Yinka Ogunde : Determined to Rescue Nigeria from Brain Drain 

Mrs. Yinka Ogunde in Nigeria today is instantly recognisable as the undisputed chief connector for educationists and industry regulators. Ironically, Ogunde was neither a teacher nor an educationist. As a matter of fact, she read Mass Communication at the University of Lagos prior to her work in an advertising agency.  Today, she has become one of the iconic figures in Nigeria’s educational system. In this revealing interview with Funke Olaode, Ogunde who is the CEO of Edumark Consult and Founder, Concerned Parents and Educators Initiative, talked about how investment in education and good governance can birth a new Nigeria 

It all began in the early days of her career, figuring out the direction to toe. And what readily came to mind was education. Ironically, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, the brain behind Edumark Consult and Founder, Concerned Parents and Educators Initiative (CPE), was never a trained teacher or an educationist. She was a graduate of Mass Communication from the University of Lagos and began her career in an advertising agency. Ogunde pivoted into education marketing (Edumark) as a blue ocean strategy.

Her company organises teacher training exhibitions, consults and publishes trade magazines. Over the years, she has become an authority as the undisputed chief connector for educationists and industry regulators.

Her various programmes include intervention for teachers, schools and students as well as incentives for teachers and parents to encourage them to send their children to school. In May, the education advocate held a meeting with stakeholders themed: “How Smart Nations Analyse Human Potential: One million maximum investment in a person makes education the most profitably hedged investment.”

“I think one of the main things for me in education is the fact that I see it as the only pathway for the true transformation of our beloved country,” she began. “If you have people who are educated, their thinking is changed. This is not just in terms of formal education alone, but allowing them to make something out of their lives in a better structured way. Providing them the opportunity to be able to realise their potential whether it is through vocational education or a degree programme. If not, we will just be raising half-baked graduates, semi-illiterate, people who just have paper qualifications and are not even skilled enough to do what they need to do.”

This was indeed the issue that got Ogunde interested in the educational sector. She wanted to make an impact, make a difference and touch lives. Of course, it has kept her glued to this sector for close to two decades.

To Ogunde, tackling these problems from the grassroots was key.

“‘Oh yes! The amount of advocacy carried out was overwhelming. We have created programmes in the educational sector directed towards the grassroots at Town Hall Meetings. We have state chapters in Ogun State where we mobilise teachers at the grassroots. We have held several grassroots programmes in Oyo State, even in villages in Abuja.  We went to Bodija Market in Ibadan.  We have the ‘Inspire to Teach’, which is the teachers’ development programme. So we understand the process that even in education, there are various categories. The needs of the private sector are totally different from the needs of the public sector. Parents too differ but we are just an NGO just trying to work with these differences.”

Ogunde is trying her best, but her voice is just like a drop of water in an ocean considering the alarming figures of out-of-school children in Nigeria. The problems she noted even go beyond that.

“When it comes to out-of-school children, we have also discovered one or two problems and they are very complicated. Complicated in the sense that for the parents that we are speaking with, they are looking at the ultimate goal of education. They are looking at the examples they see and they are trying to make it connect with their present reality. They show you examples of those who went to school and they are back to the market. And you are trying to explain that, yes they are back to the market but they are back in a dignified manner, that they are able to reason and do so many other things.”

She continued: “To those parents, they see it as, ‘look, why do they need to go through all the process of getting the degrees when they will still  come back into that market or circle?’ The parents are looking at it from the purely economic point of view that education is a means towards getting rich or having resources.

“For some, they have a nomadic pattern of life, which makes it difficult to get their children into school. And that is where culture also comes in. Some simply have no money to send their children to school. Again, the distance of the public schools (sometimes five or seven kilometres away) to where they live and where the school is located is a contributing factor. So, we have various reasons why children are out of schools.

