Nigeria Education System And President Tinubu Students’ Loan – Anaenugwu Ndubuisi
Abstract
This piece targets to address the economic implications of President Tinubu Students’ Loan for undergraduates in Nigerian Federal Tertiary Institutions especially when our education system is designed to produce certificate tigers. It is historical fact that Nigeria academic curriculum is outdated and cannot stand the test of 21st century requirements. Therefore, a radical and urgent reform is needed before loan incentive could be provided. President Tinubu is offering loan not grant, therefore, certain measures must be put in place to ensure that the loan is repaid on maturity. The education marketplace must, however, be a platform to bake the students for productive engagement in the Labour market. With the increasing rate of unemployment and factories shutting down by the day, one would have expected Tinubu administration to pay strict attention to creating economics opportunities to millions of jobless youths as well as creating conditions that train skill labours instead of certificate tigers.
Introduction
The present generation and the future generations deserve our collective sympathy if Nigeria education system remains unchanged. For now, the system has created rent seekers that are perpetually trapped in a vicious circle of mental poverty and insecurity– a generational poverty. Few who believed they have escaped poverty either by primitively accumulating wealth that would protect their children from the wicked hands of poverty may end up with disastrous end; instances abound in our various communities.The root cause of poverty in Nigeria could be traced to our ‘’ copy and paste” education system. The University academic curriculum was copied from Nigeria Colonial Masters that have for centuries ago perfected and mechanized their production processes as well as achieving optimal deployment of both human and material resources. These western nations have smartly given us education system that would encourage consumption instead of production. But, we have gained political independence since 1960 and should have chosen a desired and sustainable destination to follow. Sadly, Nigeria has continued to use obsolete and outdated materials to teach our children from nursery school level to university level! This present education curriculum being used in schools will continue to encourage consumption of foreign goods and this is deliberate. Any education system that cannot solve local challenges is worthless and should be trashed.
What is wrong with President Tinubu Students’ Loan?
It is a known fact that about 65% of Nigeria Graduates from Nigeria Tertiary Institutions are unemployable. Many attend Universities just to acquire certificates (certificate education). The question on the lips of well-meaning Nigerians is: must young people attend University to be recognized in the society or be productive? The answer is no! Nigeria has given more attention to paper certificate than content. The intention of the loan is therefore to encourage more certificate tigers without skills and innovative ideas. Many students who will go for this loan cannot even write a correct sentence or being original in solving classroom exercises.
Let’s consider few examples; all the former Presidents/ Heads of Government have basic education. All the Governors both former and present are all graduates. Upon the education of these political leaders, Nigeria cannot deploy over 200 million human resources into productive ventures to improve the standard of living for all. Upon our level of education, we have not created a financial system that will support local contents and initiatives. Without access to cheap loanable fund, it is not possible to grow on sustainable basis upon our level of the so -called education. Upon our level of education, we have not been able to use our natural endowment to build modern cities, build mass and affordable houses, generate and supply stable electricity at affordable rate, achieve food security. It is a shame that upon the level of our education, we cannot refine our crude oil resources, we cannot construct modern and complex road network! Why then do we go to school expecting Tinubu Loan, perhaps, to learn how to write and ‘blow’ big grammar, then consume with zero production! Some people, maybe, out of frustration, have tagged our education system – a scam.
Reforming Education and Industrial Sectors before the application of Students’ loan
Nigeria education system must be career – based driven before pushing for any form of Student loan. A functional education system must train undergraduates into skills that would solve the basic needs of average Nigerians. The purpose of this piece is to provoke further discussions on the urgent need to radically reform Nigerian education and industrial sectors to address our numerous local challenges in view of President Tinubu approval for Students loan in federal tertiary institutions. The student loan scheme is like pouring water inside a big basket! The result of course will be negative. It is another way of sharing oil revenue. Nigeria political structure is designed to enrich few political elites, their families and friends leaving majority of the people in the state of hopelessness. Please, don’t get it wrong! This administration is planning to rope in millions of Nigeria youths with loan liability as 90% of them cannot repay the borrowed funds on maturity.
Recommendation
With the quality of education in Nigeria today, I will not advice any Student to go for the loan unless Government can guarantee employment after the university education.
We should stop copying western countries that have stabilized their entire system. In France, the cities are well planned with functional public utilities. Education system is designed to service their public institutions built centuries ago. Their financial system is tailored to intervene between the surplus and deficit sectors of the economy. Because, they (France) have a working system, graduates from various university are trained to feed the industries with the required labour, and the circle will continue. In developing Country like Rwanda, the education system is competency driven with students being exposed to real practical work. It takes a visionary Leader like President Kagame to put the war ravage country to the world map of emerging economies.
It is recommended that President Tinubu should identify key sectors of the Nigeria economy where skilled manpower is urgently needed for immediate intervention. A Scholarship Board is preferable to train millions of smart undergraduate who will be ready to take challenges in electricity sector ,building and construction sector, health sector , agriculture sector ,upstream, midstream and downstream sector , iron ore sector, science and technology sector etc. The specialized undergraduate training should be 80% practical and 20% theory.
It is also recommended that the academic curriculum should be revolutionary with local contents peculiar to Nigeria unique situations. Nigeria professionals in diaspora should be imported to assist in developing our local academic curriculum that will meet industrial demands.
This piece recommends a radical, comprehensive and revolutionary changes in Nigerian education sector. As a pointer, our education system should address those obstacles hampering our drive to modernity. We can borrow Rwanda model for a start. Student loan without the needed reform cannot achieve the desired results as the loan will continue to promote certificate tigers without entrepreneur skills.
Conclusion
We have been sharing oil revenue since after the civil war and have injected billions of dollars into the education system yet Nigeria has not been able to refine her crude oil or supply her citizens with stable electricity. The problem lies in our copy and paste education system. Students’ loan cannot change the ugly trend, therefore, we should look for permanent solution.
It is a known fact that most graduates from Nigeria universities are unemployable and cannot fit into 21st century industrial revolution. Student loan policy is dead on arrival, perhaps APC way of promoting bad loan administration. There is an urgent need for a total overhaul of Nigeria education system if we are serious about a productivity system. The present education system designed by our colonial masters has one intention- to keep us in perpetual state of slavery and total dependence of foreign manipulation.
Just before concluding this piece , a breaking news that Senator Tony Nwoye presented a bill on the floor of the Senate proposing that unemployed Nigerian Graduates should be paid while learning skills after mandatory one year National Youth Service showed up .The proposed Bill has passed First Reading in Nigerian Senate. The Bill when passed into law intend to address increasing unemployment in the Country so as to ward off the ugly consequences usually associated with social disequilibrium such as insecurity and to enable fresh graduates learn vocational skills instead of them all waiting for government employment .
This Bill cannot address the Nigeria fundamental problem of unemployment. Why wasting four years in the University (except few professional courses), with President Tinubu Student Loan offer, learning nothing! We are merely trying to protect some sacred interest groups at the expense of the Nigerian economic growth. However, this piece recommends for a Bill abolishing NYSC and JAMB. The two institutions have outlived their usefulness and should be scrapped. Universities should be allowed to admit the students who meet their minimum entry requirements as done in other Countries.NYSC was an initiative to foster unity amongst Nigerians after the civil war which has since ended. We need unity in production and technological advancement. Today, we are fighting another form of war and need another initiative to address it.
Anaenugwu Vincent Ndubuisi
Ambassador General, Good Governance Ministry (GGM)
