnic students have
nothing to write home about concerning this present
administration.” He added: “I do not know whether or not the
APC will bring the change we need in the sector, but I will say
that change is inevitable for Nigerians come 2015, not just in
education, but in all the sectors.