As House Holds Summit to Revamp Education Sector…

From summit on tertiary education, to passage of bills on students’ loan, Almajiri, UdoraOrizu writes that education topped agenda of House of Representatives in some of its recent interventions

The House of Representatives sitting recently was all about discussions to proffer solutions to the crisis bedeviling Nigeria’s education sector. Aside the industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and another issue plaguing the sector is the increasing number of out-of-school-children.

Currently, about 20 million children are out of school in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This figure is a worrisome far-reaching increase from the 10.5 million recorded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2020.

The crucial role education plays in  socio-economic development, made the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi  Gbajabiamila wade into the crisis bedeviling the sector.

Gbajabiamila, under his “Nation Building: A Joint Task”, motto of the 9th House, has become an agent for good cause and a broker of peace negotiations. With his intervention, university lecturers eventually agreed to return to classrooms after almost nine months of strike, due to unfulfilled agreements they had with the federal government.

As the peace brokered by him was getting through, the federal government on its part stuck to its decision on ‘No Work, No Pay’; the October, 2022 salaries of lecturers were paid on pro-rata basis, and this was deeply frowned at by the lecturers.

The Speaker, to prevent another strike and as well find lasting solutions to education sector problems, came up with an idea for a National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform with the theme “Reimagining Tertiary Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Solutions”.

Gbajabiamila, who announced this at the resumption of plenary on November 14, said “the long overdue national conversation”, will have stakeholders including scholars, tertiary education administrators, billed to submit papers for presentation.

At the two-day event, held on November 22nd and 23rd at the main auditorium of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gbajabiamila assembled an array of scholars including Professors OluwatoyinOgundipe, Hillary Edeoga and HammanSa’ad, Former Vice Chancellors of University of Lagos, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Abia and Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State.

Others were OlusegunAdeniyi, Hon. Aisha Dukku, Prof. Conrad Omonhinmin of Covenant University; OluwoleAdeosun, President Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers; Dr. IdowuChiazor, Centre Director, Brightpath International Academy; DrDasukiArabi, a paper presenter and Prof. OlanrewajuFagbohun.

He also drew former President OlusegunObasanjo to the event as a special guest panelist, the Minister of State for Education GoodluckOpiah was also available to make his presentation.

ASUU delegation led by its President, Professor Emmanuel Osedeke was also present, and many other personalities.

In his welcome address, Gbajabiamila said, “This summit aims to provide an opportunity for all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria to present those ideas for consideration, examination, debate and, eventually, action. A Technical Team has been appointed to collate and review these submissions. The conversations we hold at this Summit and the submissions we have received will form the basis of a policy action plan and implementation framework we will unveil shortly after the conclusion of the summit.”

In his remarks, former President Obasanjo warned that if Nigeria does not get the 20 million out of school children who constitute 10% of her population, the country will be preparing for more Boko Haram insurgency in the future.

According to him, there was the need for holistic development of the education sector in Nigeria beginning from the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, noting that an uneducated citizenry can not contribute to the progress of the nation.

He said, “Tertiary education is very important but education, particularly, education that has left 20 million of our children out of school and those 20 million have no access to education. They cannot be effectively part of nation building because they have not had the opportunity to develop their innate capacity to the extent that they can be useful to themselves, to their families and to their community let alone their nation, let alone Africa. Those 20 million children that are out of school, we can get them back to school. If we do not get them back to school, we are preparing for Boko Haram of tomorrow. It will happen as sure as daylight.”

Many panelists at the summit commended the initiative of the Speaker, saying that it would ensure that access to tertiary education is made available to every Nigerian child.

Lawmakers Pass Bills on Almajiri Education and Students Loans

While the summit was ongoing, both chambers of the National Assembly finally passed the Students Loan Bill sponsored by House Speaker, Hon Gbajabiamila, to enable Nigerian students in higher institutions of learning to gain more access to financial assistance.

The proposed legislation titled, ‘Bill for an Act to provide for easy access to higher education for Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Bank, established in this Act with a view to providing education for all Nigerians and for other purposes connected thereto.’

While Gbajabiamila had argued in the Bill that hardship being faced by the unemployed and low-income earners coupled with the very high cost of living in Nigeria over the years has made access to quality higher education difficult, hence the need for the Bill, however ASUU president at the summit said the union will not support the proposed Students Loan Bank.

Reacting, Gbajabiamila cautioned against skepticism against the Bill, which will soon be sent to President MuhammaduBuhari for assent, noting that the future of the teeming young people in the country should be of concern to all considering the prevailing state of tertiary education in the country.

Also at the plenary on Nov 23rd, the House passed through second reading a Bill seeking for the establishment of a National Commission for Almajiri Education and out of School Children.

The proposed legislation tilted, “Bill for an Act to Establish National Commission for Almajiri Education and out of School Children to Provide for a Multimodal System of Education to tackle the Menace of Illiteracy, Develop Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Programmes, Prevent Youth Poverty, Delinquency and Destitution in Nigeria; and for Related Matters (HB.2028),” was sponsored by Hon. ShehuKakale and 18 other lawmakers.

While an House member, Hon Nicholas Ossai, was of the view that the bill is discriminatory in nature and the proposed Commission should have a gestation period, the Deputy Speaker, Hon. IdrisWase, who presided over the session, said the provisions of Bill is not only for almajiri but every out of school children.

Wase said, “I want you (Ossai) to look at the long title of the bill. It says almajiri and out of school children, which we have in all parts of Nigeria. It’s not only for the almajiri, it will also take care of our brothers that are always in the street”.