Recalibrating Nigeria’s education policy for the 21st century

The unity of coherent logic and policymaking 101 establishes a fundamental premise. That is, to solve a problem, you analyse the root causes, the ramifications thereof over the short, medium and long term on the target demographic, its wider impacts, a relative cost versus benefit analysis tested against relevant variables and then, you proffer specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timebound recommendations. The latter could be in form of pilots, policy reviews or policy reversals as the circumstances justify.

Either way, the problem is defined, evaluated upon an objective evidential basis, understood, and then a rational attempt is made at rectification. That hypothesis rests upon the inference of the drive, political will and strategic impetus to act, and deliver! Of course, there are absolutely no illusions grounding that proposition in flawlessness nor empirical exactitude. But then again, evaluating education policy challenges in Nigeria is not rocket science, neither should positive recommendations for improvement.

What then is the evidential basis of a challenging education policy, or aspects thereof across the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in the country? How much of the national budget is allocated to education to reflect its policy prioritisation? Likewise, what is the financial allocation to education elsewhere? Are teachers/lecturers incentivisation and rewards policies within the public education realm competitive?

What is the uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) specifically? More widely, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM)? Does the existing physical infrastructure enhance 21st Century learning? How much intellectual decadence is inflicted on students as a direct consequence of persistent strikes and closures at public universities? Is it even safe to study at a physical educational institution in Nigeria given heightened and widespread kidnappings and terrorism across?

These are all practical questions demanding further interrogation and clearheaded answers by political leaders, policy makers and thought leaders. For starters, across the streets of Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Minna and other major cities nationwide, young children who should be ordinarily be learning in classrooms are out begging oftentimes with adults!

Nigeria’s population is approximately 227 million (Statista), and although primary education is officially free and obligatory, through the agency of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) strategy, nevertheless, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), asserts that approximately 10.5 million Nigerian children between ages 5-14 (4.6 per cent of the total population), are out of school. Only 61 per cent of 6-11year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 per cent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.

In Northern Nigeria, the optics are worse: the net attendance rate is 53 per cent, which means 47 per cent of children are out of school! Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge. And gender, like geography and poverty, is a striking criterion in the configuration of educational marginalization. North-Eastern and North-Western states have female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 per cent and 47.3 per cent, respectively.

The corollary exposes the harsh reality of over 50 per cent of girls out of school. This adverse phenomenon of educational deprivation in northern Nigeria is accentuated by social exclusionary factors including, but not limited to, poverty, socio-cultural norms which discourages attendance in formal education, especially for girls. Worse still, is the shattering reality of terrorism (which Nigerian security forces are gallantly confronting daily!).

Yet, between 2014 and 2024 alone, over 1,680 children were abducted from school and beyond; 180 children killed due to attacks on schools; an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed; and more than 70 attacks on schools, according to the United Nations. The kidnap of 276 students in Chibok, Borno State painfully reinforces the point. The female students were kidnapped by terrorists between14/15 April 2014 and a decade later, as at April 2024, 90 girls remain in captivity. Again, on March 7, 2024, over 200 students were kidnapped in Kuriga, Kaduna State. Although the state government subsequently announced the release of all 287 over a week later, on March 17, 2024.

Quite naturally therefore, the fear of being killed or kidnapped adversely impacts children’s learning, compounds social exclusion and perpetuates poverty. Indeed, as of 2021, over one million children were terrified of returning to school, and in 2020, approximately 11,500 schools were shut due to terrorist attacks, according to Nextier’s Policy Weekly.

And these are children who have every right to access education and aspire, in the natural progressive order, to future national and global leadership; if education is construed as an empowering catalyst for social mobility. And why shouldn’t it?

Regarding sectoral allocations to education, Nigeria’s 2024 Renewed Hope budget earmarked N2.18 trillion (7.9 per cent) to education out of N27.50 trillion expenditure forecast. Whilst a direct like-for-like comparison is not the objective of the analysis here given the heterogeneity of GDP and related economic metrics, nevertheless, contextually, in the same period, the United States allocated $90 billion to education. Germany allocated Euros 21.5 billion or 4.8 per cent of its Euro 445.7 billion budget to education; with a sharp focus on Artificial Intelligence, innovation, research and science.

