In this compelling interview with Stanley Ugagbe of The News Chronicle, Justus Oboh, a seasoned Educationist, dissects the state of Nigeria’s educational system at 65 years of independence with the candor of a surgeon wielding a scalpel.
Drawing from his wealth of experience, Oboh provides thought-provoking insights on the glaring gaps in policy, the neglect of teachers, the plight of out-of-school children, and the systemic decay that has kept the nation’s academic institutions trailing behind their global counterparts. His reflections are not just a critique of failures but also a call to action, urging Nigeria to confront its educational shortcomings with sincerity, commitment, and urgency if the nation truly desires to match its aspirations with reality.
The News Chronicle: Thank you for finding time to have this interview with us. Looking back at 65 years of Nigeria’s independence, how would you assess the progress of our educational system compared to where we started in 1960?
Justus: Thanks for having me. Why one may be tempted to say we are making progress in our educational system owing to certain reforms I bet to say that we are far behind. This is because, we see and hear of the progress our colonial master have made in their education why we battle with myriads of problems. Considering the half-baked graduates we produce everyday from our educational system, it is obvious that we are not progressing. A good measure of any system is the output. As information is the output of a computer, so are the graduates to an educational system. Information as output to a computer is useful when it fulfils the purpose it is meant for. Likewise to education. If our graduates cannot proffer solutions to common problems of Nigeria, then we can conclude that there is no progress made
TNC: Many Nigerians argue that education is the bedrock of national development. At 65, do you think Nigeria has invested enough in education to match its aspirations as a nation?
Justus: Education is the bedrock of every developing nation. There is no nation that can grow above the standard of her education. It is a metrics for measuring social, economic, political and technological development. Unfortunately, Nigeria has neglected the sector. While so much is budgeted for other sector, the only budgets we get for education are “unfulfilled promises”. The budget towards education in Nigeria is synonymous to a farmer who expects great harvest but wouldn’t want to commit himself in terms of post planting operations. Both human resources and materials resources are lacking in the educational sector
TNC: We have seen declining global rankings of Nigerian universities and dwindling standards in primary and secondary schools. What do you think are the root causes of this persistent decline?
Justus: Like I earlier said, our educational system is face with myriads of problems. I will only mention few which I think are among the top ranked root cause but before then, let me give an instance of a problem I encountered just last week. A student was admitted in JSS 1 in my school. To my greatest surprise, he cannot write his own notes (I mean to copy from the board). Not because the words on the board are not clear. He jam-packed words; no punctuation, no space in-between words and omission of letter. You then wonder if he finished primary school. Yes he did because he had results with even 3 A’s. Did he have parents? Are his parents monitoring his progress in school? Are they aware of the child lapses? How did he pass? Who were his teachers from primary 1 to 6? How was the external marker able to mark his script? Â This alone shows the reason why we keep declining in ranking. Some of the problems facing educational system in Nigeria are; lack of motivation by teacher to students and government to teachers, negligence of parents in accessing and monitoring the progress of their children, exoneration of examination malpractice, inadequate manpower, unqualified teachers, poor remuneration, non-conductive learning environment. Others are overloaded curriculum, reliance on much theory rather than practical, indiscipline among students, focus on money (people believe that success is much on money rather than education) hence the concept “Yahoo”, unemployment among graduates, and high cost of education.
TNC: Funding has remained a recurring challenge in the sector. How do you think Nigeria can strike a balance between budgetary allocation and effective utilization of resources to improve our educational system?
Justus: Funding is the major challenge in education today. To strike a balance between budgetary allocation and effective utilization of resources to improve education, the following should be taken: promote public-private partnership, appraisal of school performance to ensure accountability and fund usage, schools that perform very well should be given more funding and incentives, ensure specialization among institution – the aspect of duplication in school programs among federal, State and local should be streamlined, and government should also try to prioritize aspects that need spending at each time.
TNC: The issue of out-of-school children remains alarming, with Nigeria topping the global chart. At 65, how can the country realistically tackle this challenge to secure the future of its youth?
Justus: Out-of-school children will continue to even grow higher unless the government feels concern and takes concerted effort to improve on the welfare of students and teachers. One of the ways to tackle it is through the universal basic education (UBE). Far back in Kogi State, I remember when UBE was initiated around 2003. It made education free and compulsory. Students were provided with uniforms and books. They were also fed once in the school. You hardly see a child who will not want to go to school. UBE was from primary 1 to Jss 3. But the system didn’t last because government thought it was too expensive. School dropout can only be minimized if the cost of education is reduced; education is targeted towards self-reliance, aligns with students’ aspirations and interest as well as includes skills acquisition
TNC: Teachers are central to quality education, yet they remain poorly motivated and underpaid. What structural reforms are necessary to elevate the. teaching profession in Nigeria?
Justus: Nigeria has what it takes to motivate teachers financially and otherwise. Aside paying the teacher well and as at when due, there is need for government to provide schoolswith electricity, internets and other modern technologies that can enhance teaching
TNC: With the world moving fast into technology-driven education, do you think Nigeria has done enough to integrate digital learning into its school system as it marks 65 years of nationhood?
Justus: It is a good path that we move toward technologically driven educational system. However, technology without the technical know-how is the worst thing that can ever happen to a nation. Can a blind man lead another blind man? You don’t test the potency of a charm at war front. That is the reason why JAMB and WAEC messed up this year. We try to integrate technology into our educational system where our budget is far below while huge amounts are invested in trying to conduct elections via modern technologies. How do we strike a dichotomy between these two scenarios? At 65, Nigeria education should have been digitalized but no enough funding to man it.
