THE FUTURE BY US - ROCARE - ERNWACA · THE FUTURE BY US Rebuilding Nigeria ... Ron Tuck is the...

Edited by

Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya &

Gori Olusina Daniel

THE FUTURE BY US Rebuilding Nigeria’s Education System

The Nigerian Education Policy Review, Vol. 1 Feb 2014

“Diaspora groups such as the Every Nigerian Child Project make us very proud, as not only do they raise issues of national concern, they also work to mobilise people;

Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, to be part of the solution.”

- His Excellency Dr Dalhatu Tafida OFR CFR, Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK & Ireland

ENCP delegation accompanied by Chief Odegbami pay a courtesy visit to Dr Dalhatu Tafida, HE Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK

THE FUTURE BY US Rebuilding Nigeria’s Education System

The Nigerian Education Policy Review, Vol. 1 Feb 2014

Policy advocacy to promote and mainstream best practice, and transform Nigeria through evidence-led education reform

------

Edited by

Dr. Ifechukwu Nnatuanya &

Gori Olusina Daniel

First published in Great Britain in 2013

World Changers Media & Publishing

73 Lowfield St, Dartford, DA1 1HP

Copyright © Every Nigerian Child Project 2013

Professor PAI Obanya, Ron Tuck, Kayode Sanni, John Martin, Wale Samuel, Dr Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, Bunmi Lawson, Dr Moses Adi, Dr David Ogbueli, Alero Ayida-Otobo, Olajumoke B.

Bamigboye, Chris Maiyaki, Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya, and Gori Olusina Daniel have asserted their right under Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

and retrieval system, without acknowledging the author and the publisher.

The World Changers Foundation does not necessarily endorse the individual views contained in its publications.

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

About the authors

Foreword by Ambassador Dozie Nwanna OON, Former Deputy Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom & Ireland, 1

Introduction Gori Olusina Daniel, 2

1) Transforming Nigeria’s vast population into a National Asset Professor PAI Obanya, 4

2) Understanding the current state of Nigeria’s Education System Ron Tuck & Kayode Sanni, 8

3) Making education work in Nigeria – A 10 Step Integrated Framework for Education Reform John Martin, 12

4) A conceptual framework for promoting transparency and tackling corruption in Nigeria’s public education system Wale Samuel, 17

5) What can public schools learn from private schools to improve learning outcomes in Nigeria? Dr Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, 20

6) A Roadmap for Education Transformation in Nigeria Bunmi Lawson, 23

7) Improving Nigeria’s Education System – The role of individuals and NGOs Dr Moses Adi, 26

8) How individuals and NGOs can contribute to rebuilding Nigeria’s education system Dr David Ogbueli, 29

9) The Finnish Education System – Lessons for Nigeria Alero Ayida-Otobo, 34

10) The Every Nigerian Child Project Olajumoke B. Bamigboye, 37

2012 FUTURE BY US EDUCATION SUMMIT: Conference Summary Report Chris Maiyaki, 40

Conclusion: Rebuilding Nigeria’s Education System: Policy Imperatives Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya, 42

Index

About the authors

© 2014 Every Nigerian Child Project. All Rights Reserved.

Nigeria Education

Policy Review

ABOUT THE

AUTHORS

Professor PAI Obanya is the Chairman Presidential Taskforce Team on Education and one of Africa’s foremost education sector specialists. In addition to his numerous distinctions from over 50 years of professional service to education sector reform across Africa, he is a member of the ENCP Senior Advisory Board.

Ron Tuck is the former National Programme Manager for the DFID funded Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), a UK funded education intervention programme in six States across Nigeria.

Kayode Sanni is the National Programme Manager for the DFID funded Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), a UK funded education intervention programme in six States across Nigeria.

John Martin is a former National Programme Manager for the DFID funded Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN). He is a director with Cambridge Education – the Education Sector specialists, and DFID Delivery Managers of the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria.

Wale Samuel is the former Policy Advisor to the Abuja based Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All. With over 400 members, it remains the largest civil society coalition of its kind in the world.

Dr Modupe Adefeso-Olateju is the CEO of The Education Partnership Centre (TEP Centre) which is Nigeria’s foremost consultancy firm for designing, brokering and facilitating education partnership projects, and a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

Bunmi Lawson is the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of ACCION Microfinance Bank Limited. ACCION prides itself as a model microfinance bank with unique, well researched products and services provided to delight its customers. She is also a Director of VLA Lawrence & Associates, a leading Human Resources services organization

Dr Moses Adi is the President Living Seed Academy a low-fee private school in Benue State Nigeria, and an independent Security Consultant.

Dr David Ogbueli is a Conference speaker and a Consultant in Human Resource Development and National Reformation. He is the founder and President of Global Missions Network and the Senior Pastor of Dominion City Church. He is the Executive Producer and Principal Host of the Expand Your World TV and Radio broadcast.

Foreword

© 2014 Every Nigerian Child Project. All Rights Reserved.

Nigeria Education

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Alero Ayida-Otobo is the coordinator of the Education Reform Team and CEO Incubator Africa Limited, a development agency that partners with delivery-minded governments and agencies responsible for managing education and health systems to improve and transform schools and primary health centers by building their capacity to transform their operations and achieve measurable outcomes. She is also a member of the ENCP Senior Advisory Board.

Olajumoke Bamigboye is the Managing Partner at Fibonacci Investment Consultants CEO of Hěveneiress and a co-founder

of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

Chris Maiyaki is a Deputy Director at the Nigeria University Commission, and the chief of Staff to the Executive Secretary.

Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya is a Director of DPI Associates Ltd a UK based specialist Transformation practice. He is a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

Gori Olusina Daniel is a partner at Adams & Moore, a firm of auditors, tax and business advisors and the executive director at the World Changers Foundation. He is a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

Foreword

© 2014 Every Nigerian Child Project. All Rights Reserved. 1

Nigeria Education

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Foreword by His

Excellency

Ambassador

Dozie Nwanna

OON, former Deputy

Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

Over three decades of military dictatorship has left Nigeria’s

social infrastructure in ruins. The 2011 elections were widely

expected to usher in a new democratically elected administration,

which would further strengthen Africa’s largest democracy.

As Nigeria’s democracy matures, there is a rising consciousness

of the role each and every Nigerian citizen must play in

strengthening our institutions, holding our leaders to account,

while playing a full role in shaping the future we want for our great

nation.

In 2010, the Next Generation – an independent think tank chaired

by Ngozi Okoji-Iweala, Nigeria’s Finance Minister and

coordinating Minister for the economy, produced an influential

report on the future of Nigeria which concluded that:

“By 2030, young people, not oil will be Nigeria’s most

valuable asset”

The report concludes that this positive picture of the future is

unlikely to be achieved without the right level of investment in

education, healthcare and social infrastructure.

The realisation of Nigeria’s potential lies in developing highly-

skilled upwardly mobile citizens. The consequences are dire if

nothing is done to engage and equip the next generation with the

skills they need to meaningfully engage with an increasingly

competitive knowledge-based society.

I commend the efforts and dedication of the talented women and

men who convened in London in February 2011 to develop a high

level framework for all those working to improve Nigeria’s

education sector over the next 10 years, the many others who

contributed to the success of the summit, as well as those who

have continued to work tirelessly doing what they can, to see that

every Nigerian child has access to good quality education that

enables them to make a positive contribution to society.

This compilation of policy briefings and imperatives is a call to action.

Ambassador Dozie Nwanna OON

Introduction Gori Olusina Daniel


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About the author Gori Olusina Daniel is a partner at Adams & Moore, a firm of auditors, tax and business advisors and the executive director at the World Changers Foundation. He is a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

In 2007, following a comprehensive assessment of

education delivery in Nigeria, Dr Oby Ezekwesili the former

Minister of Education, declared Nigeria’s education

system to be in a state of crisis – a result of decades of

neglect, and predicted that without immediate action, by

2020, Nigeria would have produced a significant

population of highly trained, skilled and motivated

criminals.

Leading on from two successive summits, the first in London,

convened and hosted by the Nigerian High Commission in

February 2011, and the second, hosted with generous support

from the Federal Ministry of Education and the National

University Commission in Abuja in February 2012, and as

many roundtable discussions with an extended range of

stakeholders in the British House of Commons, convened and

hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Education for

All; we conclude that despite the considerable efforts of

governments at all levels and non-state actors, and some

noticeable improvement in percentage enrolment and

improved access for girls, Nigeria’s education system is sadly,

by and large, still in a critical state of emergency.

