2023: Year of New Administration, Promises

With four days to the end of 2023, Funmi Ogundare highlights the major events that shaped the education sector in the outgoing year

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in June after his inauguration, he promised to hit the ground running by improving on the achievements of his predecessor, former president Mohammadu Buhari. Part of the bills he assented to since the start of his administration was the Student Loan Act to facilitate the provision of financial assistance to poor Nigerian students in tertiary institutions. The legislation allows them to access interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. It is expected to kick off in January 2024. 

However, its introduction was greeted with mixed reactions from stakeholders. While the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) described the loan as discriminatory and difficult to sustain, others explained that its repayment could come with challenges, considering the high unemployment rate in the country.

It is still disappointing for many who thought President Bola Tinubu’s administration would keep his promise of increasing the 2024 education budget to at least 15 per cent. They were dejected to see that it was still a drop in the ocean and had not changed from the previous administration. From the N27.5 trillion 2024 budget proposal signed into law, only N2.18 trillion or 7.9 per cent of the budget was allocated to the education sector. The president of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, had complained that Nigeria has the least remuneration for professors and that not much progress would be made in the sector if the budget was not increased. He advised the government to meet with the cabinet members and increase the budget to 15 per cent or more.

The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Lucky Emonefe, called on the president to increase the 2024 federal government budget and include students in its execution.

“The problems facing the education sector are enormous, and urgent intervention is needed to prevent a complete loss of its standard,” he stated.

Three months after he was elected, he appointed 45 new ministers, including the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman and the Minister of State, Dr Yusuf Sununu. They solicited support from Nigerians to bring about the desired improvement or change in the standard of education.

In the outgoing year, the federal government approved the exemption of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and granted them the autonomy to recruit their own staff, for which the federal ministry of education would develop guidelines to guide against the abuses.

This is quite significant as the remuneration to staff members of these institutions would no longer flow through the platform.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who disclosed this after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja, reasoned that the IPPIS does not afford tertiary institutions the freedom to run their affairs.

In the outgoing year, Sununu disclosed that the implementation of the safe school policy to prevent schools from further attacks has commenced.

He spoke against the backdrop of the abduction of school children around the country, explaining that the ministry had instituted a joint committee with the finance ministry, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other security organisations with national emergency response coordination centres.

The essence of the centre, he noted, is to provide the community with information on the possibility and early signs of attacks and that once that is done, proactive measures will be put in place to guide against further attacks.

“The policy emerged following the abduction of the Chibok girls in Borno State, and it became a serious issue that education must be protected from attacks, and that brought us to the Safe School Declaration. And simply, the declaration says that education must be protected, education must be delivered to children,” said Sununu.

The education minister added, “If there are attacks and they are moved to another centre, they should be provided access to education in their camp, and also, no school should be used for military activities. Nigeria is a signatory to that, and also here locally, we came down and launched the Safe School Initiative and in essence, it is the stepping down of the interglobal declaration to Nigeria.”

Sununu added that if attacks became imminent, the joint committee would quickly evacuate the students from areas prone to the attack.

He said if the attack unfortunately happened, then the security agents could work hand in hand to ensure that the abducted children were rescued within the shortest possible time.

On a cheery note, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced the release of the results for the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, where it recorded 80 per cent pass in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, out of 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination.

The examination body also said it withheld the results of 262,803 candidates due to reports of cases of examination malpractice.

WAEC’s former Head of Nigeria’s Office, Patrick Areghan, who disclosed this in Lagos, also announced an improvement in pass rate by candidates as 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38 per cent, obtaining credit and above in a minimum of five subjects with or without English Language or Mathematics.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) also released the results of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted through computer-based tests (CBT) between April 25 and May 1. The JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said 1,595,779 candidates registered to sit in 708 CBT centres in 105 towns. The results excluded candidates rescheduled to take their examination on May 6 and those absent. Others excluded were candidates under investigation and those of visually impaired candidates. 

