Education! Education! Education!

I think I have deciphered the reason why the allocation for education in the budget in Nigeria is so low; in 2017, just N50 billion out of a N7 trillion budget. It is because Government and decision makers in Nigeria, do not place much value on education. With the ridiculously low educational qualifications required to attain the highest positions in the land, it is hardly surprising.

UK

Recently, I met a 16 year old British boy whose ambition is to go into politics. He is hoping to study Politics at Oxford University. He got all A stars in his O levels (equivalent of what we knew as WASC), and is now studying hard to make excellent grades in his A levels, so he can qualify for Oxford University.

Even though there seems to be no educational qualifications to become an MP (member of the House of Commons) in the UK for instance, the practice is that most of the MPs are well read. In a research program conducted by the Sutton Trust, the results showed that 72% of the MPs attended University, while about 63% of the Conservative MPs attended one of the “Sutton 13”, that is, the 13 leading Universities in the UK including Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics and University College, London (and they did not fake their results and/or certificates!).

School Certificate Level

Sections 131(d), 142(2), 177(d), 65(2)(a) and 106(c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended in 2010)(the Constitution) provide for the educational requirement of the President, Vice President, Governors, National Assembly and Houses of Assembly respectively. They are all only required to attend Secondary School up to School Certificate level (or its equivalent). They do not even have to pass the exams!

Shockingly, by virtue of Section 147(5) of the Constitution, a Minister only has to fulfil the same educational qualification as the members of the House of Representatives, that is, to be at least 30 years of age, with the same up to School Certificate level qualification.

Lack of Understanding

My question is how do people with such a low level of education understand complex issues like budget, national planning, finance and so on? But the truth of the matter is that such a person can become a Minister etc in Nigeria. So what is the need to waste time and money on education, when you can attain the highest positions in the land without much of an education?

Why are we then surprised that there is such pandemonium in our country? Why do we express shock when a Governor, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Governors Forum, makes a public statement saying that the reason that Nigeria now has an outbreak of Meningitis C instead of the Meningitis A which has occurred in the past, is because of a curse or punishment from God because of our sins! The truth is that he may not know any better. All the research that I did on the Governor’s educational qualifications yielded no results. It was reported that his State, Zamfara, is the worst hit, with over 200 people allegedly dead from the outbreak already. Accusations of mishandling the disease outbreak in Zamfara have trailed the Governor, and instead of rising up to the occasion, to procure vaccines, treat the sick and quell the outbreak, he chooses to wax religious, probably recalling the plagues that God unleashed on the Egyptians to ensure that they ‘let His people go’!

The Emir of Kano, His Highness, Mohammed Sanusi II called the Governor out on his statement, in his speech at the Kaduna Investment Summit which held last week, rightly stating that this is a medical issue, and vaccines and treatment for the sick should be provided forthwith. The Emir added that he has a degree in Islamic Law, and Governor Yari’s statement was not Islamically correct.

Legal Profession

It is only the representative from our learned profession that must possess proper qualifications. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice must be a Lawyer of at least 10 years standing, qualified to practice law in Nigeria, meaning he/she must go to University and pass out of Nigerian Law School (Section 150(2) of the Constitution). If this is the case for the Minister of Justice, why can it not be replicated in other areas? Going by the Constitution, the Minister of Health need not even have O levels, just to have studied up to that level. This is simply absurd and farcical.

I obtained a BBA (Bachelors of Business Administration) in Economics with a Minor in Business Administration. I decided that I was not educated enough. So when I completed my mandatory 1 year NYSC at Union Bank in 1987, I enrolled at the University of Lagos, got my LL.B (Hons) and obtained my BL from the Nigerian Law School in 1991. I can say with an air of certainty, that I know that I was certainly not equipped to be a Minister or Member of the National Assembly with the basic education that I acquired from Secondary School.

I Went to Harvard T Shirt

However, it is somewhat amusing that Politicians perhaps, seem to now realise that education may be important, but since they have ‘missed the boat’, some of them take the easy route, and present false ‘Made in Oluwole’ educational qualifications. This is such an insult to those of us who have spent several years acquiring a complete education.

I watched Senator Dino Melaye on television the other day, claiming that he has 7 degrees and he is a graduate of London School of Economics and Harvard University! Na so to attend LSE and Harvard dey easy?! They maybe go for a 1 week program, if at all, buy an ‘I went to Harvard t shirt’ and claim to be graduates of these institutions. What courses did he study at these institutions?

Politicians, and Impostors, for the avoidance of doubt, the dictionary definition of a graduate is “a person who has successfully completed a course of study or training, especially a person who has been awarded an undergraduate or first academic degree”. The definition cannot be extended to 2 or 6 weeks emergency courses.

Constitutional Amendment

What am I trying to say? The Constitution should be amended as regards the educational qualifications required for those who hold public offices. Several drivers that I have employed not only studied up to School Certificate Level, they actually have some O levels. However, putting them in any position of authority could be likened to standing in front of a moving truck. Disastrous. They were incapable of understanding intricate issues or making cogent decisions.

That is not to say everyone must go to University to be successful in life or to be intelligent. There are exceptions to the rule. There is Bill Gates! But he is a Harvard drop out (after 2 years), which means that he must have been highly intelligent in the first place, to have been accepted into Harvard. Ditto for the late Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who dropped out of Reed College. But most of us are not like them, we need that knowledge, expertise and experience of tertiary education to perform in our fields.

The Moral of the Story

Government, you need to pay more attention to education and invest heavily in it like most other countries are doing. Or is it that, because we keep recycling the same people in Government, they are reluctant to educate the people, so that they do not come to the realisation that they have been had?

The world has become a global village. A 10 year old primary school pupil in Lagos is not just compared to his classmates, he is compared to fellow 10 year olds around the world. We need to take a leaf out of South Korea’s book. The reason that our economy is in shambles, is that we have been ruled by a bunch of discombobulated people who have no clue. South Korea achieved almost an economic miracle, because it focused on education. Even if we do not adopt an education strategy as extreme as that of South Korea, we need to up our educational game. From being a society plagued with mass illiteracy, South Korea has a literacy rate of about 97.9% today, as opposed to 22% in 1945. It now has a strong economy with brands like Samsung, Daewoo, Hyundai and LG.

In Nigeria, we have about a 50% literacy rate. We need to do better. The Ghanian literacy rate is over 70%. Some years ago, we visited Ghana. I was impressed with the way the driver that drove us around was able to discuss politics so knowledgeably. One could tell that in Ghana, they vote based on knowledge and conviction, not like our people who sell their votes for rice and groundnut oil.