The State of Nigeria’s Education System Today, with regards to education, Nigeria is on the global map

for all the wrong reasons:

1 in 6 school age children not in school worldwide are

Nigerians.

With 10.5 million children out of school and rising,

Nigeria is home to the highest number of out of school

children worldwide.

But as the frequently quoted 10.5m figure does not include the 20m and 6.5m un-enrolled for Early Childhood and Junior Secondary Education, the scale of the challenge from all indications is vastly understated

With 62% of children from the poorest quintile,

compared with less than 2% from the richest quintile of

Nigerian households out of school, the poor are the

most affected.

At 35 million, Nigeria also has the fourth highest

concentration of illiterate adults worldwide.

In 2008, 53% of girls could not read or write after six

years of school; a rise of 12% from 2003 (41%).



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In Kano, Northern Nigeria, in a

training needs analysis conducted by

ESSPIN, 78% of teachers were found

to have limited knowledge of English

language.

With over 21,274 malpractice cases

recorded, almost 1 in 3 students who

sat for the 2012 NECO exams were

caught cheating.

Less than 4 in 10 of students who sat

the 2012 WAEC examinations

passed, an increase of 8% on 2011.

122,000 2012 WAEC results were

withheld on suspicion of exam

malpractice.

Some Good News The situation is alarming, but not without

hope. Indeed, there is some good news.

As you will conclude from reading through

the articles in this inaugural edition of the

Nigerian Education Policy Review, the critical

issues are well understood, as are the

potential solutions. There is also clear,

noticeable, slow but significant progress to

report all across the country in States as

diverse as Rivers, Lagos, Jigawa, Cross

River and beyond.

From our engagement with a cross section of

education stakeholders through the Future

By Us Education Summits from which the

articles in this edition of the Nigerian

Education Policy Review are drawn, there

appears to be a clear recognition that the

resource challenges that continue to pose a

serious threat to Nigeria’s education system

will not be resolved by government alone.

This is clearly good reason for cautious

optimism. The Nigerian state of emergency

in the education sector has attracted a

groundswell of support from corporate

organizations, indigenous and international

foundations, grant making trusts and NGOs,

howbeit, largely uncoordinated, which has

significantly limited its impact.

This is important to note, as organisations

such as The Education Partnership (TEP)

Center and Incubator Africa which exist to

help coordinate, design, broker and facilitate

the key partnerships that can channel the

much need resources to the interventions

that makes the most difference on learner

achievement and learning outcomes, are

emerging.

This must be seen as a welcome

development as more Nigerians and friends

of Nigerians respond to the rally cry; we need

to find efficient ways of harnessing the will,

desire and support for urgent change.

Chiefly, it is important to appreciate that

today our challenge is more complex than

simply getting children into school. It is

determining the most effective way of

channeling resources to keep them in school

and ensure they receive good quality

education that enables them to make a

positive contribution to society.

The Every Nigerian Child Project was

established in 2012 to enhance the capacity

of those working to ensure every Nigerian

child goes to school and has access to good

quality education that enables them to make

a positive contribution to society. We trust

you will find inspirational, thought provoking,

yet practical ideas in this inaugural edition of

the Nigeria Education Policy Review, as you

consider what more you can do to play your

part in improving Nigeria’s education system.

Because, if Nigeria’s education system must

improve, it starts with all of us doing what we

can – whatever that is, to give every Nigerian

child access to good quality education.

Transforming Nigeria’s vast population into a national asset Professor PAI Obanya


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About the Author Prof PAI Obanya is the Chairman Presidential Taskforce of Education and one of Africa’s foremost education sector specialists. This article has been produced from his key note presentation at the 2012 Future By Us Education Summit held at the National Universities Commission, Abuja from 16 – 17 February 2012.

1: Transforming Nigeria’s vast population into a national asset Professor PAI Obanya

The common assertion that Nigeria is blessed with abundant human resources is flawed.

Though the potential to transform Nigeria’s vast population into a truly immeasurably valuable national asset is undeniable, we must stop thinking that this will be achieved simply because it should. An all-encompassing empowerment strategy is required to transform Nigeria’s vast population from a mere teeming mass of non-directional, non-productive people groups without a unifying sense of collective purpose into a national asset. Government, citizens, parents, educators; we all have a role to play, and it is our moral duty to do what we can.

Re-Defining Empowerment Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social concept whose definition should not be obscured in the fog of the political rhetoric that litters our national newspapers, airwaves and news channels. It is an all-round process with four defining dimensions; psychological, sociological, economic and political, which collectively encapsulate what it means to be ‘empowered’.

Table 1.1 – The Four Dimensions of Empowerment

Psychological Empowerment

Sociological Empowerment

Economic Empowerment

Political Empowerment

Intellectual Development Social Inclusion Critical Skills Civil Liberties

Emotional Maturity Vertical and horizontal social mobility

Enhanced Earnings Democratic Participation

Positive Self-Concept Gender Equality Self-actualisation Freedom of choice /association

Propensity to Learn Assertiveness Quality Education Access to Information

Table 1.1 above illustrates each of the four dimensions of empowerment as characterised by four key elements and discussed below.

a) Psychological Empowerment: This encompasses the need to nurture reasoning and mental abilities to the fullest level possible, the ability to control one’s own emotions and be sensitive to other people’s emotions and unspoken needs (i.e. emotional intelligence), strong belief in one’s capabilities, and highly developed learning-to-learn skills coupled with an abiding interest in continuous development.

b) Sociological Empowerment: This is characterised by the absence of discrimination and marginalization, absence of restrictions to social mobility, equal life chances for men and women, and the self-confidence and conditions required to pursue life free from timidity and suppression.

c) Economic Empowerment: This encapsulates the combination of knowledge, technical and social skills that enable people to earn a living, and



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act productively to contribute to societal wellbeing and wealth creation, as well as the environment and opportunities to improve one’s earnings and self-defined goals without imposed limits, and the existence of opportunities to develop one’s capabilities.

d) Political Empowerment: This presents the conditions required for citizens to fully exercise their fundamental human rights which include the fundamental freedoms of a democracy, the freedom to belong to political parties of choice, to vote and be voted for; the ability to exercise the right to take one’s own decisions and take responsibility for the results of one’s actions, and freedom of access to information for enlightenment, knowledge and enhanced capacity for informed decision making and democratic participation.

Empowerment is at the core of what it means to be a human being living in a free, fair and safe society with the freedom and opportunity to pursue the achievement of one’s true potentials and highest aspirations. Only when individuals, groups and communities have been empowered psychologically, sociologically, economically and politically can they be considered to be truly empowered, and in so doing become as a collective unit, capable of being considered a truly valuable national asset. But this will not happen because it should.

Making it Happen Nigeria, much like any country in the 21st century that wishes to translate the brute might of its vast population into a valuable national asset must establish four key anchors to effect this paradigm shift; namely:

1. Create an enabling Environment It takes political leadership at the highest levels to create an enabling environment that empowers people and allows empowered people to fully exercise their power. This involves playing good politics where the common good is valued over personal gain and long term legacies over short term gain. This requires more sophisticated strategic planning where core stakeholders are carried along, greater levels of accountability for the use of public resources, and incentives and rewards for talent, merit, creativity, innovation and good governance.

2. Promote Genuine Education for All As can be observed from table 1.2 below, reducing education to schooling grossly limits the transformative impact of education. Education encompasses the vast range of developmental influences that are contributed by formal institutions, parents, churches, mosques, community groups etc., this needs to be hard-coded into the development and implementation of Nigeria’s education policy.

Table 1.2 Genuine Education vs. Schooling

Major Characteristics

Mere Schooling Genuine Education

Agency Ministries of Education – lonely in

charge

Formal institutions

Ministries of Education coordinate

Formal institutions

Variety of society resources

Beneficiaries

Selected Early childhood groups

Selected children and adolescents

Selected youth

All citizens

All stages of life

All material and social conditions

All talents

Goals

Grade progression

Specialization

Qualification for Job hunting

Personality development

Social and technical skills

Lifelong learning

Creativity & Resourcefulness



Nigeria Education

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Major Characteristics

Mere Schooling Genuine Education

Main Resources Government budgets

Teachers, infrastructure, materials in a poor state

Government budget

Other sector resources

Non-Government input

Teachers, materials, infrastructure in a more satisfactory state

A supportive socio-economic and political superstructure

Processes Frontal teaching

Examinations

Participatory, activity-based teaching and learning

Learning from life situations, events and phenomena

Life skills development

Outcomes

Certificates

Massive failure in examinations

Poor level of adaptation to the demands of the world of work

Wastage/poor returns on education sector investment

Learning

A critical mass of ‘learning individuals’

Closer link with the world of work

Improved socio-economic yield on education sector investment

The Nation’s ultimate gain

Low level of education efforts’ contribution to overall national development

Enhanced contribution to national development

Enhanced preparedness for the Knowledge Economy

3. Educate for All Talents: Most education programmes have a narrow focus on the intellectual type of talent. In Nigeria’s case, even this has not been adequately attended to. The narrow-focus approach largely accounts for the boy-child disaffection with schooling that is now spreading from the South-East to other parts of the country. It is also partly explains the mass failure syndrome observed in public examinations.