Following allegations of UTME score forgery, the board accused Ejikeme of manipulating her results by inflating her score from 249 to 362. However, the candidate insisted that the 362 was the score she received both on the JAMB website and in the SMS sent to her by the board. The examination body subsequently announced it would withdraw the candidate’s original UTME result and bar her from taking the test for three years. However, she admitted forging her scores during an investigation by an eight-member panel set up by Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra. The panel discovered that Miss Ejikeme indeed forged the result. Amidst the controversy, the National Assembly waded into the saga by setting up a committee to investigate the matter. It urged JAMB to suspend any punitive measure against the candidate pending the conclusion of its investigation. In a letter addressed to the JAMB Registrar, Miss admitted to committing the forgery, blaming “ignorance” for her action.

Towards the end of the year, the federal government expressed its commitment to return 15 million out-of-school children to the classroom by 2027. The minister of education expressed concern about the learning crisis, a major issue and a bad product of the menace, which should be taken seriously. He stated that having robust policies was not enough to tackle the challenges but to deliver on such policies.

Aside from this, the federal government stated that all stakeholders would validate for implementation the take-off of establishing some federal colleges of education and teacher education and development in the country in early 2024.

In their assessment of the sector, stakeholders expressed worry about the state of the economy, saying that with the steps taken so far by the new administration, they could fix the sector.

Chairman of Lagos State Research and Innovation Council and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, stated that he sees a brighter future for tertiary education with the impact of the present administration.

“With the recent development of the new government, I can see a bright future for the tertiary education sector. So far, the government have done well,” said Ogundipe. “The grey areas are being attended to, and within the next six to one year, they will have been able to bring the lecturers and researchers together to do something about the tertiary education system.”

On how the administration could help to tackle security in schools, he said, “There is no country in the world where you have all saints. The security problem is a global problem. It is not localised only to Nigeria. There is a need for us to share information. If there is any crime anywhere, the security involved should not hide it. 

“They should say it out and give information about the development. Once you are giving people that information, people will have confidence in you and, at the end of the day, if you are able to arrest the situation or the people who are involved.”

Ogundipe stressed the need to involve the community, noting that the confidence people have in the government will lead to the community supporting the government regarding security. 

“Security is not localised to government alone. Everybody must be involved and be security-conscious to move the country forward. You must not think that it is the president that will handle it,” Ogundipe explained. “When you see anybody going round your facility, school or locality, you should be able to record it. Thank God for the phones that we have now.”

In his submission, the Rector of Yaba College of Technology, Dr Ibraheem Abdul, stated that the country is beginning to realise the need to improve funding for the education sector and focus especially on Technical and Vocational Education ( TVE).

“We want to compliment the focus Mr. President is giving on TVET. It is a step that will lead to technological development in the country. In the past, TVET has been getting very little attention, but the federal government is beginning to give us prominent attention now,” said Abdul. “It will be a booster to those in the TVET section to improve their delivery in the sector in the country. It is important that our graduates have the necessary soft skills. Most institutions are also upgrading to ensure that the necessary 21st-century skills are what we give to our students to enable them to take up the challenges of the workspace to excel.”

He added that the college is upgrading its general courses and ensuring that soft skills are embedded. 

“We are also bringing some new courses for them to cope with life,” noted Abdul.

In her submission, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, described 2023 as a tough time for the education sector, saying that the state of the economy wasn’t favourable.

She said, “The exchange rate made our poor salary even poorer. It was a time when people left the education in droves. It was a tsunami of exits, especially for our younger lecturers, but it wasn’t limited to them. We also had older staff. Those who remained are doing it patriotically.”

She explained that the sector came into a crossroads in funding university education, saying that a lot of investment is required to put in place the right infrastructure and manpower so that students can compete favourably globally.

“University education is not like secondary school. The faculty students exchange is the smallest part of the work that needs to be done in the university. The primary goal is to generate funds, so it requires a lot of investment in not just a laboratory but a laboratory for major research,” said Ogunsola. 

The UNILAG vice-chancellor added, “Those are not cheap. We are in that transition phase where the government cannot continue to do everything for us. How it will pan out will require the right policies and all of us having a change in mindset. How we were before is no longer sustainable to take us to the future. 

“For sure, the present funding model will have to be examined. It is not working. The university took a large brunt of the fee hike, but we are employees and have to be properly funded. We have to think about how to fund the university so that our children will be competitive in the workspace. 2023 was a year for us to examine our educational system, and it’s a journey, and we will continue to work on that.”