Scores of conundrums threaten the general existence of today’s Nigeria, as it is obvious to all. The unanticipated economic recession, which continues to take laughter of our faces, unrestricted inflation that keeps going worse day by day, innumerable security challenges and a host of others. All of which are not just pointing fingers at the generous failures of our government but also signpost the magnitude to which our own educational system has grown ineffective. If the popular maxim “Knowledge is light”, can be taken to be true, how then can a nation walk in darkness unless its institutions meant for advancing knowledge are magnanimously ineffective?
Education or better still, formal education simply involves the process of imparting and acquiring knowledge through a stable and well-organized system of teaching and learning. As power is not supposed to be an end but a means to an end, education is never an end on its own, but a means to achieving greater possibilities. In a world of science, education plays an important role in the realization of feats considered impossible to man. Without an ounce of exaggeration, education remains a vital part of the modern world and is perhaps the most fundamental requirement for development and survival of any human society.
In Nigeria today, the educational sector suffers immensely from poor management both in policy formulation and in implementation. Budgetary allocation to the educational sector is often little and hardly enough to shoulder the many needs of the sector. As though this is not enough, many state governments are fund of not paying the salaries of their civil servants as and when due, including the salaries of school teachers. How then can we expect these teachers to be effective in carrying out their duties?
Aside the ineptitude of government, academicians and managers of various academic institutions have on their part contributed in no small measure to the decay of education in Nigeria. Many students or rather, potential students seeking admission into tertiary institutions have been unduly exploited by those in charge of admission process. It is indeed ironical that many tertiary institutions, particularly universities pride themselves in producing graduates that are worthy in character and learning, whereas, the lecturers and professors form these same institutions are often used by political parties and godfathers to rig and manipulate electoral results during each electioneering year.
It is worthy of note that despite the seemingly admirable academic feats in terms of numbers of first-class and second class upper students that graduates from Nigerian Universities year after year, the entire country is yet to produce a Nobel prize winner in more than three decades. Very little has been achieved in terms of innovation and research. Academic curriculum has been recycled so much that its relevance no longer exist. In the wake of these, instead of debating about issues such as academic curriculum, what extracurricular activities should be encouraged or how educational standard can be improved upon. Nigerian parents, teachers and government are more interested in what student should wear to school, as though fashion is the reason for which students go to school.
In conclusion, the Nigerian educational sector is at war with itself and if care is not taken, it might self-destruct. More and more Nigerian youths are traveling outside the country to study abroad, and in most cases, they tend to flourish and when they do, they end up using their skills, abilities, talents and potentials to improve their host countries. Government, stakeholders, academicians and parents need to start discussing germane challenges of the educational sector. The entire educational sector need to be completely overhauled, it is time to curtail excesses, build on potentials and create an educational system that serves the greater good of the society at large.