Figure 1.1 Variety of human talents education should cater for

Figure 1.1 below illustrates the variety of human talents education should cater for. What is therefore being advocated is a paradigm shift in curriculum development that

uses subject matter knowledge not simply for memorizing facts and figures but as a tool for nurturing full human capacity development by helping learners discover and harness their core skills and talents.

4. Genuinely Invest in Education:

Figure 1.2: Breakdown of Education Expenditure

As depicted in Figure 1.2 above, the bulk of Nigeria’s education budget goes on teacher salaries and benefits, official education bureaucracy and political management, while little or nothing goes to teacher development, school level expenditure and teaching-learning materials. Genuine investment in

5

10

35

20

15

10

5

12.5

20.8

33.3

29.2

4.2

0

0

Political Management of Education

Official Education Sector Bureaucracy

Teacher Emoluments

Infrastructure

Teaching-Learning Materials

Teacher Development

School Level Expenditure

% Break down of education spending

Nigeria Best Practice



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education requires a shift in emphasis to items that are likely to exert a positive multiplier effect on the system i.e. teacher development, teaching-learning materials and school level spending. This if implemented, will mean spending less on the political management of education, and require clear undistorted political will.

5. Education Reform is everybody’s business

Transforming Nigeria’s vast population into a valuable national asset is not only possible; we all have a moral duty to play our part in making it happen. The advent of Boko Haram, kidnappers, Niger delta militants and similar groups springing up across the country make this an urgent national imperative, as it impacts us all.

Nigerians have a narrow definition of government. This places the pace of development and transformation in the hands of the few who have found themselves in significant positions of public leadership.

While we cannot deny that over 30 years of military dictatorship has left deep scars of

psychological, sociological, political and economic disempowerment on the vast majority of Nigerians, the advent of democracy and the existence of democratic institutions such as the national and state Houses of Assembly, the Judiciary and a free press, should suggest to us that Nigerians are already empowered.

Economically, home grown multi-national corporations such as the Dangote Group and the OandO Group who are already making global impact provide positive proof of the ability of Nigerian people and corporations to compete internationally.

Nigeria’s political leaders clearly have a role to play in creating an enabling environment, but nothing should stop teachers, parents, community groups and religious institutions from playing an even greater role in discovering and harnessing the talents of learners. In so doing, they will produce a new generation of Nigerian leaders who having experienced a good all-round education despite imperfect conditions, recognize the need to be life-long advocates for achieving genuine education for all.

Understanding the current state of Nigeria’s education system Ron Tuck & Kayode Sanni


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2: Understanding the current state of Nigeria’s education system Ron Tuck & Kayode Sanni

About the author Ron Tuck and Kayode Sanni are the National Programme Manager and Deputy National Programme Manager (respectively) of DFIDs Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN). This article has been produced from a paper he presented at the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit held at the Nigerian High Commission from 9 – 11 February 2011

It is often stated that between 8 to 9 million school aged children in Nigeria are not in school; the highest anywhere in the world. The bigger and more pervasive problem however, is that a large proportion of those who do attend school, do not learn very much.

Evidence from Monitoring Learning Achievement studies carried out in 1996 and 2003 and more recently a study by Johnson, Hsieh and Onibon (2007) on learning outcomes of children in Primary Grades 4 and 6 in Kwara, Kaduna and Kano States, shows that Nigerian children consistently underachieve in terms of their numeracy and literacy skills. Many factors contribute to this underachievement, for example;

lack of textbooks, poor learning environment, over‐crowded classrooms and so on, but the major factor, if only by inference, is the teachers’ lack of ability to deliver the curriculum.

Even more recently, a study conducted under the DFID Education State Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) has produced similar results (Holbrook, Dec 2010). Tests were constructed in English and Mathematics, covering all major topics indicated, and based upon the Nigerian Educational Research & Development Council (NERDC) curriculum. Children in public schools under performed in almost every aspect of mathematics across all 5 states, and only children in Kwara private schools attained reasonable scores.

ESSPIN also conducted extensive testing of teachers these same States. These tests were also based upon the Grade 4, NERDC curriculum. The table below shows the overall scores achieved in these tests (English and Maths combined) in each of 5 states.

As can be seen from the table below, barely 1% of teachers were able to score above 80%, but more tellingly 42% of teachers fall into Band D (less than 40%). The only conclusion that can be drawn from the above data is that children in Nigeria are not learning; and in many cases, their teachers are not equipped to support their development.

On the face of the above data, the temptation would be to engage in a massive training exercise for teachers across Nigeria. While this might help, its impact would be severely limited by the systemic problems that have led to this situation in the first place.

These problems can be usefully classified into three broad areas: Governance, Quality and Finance.



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Table 2.1 Overall Teacher Test Scores

OVERALL TEST SCORES

State 1 State 2 State 3 State 4 State 5

Level of Proficiency N % N % N % N % N %

Level A (80% - 100) 75 0.4 17 0.07 0 0 0 0 1 0.06

Level B (60% - 79%) 3,837 19.4 2,568 12.02 68 0.65 15 1.05 10 0.63

Level C (40% - 59%) 9,998 50.4 11,926 55.84 2,917 27.84 332 20.49 250 15.63

Level D (below 40%) 5,905 29.8 6,847 32.06 7,491 71.51 1,271 78.46 1,338 83.68

Total 19,923 100.0 21,558 100.0 10,476 100.0 1,620 100.0 1,599 100

Governance: Encompasses the values, rules, institutions, and processes through which people and organizations attempt to work towards common objectives, make decisions, generate authority and legitimacy, and exercise power. ‘Governance’ is not the same as ‘government’; it is much broader and operates at all levels of society. For example, even at the school and community level there are (or should be) governance structures, but in Nigeria these do not effectively exist at the moment. Ideally school governance should involve the local community. In most states, communities are asked to help support schools with resources, but are not involved in decision making processes. Inadequate governance structures not only result in increased transaction costs, but more seriously they can increase exposure to corruption and interest-group capture, thereby distorting the decision-making process, and reducing the efficiency and quality of education services. Furthermore, if we recognise that the only purpose of any education administration is to ensure that schools are enabled to deliver an acceptable standard of education, then the question is whether the administration in Nigeria is indeed delivering this. The evidence is that this is not the case. Head teachers and teachers are not well trained, their performance is not monitored, buildings and classrooms are dilapidated, maintenance does not occur, resources are not available and funding to schools is almost non-existent.

A particular example of poor governance is examination malpractice, which is generally acknowledged to be widespread in Nigeria. Efforts to curb such practices have been notable only by their failure to do so. Even hard evidence or estimates of how endemic it is, have not been attempted.

Quality: The provision of an acceptable quality of education depends upon many factors including good teaching, strong leadership and management, a safe, secure and conducive learning environment, sufficient resources (furniture, equipment, textbooks, writing materials, learning aids etc.), adequate quality assurance through inspection, adequate accountability, an appropriate curriculum and fair and transparent means of assessment. Yet in Nigeria, few schools could be judged to be conducive learning environments in terms of their physical structures, and many are unsafe. Resources, whether furniture or textbooks, are in most places sadly lacking, although various initiatives produce local improvements from time to time. The primary school curriculum contains 13 subjects, yet children are often barely able to read or write, and the examinations system is heavily weighted towards those likely to proceed to university, and provides no useful measure for the vast majority who are unlikely to pursue further education and will need to find employment. There have been recent moves to improve the relevance of school inspections and make this more consistent across the country, but this is still at an early stage



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and the cost of expanding this so that all schools are regularly monitored will be significant. While it is clear that a lack of subject and pedagogical skills is a major contributor to the poor quality of learning, the underlying reasons for this are twofold;

a) Firstly, the Colleges of Education do not actually prepare teachers to teach in primary schools, and the National Certificate of Education (NCE) is actually used by more than half of students (the better half) as an entry to university or to gain employment in better paid jobs outside teaching. Courses at these colleges include political science, chemistry, physics etc, but not literacy, numeracy or primary science. This explains why teachers are ill prepared.

b) Secondly, teachers are not posted to schools based upon the needs of the schools, and once in post, their performance is not monitored. Nor does their performance form a basis for promotion, which in turn is not linked to responsibility or function. A striking observation from ESSPIN’s research is that low fee paying private schools appear to do better than state schools despite the fact that on the whole, their teachers are less qualified. This is almost certainly due to the fact that such schools have rudimentary levels of performance management – even if it is only to make sure that teachers are in their classrooms and teaching.