“Government must step up in that regard so that there will be better access and we start seeing an increase in the number of public institutions available for people and closer to communities. Good access is one of the things that will help us to keep children out of school. But unfortunately, this is not something individuals can undertake because it takes the government to run institutions. And that is the basic right of every child, the right to quality education,” she said.

Nigeria is a climate with an emphasis on degree education and qualifications. Ogunde said the world has diversified by embarking on an educational system that works for their societies.

“I am glad that this conversation is coming up because this is a discussion that I recently had with a group that has been saddled with a task of skill acquisition/vocational education in Nigeria.  You know it is not about you finishing a degree programme, you should be able to acquire skills that will make you useful to society. Other countries have done it. The parents also believe that it is only ‘when my child has a degree, that is the only time that child is useful’ is not helping. So, we need to intensify skills acquisition programmes; fashion out something that is peculiarly right for Nigeria. That understands the problems of Nigeria, that will take cognizance of the skills that we even need at this time in Nigeria and how we can develop them.”

Ogunde said this calls for government participation,  parents’ participation and the educational community to come together.

“It is not something that an individual can do.  I have realised that in the course of the years I have spent in this industry, a single frame from the government can have a lot of impacts. If the government decides that they are going to make vocational skills appealing to parents, and they are able to create a strategy, the orientation programme and every other thing that presents it as a great alternative, then it becomes easier.  All we can do now is to keep on preaching the message and hoping that the government will listen.”

Talking about one of her programmes, ‘Inspire to Teach, Raising a New Generation of Solution Providers,’ she revealed that it was borne out of her experience while on a tour of Finland. 

“In 2019,  we went on a tour of Finland and they took us to the University of Helsinki, a public university in Finland. The organisers made a presentation on what it takes to be a teacher in Finland. One thing that I noticed there was that the cut-off mark to get into the faculty of education was higher than being a medical doctor. For example, if you need 126 to get into the college of medicine, you will probably need 133 or 135 to get into the college of education.  The reason is simple. To ensure that their best gets into the teaching profession. I believe that that is where it starts, where you know that it is a place that attracts some of the best in their country.

“And that is via the remuneration, the motivation and inspiring them convincingly.  You know what? You can’t attract the best if you do not have respect for the best. You cannot attract success if the only way society sees them is that nothing good can come out of them. Those Colleges of Education are reserved for people who have applied to universities several times and failed to go there. So that means we need to revisit the system or process of attracting teachers into our classrooms.  And we need to rewrite even our curriculum concerning who becomes a teacher. This will make them see the big picture of what they are doing, the importance of their task, and that national preservation must start from our classrooms.”

If there is another thing that gets Ogunde worried and sleepless at night is the ‘japa’ syndrome that is going unabated. “Hmmmmm!!! ‘Japa’ syndrome is a movement, a message that is saying something to leaders that we are tired, we are done, we have had enough. It is a message saying that I want a better quality of life. When you look at it from that angle, the only way to change Japa is to make the country a better place. It is to ensure that people’s desire to be part of Nigeria’s journey is part of the Nigeria story. It is so closely linked to who we are and what we are as a nation. Japa is something that whether we like it or not, till Nigeria gets better, it will continue. If we know the effect it will have on this nation, we should be afraid. It is like a separation of a complete family forever.  Some people will never know their relatives. Not only that, Nigeria is losing her best professionals in all sectors causing brain drain within the  system.”

For her, the only solution is good governance that will make life comfortable: access to good roads, stability in government and good fiscal policies.

“We want an economy that will be able to absorb our vibrant young teaming population. The world has changed, and society has changed. The thinking of these young Nigerians has changed, they want things to be better, they want a good quality of life.”

Again, how can we make Nigeria attractive for young Nigerians that will make them want to stay back?

“We must talk about security which boils down to good governance. It will involve us looking at the structure of the civil service and understanding the culture by beginning to re-orientate them. We just entered a new era.  I believe the process that will put things right has begun,” she concluded.