Hitherto, Public and Missionary/Privately owned secondary schools like CMS Grammar School, Lagos (founded in 1859), Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar (founded 1895), King’s College, Lagos (founded in 1909), Alhuda College Zaria (founded 1910), Ibadan Grammar School (founded 1913), Barewa College (founded 1921), Government College Ibadan (founded in 1929), Government College Ughelli (founded 1945), Federal Government College Warri (founded 1966) and other outstanding institutions, produced some of Africa’s finest minds.

They were merit-based and competed impressively with the crème de la crème of the British “public” school system; like Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby etc. Unfortunately, the eminence of those leading Nigerian secondary schools inter alia, has not been consistently and qualitatively sustained especially, within the public secondary school context.

Regarding tertiary education, Nigeria boasts of some of the world’s finest intellectuals. Many of them teach and practice at leading universities/teaching hospitals in Australia, Canada, United States, UK, South Africa etc.

Paradoxically, the local Nigerian public universities, which provided veritable, and subsidised foundations, for their sparkling academic careers overseas, are impeded by sustained industrial disputes and agitations for improved pay and service conditions. In the 23 years through 1999 and 2022 for instance, Nigerian public university academics embarked on industrial action 17 times!

In that period, public university students cumulatively lost over 36 months of productive academic and research time! Inevitably, predicting the duration of undergraduate and postgraduate courses becomes virtually impossible, with students spending several additional years, added cost burdens on their parents and sponsors, ditto the enduring challenge of stifling career development. The latter because some employers refuse to employ brilliant graduates on the grounds of the latter being “too old for the job.”

The flipside is that students at private universities do not experience that problem as, apart from the academically rigorous entry requirement and successful assessments for the course duration, the other essential criterion is the capacity to pay. In short, strike action at public universities creates the unintended consequence of a two-tier-tertiary education system, which, ultimately disadvantages public university students.

For clarity, the contention is not against top quality private educational institutions. Rather, it is to emphasise the material point that industrial actions with the public university matrix does not exist in a vacuum. According to university lecturer, and executive member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Dele Ashiru: “Underfunding of the (public university) system and the failure of the government to implement an agreement it reached … infrastructural, teaching, learning and research facilities are grossly inadequate in our universities…” are some of the main reasons for the recurrent industrial actions over decades.

These challenges are certainly deep and far-reaching, and government must constantly juggle contestable priorities, plus, complex resource allocation imperatives. Accordingly, that debate will not end in this essay. Notwithstanding, this piece concludes with the following policy recommendations:

Government should convene an emergency summit on education reform at primary, secondary and tertiary level with political leaders, thought leaders, leading academics, and business icons to develop a robust education reform action plan within 60 days.

An enhanced security strategy for safeguarding all students across all schools nationwide is overdue, as is, the compelling rationale for virtual learning especially in the North Central, North-Eastern and North-Western states; where kidnapping and terrorism incidents are most rampant.

Strategically, incentivisation and reward policies for teachers and lecturers needs urgent review. It is only a question of time before their representatives start serious agitations for same because the Government has already established a precedent with the 300 per cent increase for senior judicial officers effective 2024.

The case for sustainably leveraging artificial intelligence and STEAM in the national curriculum through primary, secondary and tertiary education is unimpeachable if Nigeria is to stand a fighting chance of competing in the knowledge driven 21st Century economy. The emanating inference therein is to develop broader and deeper collaboration with the private sector, global technology firms and education-focused voluntary organisations to build capacity.

Advocacy and sensitisation initiatives are absolutely essential to reinforce the point for students at all levels that the world of work has changed globally and dynamic adaptability is key. That is, effective communication, drive, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurialism; flexible work patterns traversing geographical boundaries, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, resilience are non-negotiable to thrive in a radically altered digital age. In short, divergent thinking assumes a new and practical meaning.

There should be healthy competition between public and privately owned/run education institutions to the extent that the highest educational standards, meritocracy, safety, pastoral care, optimal teaching facilities are not compromised.

The necessity for adaptability to the demands of a radically altered digital age invokes a commitment to life-long learning in the 21st Century, and therefore accessibility and flexibility of learning opportunities for all, through approved virtual learning centres at established public and private educational institutions, self-improvement online learning platforms and, of course, the National Open University of Nigeria.
Ojumu is the Principal Partner at Balliol Myers LP, a firm of Lagos-based legal practitioners, strategy consultants, and author of The Dynamic Intersections of Economics, Foreign Relations, Jurisprudence and National Development.