Finance: It is stating the obvious that education cannot take place without adequate funding, and improvements cannot be made without additional funds.

However, more money is not in itself a solution. Underlying the lack of funds is a much more fundamental problem of how funds are allocated, managed, distributed and spent; a situation made even worse by the complexity of the funding mechanisms in Nigeria. Within each and every state in Nigeria there are two separate funding flows, which in the most part are independent of each other;

The first are funds allocated from the State Consolidated Funds. In principle Local Government Authorities receive funds directly from the Federated account, but in practice these are often high jacked at higher levels. From these funds, both the State

Ministry and the Local Government Councils must cover their own costs and overheads, once this is done, this leaves little, if anything, to pass on to schools.

Figure 2.2 Funding structure of Universal Basic Education – Capital Expenditure

The second and more significant proportion of funding for primary and junior secondary schools comes from the Universal Basic Education Fund administered by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs). Figures 1 and 2 above show how this works both for Capital and Recurrent expenditure. These diagrams are included mainly to demonstrate the problems inherent in such a complex system; the reader is not expected to understand them. Few if any people fully understand how this system works, and that in itself creates a lack of transparency. At best this leads to poor administration of such funds, and at worst it provides opportunity for misappropriation. Such a complex system also leads to

Figure 2.1: Funding Structure for Universal Basic Education – Recurrent Expenditure



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inefficiencies, overlap and lack of coordination in passing the funds through the various levels.

The third problem is that administration costs account for the bulk of education funding, so that all that remains for schools is a trickle. A typical school/community is powerless in such a system, has no say in the decisions taken on its behalf and does not even know what it should or can expect.

There are other problems also associated with these financial mechanisms. Until recently, many states were unable or unwilling to overcome the various barriers necessary to access such funds from UBEC, with the result that in 2010 NGN 40-50 billion

was sitting in a Federal bank account unspent.

This situation has now eased but there is still as much as NGN 35 billion un-accessed. This is at a time when every Naira is desperately needed. At the state level there is a further problem in that, despite the copious and admirable amount of planning and production of strategic plans, budgets do not match the priorities set out in these plans. Worse still, as a consequence of unrealistic budgets and/or the wielding of discretionary powers, funds are often released so late that planned activities cannot be completed.

Making Nigeria’s Education System Work: A 10 Step Integrated Framework for Education Reform John Martin


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3: Making Nigeria’s Education System Work: A 10 Step Integrated

Framework for Education Reform John Martin

About the author John Martin is the former National Programme Manager of the DFID Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN).

This article has been produced from a paper he presented at the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit held at the Nigerian High Commission from 9 – 11 February 2011

The problems facing Nigeria’s education system are deep and pervasive, but not unsolvable. It is important to recognize that the challenges are interconnected, and addressing them one at a time is not likely to make much more than a very small difference.

Better training of teachers for instance is necessary but unless schools are better managed; resourced and monitored, such training is likely to be wasted. The scale of the task is such that no individual or group of individuals is likely to be able to solve all these problems alone. Rather, it will require a concerted effort by a critical mass of both public education administrators and non-government actors to turn this situation around.

Figure 3.1 Conceptual Framework for Quality Improvement in Schools

Education delivery in schools must be the ultimate target of any reform process as schools, not ministries are where children learn. The conceptual diagram shown in figure 1 below serves to demonstrate that there are two sets of factors to be dealt with; a) those which take place within the school; and b) those which contribute to the supporting environment in which the school exists.

To create successful schools, each and every one of the factors listed in figure 3.1 must be addressed, but at different levels and by different people. The much needed reform in Nigeria’s public education system is about creating the environment in which such issues can be tackled by the relevant people.



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Part of the solution is in fact finding ways to involve a large cross section of education stakeholders, and ensure that they are all working in the same direction and to the same end. This requires a general framework within which everyone can work, such as the 10 steps to reform process presented below, which is not so rigid as to stultify individual initiatives and effort.

Figure 3.2: 10 Steps to reform

These steps (figure 3.2) have been developed over the past four years through ESSPIN’s work with the Ministries of Education of six Nigerian states. In each state, the approaches differ in their detail, but are similar in principle. Not all have been completed and indeed some of the more politically difficult reforms have yet to begin. Nevertheless there is a sense of direction in these states, and increasing numbers of stakeholders are becoming involved.

1. Develop a Common Vision and Plan This is the necessary first step. It provides the means with which large numbers of stakeholders can become involved, define and work towards a common goal. Ironically, this has repeatedly been done, many times over in Nigeria. The question then is why none of the previous efforts have ever resulted in significant success despite all the good intentions and ideas contained within them, and the hard work which went into producing them.

A part of the answer lies in the fact that political appointments change frequently; this provides incumbents with insufficient time to implement such plans within their, and occurs

at both the Federal and state level. Secondly there is often no continuity between the vision as developed by one Minister and that of the next. In the time available, the ownership of such a vision has not really taken root outside of the Federal or State Ministries of Education in which they were developed, and usually stops through a lack of political will. It is worth noting however that for the first time, the current Minister of Education picked up the plans of the previous Minister and has continued to build on these.

More significantly however, the vision does not succeed because it is only a first step, and necessary next steps to implement the vision rarely take place.

Also, there is often a disconnect between Federal and State Ministries of Education; this is reflected in the Federal Government’s inability to persuade states to comply with federal policies. States regularly produce their own plans which tend to fail for similar reasons.

In particular most plans, whether at federal or state level, are not properly linked to budgets, or indeed to reform of other systems required to deliver such plans. These are truly difficult things to change and require a great deal of political will and leadership at the highest levels to accomplish.

2. Reform financial processes In the 6 states currently working in partnership with DFID’s ESSPIN project, serious attempts have been made to produce not only an overall vision for education and a strategic plan but the next step has been taken to produce detailed annual operational plans, which are accurately costed and feed into the annual budget process. However, while the first part of this process has been reasonably successful, carrying out the necessary financial reforms is proving highly problematic. Current budgeting systems are linked to departments rather than activity, and are incremental in nature. They are also prone to last minute political decisions and even when the budgets have been agreed, the release of funds is often so late in the year that it is too late to carry out many activities. Large proportions of such budgets are of course allocated to recurrent spending such as salaries; as such the funds available to spend on other important aspects are therefore limited.



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Changing this style of budgeting to reflect a set of prioritised activities, and making financial systems work to release funds when needed is extremely difficult because in principle this would require a change in the process across other sectors, not just in education. In states such as Kwara and Jigawa, some progress has been made by mapping funds to activity within the existing system, but in other states this problem has been intractable. What is clear is that, if there is to be real progress, this is a problem that is absolutely essential to solve.

3. Increase School Funding and Resourcing A part of any reform of financial systems should be a consideration of where funds are allocated and spent. In Nigeria, the funding mechanisms are very centralised so that school and communities have very little say over how funds are allocated or spent on them, if at all. There is a strong argument to be made for a much greater devolution of funding to lower levels, i.e. that schools/communities are given more direct funding and are given responsibility for at least a proportion of their own spending. Clearly, accountability is a consideration in such a devolved system but the evidence suggests that not only is there a greater level of transparency (because communities know what they are entitled to), but schools themselves achieve much better value for money when they control their spending. This was certainly the case in the World Bank SESP, in which schools were given grants to spend on themselves and in which there were many examples of things costing less because of community involvement.

4. Create better governance structures

Government agencies responsible for education need to make governance functions more transparent, accessible, efficient and effective. Over and above this, decision making should be decentralised to lower levels or indeed devolved outside of government systems to schools and local communities. There is indeed evidence from many places, not least in Nigeria itself, that when communities become involved in the governance of their local schools, the levels of accountability increase, and this eventually leads to better educational outcomes. In Nigeria, School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) have been created by

dictate across the country, but in many states, these are not yet functional bodies. In a number of states however, their role has been developed in greater detail and there are anecdotal signs that this is bringing some positive improvements, albeit it will be many years before hard evidence as to their efficacy can be produced and as already indicated, this is only one of many factors that is required to contribute to the overall gains in performance across the system.

