Utomi Calls for Structural Reform in Nigeria’s Education System

Funmi Ogundare

A Professor of Political Economy and former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi has called for a structural reform in the country’s education sector.

Utomi who made this call at the 2022 Flannel Business School roundtable and awards ceremony with theme: “Book as Agent of Change in a Rapidly Changing World,’ yesterday, expressed concern that Nigeria was laying so much overemphasis on tertiary education, saying that the real emphasis should be on primary education.

According to him, “the primary school level is when young people learn the most and form the basis for their growth. The reading culture will take its roots at the primary school level and if we do that what goes into the tertiary education will be quality.

“Right now, if garbage goes into primary level and enters into the tertiary level, what exits is much garbage.

“We recognise that primary education is community- based when the parents ensure that only the best goes into their children.”

Utomi who was the guest speaker at the programme, expressed concern that those who make decisions in the country were very distant from the environment, adding that their children do not attend public universities and do not feel the impact of their decisions quite directly.

He regretted that, “an individual in Abuja steals more than the country needs to fix the university system so why can’t we just realise that the future of our country is at stake and begin to reform the system such that we can have enough support from government and private sector, as well as parents to give a decent and quality education!”

Utomi, who is the Founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL), expressed concern that corruption was crippling the Nigerian system, saying resources that could have been used for the collective good, were being taken away by few individuals.

He attributed poor education as a contributor to corruption saying, “why will individuals take what belongs to the common good of everybody in a way that disrupts that good? This is as a result of an underdeveloped mind. “When a mind that is underdeveloped loots the system, he too is crippled and he is a big loser. You don’t take billions naira out without creating bottlenecks that will make it easy. The bottleneck will do more damage than the money you actually stole.”

He, however, stressed the need for the country to make reading of books part of our culture, saying that it was critical for the education system and effective in a democracy.