Even those SBMCs which have been set up and are working reasonably well, have very limited governance powers. They are expected to monitor and approve the school budget, and some at least are active in community monitoring and helping schools to carry out self-assessment. However school budgets are insignificant amounts so the opportunity to initiate real improvements are limited. Furthermore, SBMCs as yet, have no role to play in the recruitment of either the head teacher or teachers. Given that these staff are the main determinants of a schools success, and that existing recruitment and deployment systems are clearly failing, this greater level of community governance might well be a consideration for the future.

5. Improve the Management of Schools Closely linked to the issue of school governance is the management of schools, and in particular, the capacity, selection and training of head teachers. All available research on school performance indicates that the head teacher is the key figure in this. At the moment the procedures for selecting head teachers in Nigeria are inconsistent, not based upon merit and do not involve communities (through SBMCs) in the selection process. The rewards for being a head teacher are relatively small compared with elsewhere. Typically in UK a head teacher might expect to earn 3 to 5 times the salary of a beginning teacher, whereas in Nigeria it is barely twice the salary, and most of this is due to increases given through years of service, rather than for being given additional responsibility based upon good performance. New head teachers are not given any special training, need no additional qualification nor are they well prepared for their new roles. Once in post the performance of their school is not monitored nor by implication is their own performance evaluated, so that it is rare for them to be removed from post if they do not do the job



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well. Since they in turn have little say over the posting of teachers to their school, have few powers to discipline poor teachers, and have few resources to actually manage, it would be difficult to measure and make valid judgment on their performance in any case.

Clearly the solutions to this problem lie first of all in better selection and training processes for head teachers. However, closely aligned to this, and to allow them to manage their school properly, there also needs to be a proper devolution of decision making to head teachers, greater accountability by them to their communities, more control over resources, and increased incentives to become a successful head teacher.

6. Better Teacher Training In Nigeria there are federal as well as state funded Colleges of Education, all of which are supposed to produce teachers for the primary and junior secondary level. They do not. Their curricula are not aligned to the primary curriculum, they carry out very little pedagogical training, and few if any of their lecturers themselves have experience at teaching at the primary or junior secondary level. Up to 70% of the graduates of some CoEs never enter the teaching profession. Recently the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) has introduced measures to try to deal with this problem, including a revised and more relevant curriculum framework for CoEs, a set of minimum standards for teachers, and a system of quality assurance. However this on its own is an enormous reform task. Not only does it require staff of CoEs to train students in content with which they are themselves unfamiliar, it also requires that colleges themselves undergo a major restructuring exercise to match their departments and staff to the new curriculum areas. Given that there are more than 100 such colleges this is likely to take considerable finance and several years to achieve, if impetus is not lost in the meantime.

Beyond this, as demonstrated by the Teacher proficiency tests carried out in the 6 ESSPIN states, practicing teachers already in the profession are in serious need of remedial retraining, and this has not even been contemplated as yet. Indeed it is unlikely that the funds or capacity to carry out such a vast exercise meaningfully would ever be available and the most likely solution would

be one of local support from LGEAs and self-support groups within schools. Better management of teachers’ performance and more materials which give direct guidance are likely to pay even better dividends.

7. Improved Teacher Deployment and Employment While many states have pupil:teacher ratios which are in principle quite reasonable, this masks an enormous amount of variation from school to school and from rural to urban areas. In some schools, classes can be as small as 5 or 6 pupils, whereas in others they can be up to 200. Nor are the teaching staff well matched to school needs or the curriculum, so that teachers are often teaching in areas where they themselves are weak, or refuse to teach what they perceive to be outside their subject. With 13 subjects on the primary curriculum and some primary schools which have grown to enormous proportions - one school in Kano for example, has more than 11,000 students; this presents a considerable logistical problem, and results in great inefficiencies. Even more importantly, such large institutions cannot possibly create a conducive atmosphere in which young children can learn and develop as individuals. The solution to this is a complete rethink of the way in which teachers are employed and deployed and for schools (i.e. communities and head teachers) to be given much more say in such matters.

Beyond this however, there is a problem in the structure of the teaching profession in that promotion and incentives are not linked either to performance or responsibility. In practice however, in Nigeria, throughout their careers, teachers work through a set of employment grades. The progression from one grade to the next is not based strongly upon their performance and most often their head teachers have no involvement with the decision. The process is almost automatic but in any case carries very little additional reward. Neither do these grades appear to be directly linked to roles and responsibilities within the school so that a promotion is not linked to a specific role. There is a need for restructuring of teachers career paths to link promotion and incentives much more strongly to performance. The irony is that in recent years, teachers have been given substantial salary increases, but the opportunity to link these to performance and responsibility has not been taken.



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8. Political Will

Unless those with power want to improve matters, nothing will change. Therefore, education reform has to be a political priority. Technical system improvements are necessary, but not sufficient to bring about improvements. Some of the proposed steps included in this list require significant political will; reforming teachers career structures for instance. The current political legitimization of incentives do not favour providing service improvements. What is needed is an adjustment to the balance of political advantage.

9. Accountability at all levels

To counteract the lack of accountability in the system, there is a need to provide information, stimulate debate and raise public expectations for better quality services. There is currently surprisingly little informed academic or press debate on education and little pressure from private sector employers for raising educational standards. There are two ways to create greater transparency. Ex ante transparency aims to inform stakeholders in advance that specific funds or resources are to be applied – e.g. school budgets should be allocated and made public. Ex post transparency provides information after expenditure and is aimed at empowering stakeholders to confirm that their entitlements were met – e.g. publication of school accounts.

Schools themselves also need to be accountable for their performance but this can only come as a counterweight to increased devolution of decision making and funding. i.e. more the authority schools are given over their own resources the more accountable they should become.

10. Partnerships with Non-government providers

All of the above concerns the public education system, and how this can be significantly reformed and improved to deliver a much better service to Nigeria’s children. It should be noted however that several parallel systems of education service delivery have grown up in Nigeria. In Lagos for instance several estimates put the number of children in low fee paying private schools at up to 70%, and growing. These schools are often in a worse physical condition than public schools, use untrained teachers and also have few resources. While there is as yet no clear evidence that they produce better results than public schools, they certainly do no worse, and many parents clearly see them as offering something worth paying for. There are signs that this pattern is repeating itself throughout the country, and more and more children are attending such schools. Additionally there are many Quranic schools in the northern states of Nigeria which do not rely on state funding but are also now beginning to offer secular education, encouraged by state ministries, as well as their Quranic education.

In the absence of a much better state provision of education, this non-governmental provision is likely to continue to grow even without active support or intervention from government. However, there is an argument that government could actively encourage the growth of this sector alongside of its own provision. Such a partnership might involve government support and funding, in return for a willingness to meet basic standards and/or to offer places to the poorest children. One advantage of such an initiative is that the government is no longer the service provider for education, but it still provides investment and through this can demand accountability.

A conceptual framework for promoting transparency and tackling corruption in Nigeria’s public education system Wale Samuel


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4: A conceptual framework for promoting transparency and tackling

corruption in Nigeria’s public education system Wale Samuel

About the author Wale Samuel is a World Bank Consultant and the former Policy Advisor at the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All. This article adapted from a paper he submitted at the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit, convened by His Excellency Ambassador Dozie Nwanna OON

The impact of corruption on social service delivery has been widely covered in literature, particularly in the context of the African political system. Corruption places huge burdens on the poor and limits their access to social services like good quality education.

The Drafting Committee of the World Education Forum has noted that "corruption is a major drain on the effective use of resources for education and should therefore be curbed’.

According to the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption; ‘corruption threatens the rule of law, democracy and human rights, undermines good governance, fairness and social justice, distorts competition, hinders economic development and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral foundations of society’. In the Nigerian context, corruption is a huge threat to the fundamental right to free compulsory quality education.

Impact of Poor Resource Management in the Nigerian Education Sector No serious public sector reform with the objective of improving governance can be effective if it does not start with education.

This is vitally important in Nigeria’s context as the Goodluck administration fast approaches the 2015 elections and four years of the government’s Transformation Agenda.

In spite of the importance of education and the significant resources, both human and financial that goes into it, the evidence on ground in Nigeria reveals that scant attention has been given to the issue of corruption.

In Nigeria, poor funding and resource mobilisation, and corruption consistently lead to unpaid teacher salaries, degradation of education facilities at all levels and strikes in universities and schools. The end result is poor quality, declining literacy rates and the increasing levels of interest in education, particularly among Nigeria’s poor.

According to the Nigeria’s 2005 Millennium Development Goals Report, literacy levels in Nigeria have steadily and gradually deteriorated, especially within the 15-24 years demographic, a poor indicator of the prospects for the next generation. By 1999, the overall literacy rate had declined to 64.1 % from 71.9 % in 1991. This downward trend was experienced by both males and females aged 15-24. Among males, the rate declined from 81.35 % in 1991 to 69.8 % in 1999. For females the decline was from 62.49 % to 59.3 % during the same period.



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Attempts by President Obasanjo’s administration to address the situation led to the launch of the Universal Basic Education Programme (UBE) in 1999, in a bold step to increase much needed investment in the education sector and to provide free and compulsory quality basic education for every Nigerian child. The UBE Programme was enacted as law through the UBE Act (2004) and legislates for the provision of funding from block grants in Federal allocations, which are intended to match contributions to state financing of primary education of not less than 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund from the Federal Government. States are expected to contribute not less than 50% of total cost of projects as matching funds to qualify for UBE grants.

Despite the significant budget allocations by the Federal Government to support the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with an estimated 8 - 9 million out of school, access to basic quality education continues to elude millions of Nigerian children. Perhaps an even greater challenge is that the learning achievement of those fortunate enough to be in school remains abysmally low. This in turn reduces the relevance and perceived value of time spent schooling, particular amongst Nigeria’s poor, who would rather have their children help with household chores, or help augment their meager incomes.

Outright embezzlements, contract inflation and diversion of funds, especially at the state government level continue to reduce the social return from Nigeria’s education funding.

The rot stems right from the very top of the political class. For example, in 2008, six states misappropriated NGN 4b (£16m) Universal Basic Education (UBE) funds which was part of the NGN 54.78b (£219.12m) allocation representing two per cent of the consolidated revenue fund given to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) by the Federal Government in 2005 and 2006.

Despite this gross violation, no one has been held accountable and no proper attention has been given to address the problem of effective utilization of resources in the sector. It is therefore a matter of immense urgency to embrace greater levels of accountability and transparency in the management of

resources in Nigeria’s public education system.

Promoting Transparency & Accountability Transparency has been defined by Hallak and Poisson (2007) as ‘the extent to which stakeholders - Head Teachers, School Management Committees, pupils and communities, can understand the basis on which educational resources (financial, material and human resources) are allocated to their individual establishment and how these are used.’

It follows that the concept of transparency in resource allocation can be evaluated on the basis of, visibility, predictability and understandability of resource flows within the system. As such, if we are to promote transparency and tackle corruption in Nigeria’s education system, state and federal government agencies responsible for education will need to be persuaded to ensure the timely availability of funding data, timely disbursement of allocations, and clear lines of accountability. They also need to be persuaded to prioritize the need to keep stakeholders engaged and informed, as well as the need for a competent trained civil society.

Accountability goes hand in hand with transparency. It is therefore important to ensure there are clear guidelines on areas of responsibility, and clear consequences, which once established, are indiscriminately enforced for fraud, poor performance and other breaches of trust.

Practically speaking, delivery-minded state and federal education authorities in Nigeria should start with the following steps:

1. Ensure and enforce compliance with the Public Procurement Act (2007): This was designed to stamp out corruption by creating a transparent, competitive process that mitigates the negative effects of cronyism and nepotism, which result in corruption, waste and low social return on education funding.

2. Fund and build the capacity of nascent School Based Management Committees (SBMCs), which enable the community to support Head Teachers in school management and planning.

3. Involve the community in school management via SBMCs, while actively



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building their capacities to hold service providers accountable.

4. Create a level playing ground for Civil Society engagement in education delivery through the implementation of the Public Procurement Act (2007) in the education sector.

5. Government agencies should seriously consider financing civil society action aimed at facilitating inclusive community participation and feedback to further enhance community ownership.

6. Establish and institutionalise Civil Society driven Community Accountability and Transparency Initiatives that will monitor resource allocation, disbursement and utilisation at the local government and school levels.

7. Improve downward and upward accountability in the utilization of education intervention funds in community schools thereby enhancing infrastructural development at the local level.

8. Use media campaign and other grass root initiatives, which could include successful high profile prosecutions to increase state and national level awareness of the dangers of mismanagement of public funds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection, 2009. International Council on Human right Policy

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2005), Nigeria Millennium Development Goals 2005 Report. Abuja, The National Planning Commission

Hallak and Poisson (2006) ’Governance in education:transparency and accountability .UNESCO publishing

Hallak and Poisson (2007) ‘corrupt schools, corrupt universities: What can be done? UNESCO Publishing.

Issues in Public Procurement in Nigeria, the legislative challenge (2007).CISLAC

Nigeria National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy. Abuja, National Planning Commission. P. 34

Obanya 2006, ‘Upstream and Downstream considerations in enhancing education service delivery’.

Towards Implementation of Community Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATI), CSACEFA 2006

What can public schools learn from private schools to improve learning outcomes in Nigeria? Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, PhD


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5: What can public schools learn from private schools

to improve learning outcomes in Nigeria? Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, PhD

About the author Dr Modupe Adefeso-Olateju is the CEO of The Education Partnership Centre (TEP Centre), and a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

Non-state provision of education in Nigeria has grown exponentially in the last two decades; with conservative estimates suggesting that over 15% of the school-going population is served by the non-state sector.

In Lagos State, this figure is dramatically higher with over 70% of enrolment share going to the private sector. The data shows that there is a small but significant learning advantage to attending private schools.

Below is a diagram of Saunders eight domains of school effectiveness. By conducting interviews with both public and private school teachers, it was found that private schools were perceived to perform better than public schools in all eight domains. This article reports the findings and presents the key lessons public schools can learn from private schools in Nigeria.

Figure 5.1: Domains of School effectiveness

Source: (Saunders, 2000: 4)

1. Physical environment: The location of a school and its infrastructural and resource composition can either facilitate or impede learning. It was found that resource provision and infrastructural development were more adequate in private schools than in public schools. Library facilities were also found to be severely lacking in public schools as compared with private schools.



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2. Curriculum assessment: The curriculum, is a nationally established range of academic objectives that guides the process of teaching such that the location of each child within a learning continuum is mapped. In Nigeria, teacher competence in assessing the curriculum is deemed low. In a recent study, it was found that only 30% of teachers had received in-service training on assessment whilst only 56% had received training on how to carry out formative assessment during their pre-service training.

However, private schools often teach beyond the set curriculum, with many private school teachers finding the national curriculum unchallenging. It thus emerged from the data, that private school teachers have both the ‘agency’ and motivation to set higher curriculum goals.

3. Teacher Supply, Training & professional development:

The role of the teacher as a facilitator of the learning process is key. Being taught by competent and motivated teachers for a continuous number of years can make up for pupils’ socioeconomic disadvantages.

The general acknowledgement was that teachers in public schools have academic qualifications that often surpass those of private school teachers. However, the much larger class sizes in public schools were perceived to reduce the effectiveness of these better qualified public school teachers.

Both private and public schools suffer from teacher inadequacy, with a shortage in subject-specific teachers. For example, teachers who specialised in Maths could also be called upon to teach the sciences due to a shortage in staff. However, in private schools, there was often collaboration between teachers to make up for individual inadequacies whereas in public schools, as

one teacher explained, ‘most of us don’t want our colleagues to know our weaknesses so we rather skip [the topic].’

4. School Leadership, Internal Organisation & Culture: Leadership is a critical component in the structure of any organisation. The importance of school leadership to the establishment and maintenance of both climate and critical school-level functions has been established both in developed and developing country contexts.

Concerning the autonomy of public school leaders to discipline teachers, it appeared that head teachers were powerless to effecting change due to institutional bureaucracy. This was not the case in private schools. The following claim was made1:

‘In government school they will think that okay let me just come and go, and at the end of the month I will have my salary, but in a private school the owner of the school will monitor the teachers and they will work for every penny.’

5. The wellbeing, attendance, and motivation of all pupils:

This is a critical component of school effectiveness because learners are the central focus of the educational process. One of the findings was that there are significant distinctions in the wellbeing and motivation of pupils depending on whom they live with. Living with guardians, was perceived to have an adverse effect on a child, as he or she would be forced to run errands at home instead of focusing on schoolwork. For children that live with biological parents, distinctions were made between educated and uneducated parents. The general perception was that better educated parents create enhanced learning opportunities for their children.

The impressions and expectations that teachers have of their pupils were also explored. Public school pupils were typically referred to in negative terms such as ‘wretched’, ‘miscreants’, ‘thugs’, ‘from bad homes’, and ‘don’t value education’. Private school pupils on the other hand were serially

1 It is probable that teacher perceptions of head teacher agency are not wholly accurate; however the fact that teachers hold these views is indicative of challenges pertaining to accountability in the system



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regarded in positive light and described with terms such as ‘serious’, ‘respectful’, ‘children from good homes’, ‘children that value education’, and ‘of high intelligence’.

It was found that the culturally based gendered stereotyping was prevalent amongst public school teachers. For example, public school teachers perceived girls as having superior ability in English, whilst boys were constructed as possessing low ability in the subject. Interestingly, although public and private schools in our sample operate within the same sociocultural context, private school staff did not gender-stereotype pupils; highlighting a more equitable approach and equal levels of expectation of both genders. The implication of the perpetuation of gendered constructs in public schools is that pupils may develop negative attitudes towards the subject for which there is low expectation of them.

6. Partnerships between parents and community: It was found that in private schools, parental input in school level decision-making is highly valued. Parents are involved not only in aspects of school governance, but also in shaping curricular and extra-curricular activities. Discussions with public school staff however revealed condescending perceptions towards parents; attitudes which appeared to be based on a mental construct that due to socioeconomic disadvantage, public school parents were unmotivated, uncaring and uninterested in their children’s progress.

7. Accountability mechanisms and processes: The data suggests that private schools in Nigeria possess the ability to respond more effectively to the needs and demands of families whilst public schools, due to their centrally funded bureaucracy, have limited ability to institute initiatives that directly promote learning.

8. Quality assurance: This emphasizes the need to maintain requisite or stipulated levels of quality in the school system. In the public school system, internal and external quality assessment systems are virtually non-existent, with a public school teacher admitting that her school had not been inspected in almost a

year. Within the private sector as well, there was a severe lack of external quality assurance mechanisms, with private schools rarely being inspected or quality assured. However, parallel internal processes were reported to be in place in private schools, with lines of responsibility shared by the heads of departments and principals.

Lessons from the private sector

• Private schools on average feature more manageable class sizes and better access to instructional materials.

• Formative assessments appear to be integrated with the curriculum, such that learner progress can be mapped and supported over time.

• School leaders possess a high level of autonomy and are able to leverage to facilitate teacher accountability and school-level innovation.

• Direct accountability to families results in responsiveness to the learner needs and preferences, and parents who feel like valued stakeholders in the teaching and learning process.

• Like the public sector, private schools sometimes face severe shortages in teacher supply. Nevertheless, there is a prevalent attitude in the private sector which prioritises learner needs and ensures that subjects are not left untaught. In the face of weak State quality assurance systems, private schools ensure that minimum standards of quality in teaching and learning are delivered.

• The culture of teacher collaboration and peer support observable in the private sector is worth emulating.

Thus an effective way of improving the quality of public schools is by drawing lessons from the best practices of private schools. However, within the public sector, the decision to embark on school improvement efforts through learning from effective practices of the private sector is largely dependent on the will to initiate and sustain reform at sector level, the commitment of teachers to improving learning outcomes, and the involvement and support of other key stakeholders such as parents.

A roadmap for Education Transformation in Nigeria Bunmi Lawson


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6: A roadmap for Education Transformation in Nigeria Bunmi Lawson

About the author This document is the combined effort of Nigerian youths and senior professionals working in various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Contributors include The Future Project, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, Do More for Nigeria

Learner outcomes from Nigeria’s education system are at an all-time low; and without intervention, they present a ticking time bomb that could seriously impede the development of Africa’s most populous country.

In 2009, only 1 in 4 Nigerians obtained a credit pass (50% or better) in Mathematics and English Language from the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) examinations, while 98 in every 100 who sat for the 2009 November/December National Examinations Council (NECO) exams failed to clinch the minimum five credits (including English Language and Mathematics) necessary to achieve a pass.

Things are no better at the primary level. At 30%, the national mean scores from Nigeria’s primary schools were ranked lowest in an international study of learning achievements across 22 countries in Africa commissioned by the World Bank.

Causal factors This disastrous decline in Nigeria’s education system was not achieved overnight; and has been triggered and sustained by the following reasons, which are generally well understood:

a. Financial mismanagement, corruption and bureaucratic complexity.

b. Constitutional complexity which results in multiple agencies with overlapping responsibilities, finger pointing and little or no accountability.

c. Poor curriculum, teaching methods and poverty have led many parents and learners to question the relevance of education in Nigeria as it is delivered today.

d. The quality and motivation of teachers, and teaching is abysmal.

e. Poor and inadequate infrastructure and learning resources

f. Warped values have introduced corruption to the classroom.

g. The influence of politics and policy instability has been damaging to education.

Nigerian graduates are unemployable The next generation is largely illiterate and under-skilled. According to a previous Central Bank Governor, “71 per cent of Nigerian graduates like bad cherries won’t be picked by any employer because they are not fit for anything even if they were the only ones that put themselves forward for an employment test”.



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Where are the leaders, managers, engineers, doctors, craftsmen and artisans of the future? Who is going to be working when this generation is old? Concrete efforts and solutions are required. It is not simply a matter of awarding multi-million Naira contracts for providing furniture, a perfunctory increase in budget, education summits without new ideas and formats, or superficial competitions.

There has to be a comprehensive strategy that engages the problem from its many different angles and the strategy has to be sustained. Above all else, it has to be outcome-oriented. Below are some solutions to address this state of emergency in education.

Possible Solutions The role of Teachers is at the heart of a good education system. The most important interaction in any educational system is what goes on in the classroom between the teacher and the learner. Therefore, any solutions must be geared towards enhancing this interaction.

The Mckinsey & Co. 2007 Report on The World’s Best Performing School Systems highlights three key solutions that can drastically improve a country’s educational system, two of which focus on Teachers:

1. We must get the right people to become Teachers: As an educational system cannot rise above the level of its teachers, we must recruit from the best graduates people who also possess strong motivational and communication skills.

2. We must continuously develop Teachers to become effective instructors through rigorous professional development.

3. We must put in place mechanisms to ensure that schools deliver high quality instruction to every learner. The system must be held accountable and rigorously tested and measured.

Therefore, any solutions must focus primarily on Teaching and Accountability. The following are required in order to achieve this

A credible living wage must be instituted for teachers.

Teachers should earn enough to live on and should be paid on time. State governments must be held accountable for this.

• Ongoing teacher training must be institutionalised.

Practically speaking,

1. The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria should be restructured into an institute capable of re-training and administering accreditation examinations (much like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria).

2. All teachers in Nigeria must go through specified Continuous Professional Development (CPD) each year to be re-accredited as teachers.

3. An emergency plan must be put into place to attract volunteer teachers and retain existing ones.

4. A Teachers Volunteer Programme must be set up to attract individuals who wish to give up a few months to go into schools to teach. A fund should be set up to defray the administrative and logistical expenses.

5. The National Youth Service Corps should be repurposed for 3-5 years to focus on education. Corpers should sign up to teach and the 3-week orientation programme should no longer be used for frog jumps and endurance treks. Instead, corpers should be taken through teacher training modules in priority subject areas.

6. A competition should be held to identify teachers who are well regarded and voted effective by students in public secondary schools. These teachers should become national role models, be co-opted to train other teachers (in a restructured Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria) and should be rewarded.

7. A national award should be given to volunteer teachers who sign up for an appreciable amount of time as well as existing role model teachers. The award should be endorsed by and could include dinner with the President.

8. Financial mismanagement in education should be stopped. The States are responsible for funding basic and secondary education as well as their state owned tertiary institutions. They receive funding from the Federal Government as well as internally generated funds. A system must be put in place to ensure that the monies generated go towards school infrastructure, and teachers’ pay.



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9. Therefore, there should be an independent poll on teachers’ pay and the production of photographic evidence of school infrastructure in each state on an annual basis. The Federal Ministry’s Operation Reach All Secondary Schools (ORASS) was a good initiative in this area. It should be continued and extended to primary and tertiary institutions.

10. Funding policy must also be streamlined to provide greater levels of transparency, clarity and accountability of financial flows.

11. A League Table of exam success rates in WAEC & NECO should be published annually. The Table should show the results for each State and each school (public & private). In doing so, the public will be informed of how each school is faring and whether public taxes are simply going down the drain or being effective. This serves the twin purpose of transparency and keeping these schools and their authorities on their toes. The League Table should show how much each State receives from the Federal Government vis-a-vis the number of students they cater to and the students’ success rate. That way, Nigerians will know the spend-per-child and how effective the spend-per-child is. The table may be published in conjunction with WAEC, NECO and an independent Audit Firm. Schools must be held accountable for students’ results.

12. Parents should be free to choose a desired school based on the school’s performance on the published “League Table”. Schools will then receive the bulk of their funding from the government based on the number of students that willingly enrol in the schools.

13. Parents may also be given a tax credit if they choose to send their kids to public primary or secondary schools.

14. In 5 years, non-performing/non-competitive schools on the League Table should be penalised.

15. Schools must also be properly licensed and monitored to ensure high standards. Monitoring must be above-board, independent, thorough and devoid of corrupt practices.

16. Education should be made an election issue & priority for the next administration. The electorate should reject any candidate (or political party) that does not make education a critical part of their manifesto. Education must be brought to the forefront of any electoral debate.

17. Complementary institutions to Universities must be promoted to meet the excess demand for tertiary education. In 2004, it was reported that Nigerian Universities could only cater to 15% of those who applied. Today, it is reported that Nigeria’s public Universities can cater to 65% of applicants, notwithstanding that in some cases a class designed for 40 students accommodates 400.

18. In view of this low carrying capacity, we advocate that the Vocational Enterprise Institutes (VEIs) & Innovative Enterprise Institutes (IEIs) initiatives as set up by the Federal Ministry of Education should be promoted as credible alternatives to Universities. VEIs and IEIs provide certificates in specialised vocational and technical fields.

19. Champions must be identified and promoted to raise the interest in and brand profile of these certificates, thereby driving up enrolment. Examples of potential champions include Downtown Beauty Academy (an existing VEI) and the accreditation of the Lady Mechanic Workshop as an IEI.

We do acknowledge that many credible solutions have already been prescribed for revamping Nigeria’s educational sector and we respect the efforts of those who have gone before us. However, we must question why the solutions are not being implemented or proving effective, in the belief that questions raise solutions.

Improving Nigeria’s Education System – The role of individuals and NGOs Dr Moses Adi


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7: Improving Nigeria’s Education System – The role of individuals and

NGOs Dr Moses Adi

About the author Dr Moses Adi is the President of the Divine Seed Academy, and an independent Security Consultant. This report is adapted from the full paper presented at the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit.

Until recently, government has largely been responsible for the provision of education in Nigeria, with very minimal involvement of the private sector.

Public funding of education includes direct government expenditures for teacher’s salaries, classrooms and instructional materials, as well indirect expenditures in the form of subsidies to households such as tax reductions, scholarships, loans and grants. It also includes payments from the Education Trust Fund (ETF), which exists mainly for capital expenditures. Yet public funding for education has not kept pace with the rise in demand, and this we must accept is at the core of the systemic degradation of Nigeria’s education system. This is not news.

The decline of Nigeria’s education system The decline of Nigeria’s education system can be traced to the era of military rule. Nigeria launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976, which enshrined in law the government’s obligation to provide Nigerian citizens with access to free compulsory primary level education. This failed due to lack of funds, which was largely attributable to corruption, political instability which resulted in policy flip flops and non-execution of stated commitments.

In 1999, following the end of over 30 years of military rule, President Olusegun Obasanjo launched another mass-oriented education program – the Universal Basic Education, and publicly stated during the launch of the program in Sokoto that the nation "cannot afford to fail this time around." Not long after that, however, the federal government reported that the falling standard of education in Nigeria at the time was caused by "acute shortage of qualified teachers at the primary school level."

As far back as 2001, it was reported that about 23 per cent of the over 400,000 teachers employed in the nation's primary schools did not possess the Teachers' Grade Two Certificate, even though the National Certificate of Education (NCE) was the minimum educational requirement to teach in primary schools (Ogbeifum and Olisa; The Vanguard Online, July 1, 2001).

Recently, a Nigerian, Adetoye Oremosu, won the 2010 United Nations citizens Award for a video that highlighted the gaps in Nigeria’s education system. His video focused on village schools. His key point was that Secondary school students were not necessarily better than the primary school pupils. Though they had passed through the primary school system,



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which is meant to prepare them with the key skills to cope with a broader range of subjects at the secondary level; secondary level students found it difficult to cope with the level of work as they had been inadequately prepared. Notwithstanding this, they manage to sail through the system by resorting to exam malpractices, and end up no better equipped than they were when they left primary school.

13 years into the re-emergence of democracy in Nigeria, the nation’s educational system is in a complete shambles. Teachers and university professors practically beg to be paid their meagre salaries, labour unrests are frequently prompted by non-payment of salaries. And there is the lack of investment in physical infrastructure, teacher training and instructional materials which undermine the conduciveness of the learning environment, and learner outcomes that cause many to challenge the relevance and value of education, especially amongst Nigeria’s poor.

Where did it all go wrong? The decline in Nigeria’s education system can be traced to the clear lack of sincere appreciation for the strategic importance that should be placed on education from the very top, which has trickled down and manifests in the rot we now see at every level of Nigeria’s education system.

The genesis of this travesty can be traced back to 1986 when universities were shut down by the military government for a year. This was closely followed by the ‘brain drain’ era when some of Nigeria’s best Professors left the country for greener pastures and ushered in an era of greed and indiscipline. The lecturers who remained began producing and selling hand outs to supplement their meagre incomes. These hand outs were not only sold at exorbitant rates; they were compulsory, and determined whether students would pass or fail. Hand outs have now been abolished, but lecturers have devised other ways to achieve the same objectives.

Soon, the practice of ‘certificates for sale’ became rampant. Students could get through university without ever having to prepare or sit for examinations, and emerge with a ‘good’ degree classification.

At the secondary school levels, the emergence of ‘miracle centres’ – where

candidates contribute to pay teachers and invigilators to coach them through the school leaving certificate exams taken at designated centres have demonstrated a graduation in the decay in the education system that completely undermines the entire system.

It is a sad state of affairs. The challenge is immense as the rot has infested every level and component of Nigeria’s education system, and is sadly, a reflection of society as a whole.

In effect, a child can get through Nigeria’s education system, achieve good grades and emerge with a ‘good’ degree without knowing any more than she knew at primary school.

As hopeless as the situation may seem, we must understand however, that the central challenge remains that of poverty, inadequate resources, poor management and utilisation of available resources, and a lack of sincere appreciation (and commitment) of the strategic importance of education in social and economic development by those saddled with the responsibility of shaping, funding and delivering public education in Nigeria. These are solvable problems.

Why is civil society involvement in education important? The resource challenges observed in Nigeria’s education will not be resolved by government alone:

It will take teachers, parents, private sector organisations working together with those responsible for Nigeria’s public education system to effect the changes that are critical to rebuilding Nigeria’s education system.

It will take more than well-intentioned criticism and political rhetoric to change the status quo.

Things have been bad for so long, with series after series of failed rescue



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initiatives that many well-intentioned public education administrators need to be ‘shown’ how they can leverage their positions and the resources within their control to effect the changes the system desperately needs.

It will take ‘model schools’ that are adequately resourced, efficiently run, that consistently deliver quality education which is accessible to Nigeria’s poor, to prove that it can be done.

That is why the founders of Living Seed Divine Academy, have built a model low fee private school that demonstrates excellence in all facets and at all levels.

It is about having a clear vision and demonstrating a commitment to use what you have to make a difference to as many young lives that available resources can support. Living Seeds Divine Academy currently provides affordable quality education to about 800 students in primary and junior secondary school. In years to come, they intend to build on this commendable start.

“For us, our commitment to affordable quality education starts from the recruitment of teachers, learning assistants and support workers, prompt payment of salaries, design of school curriculum and teaching methods, and provision of school infrastructure including classrooms,

vehicles, uniforms, teaching aids, laboratories, etc. In all we do, our goal is to prove that you can deliver the highest and best quality education at the lowest possible cost to learners, while being renowned for prompt payment of staff salaries.”

REFERENCES

Copenhagen Consensus. htm (2004). Copenhagen Consensus Challenge #4: Access to Education presented by: Great Danes.

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) National Policy on Education. Lagos: NERDC.

African Journal of Education and Developmental Studies. Vol. 6, No. 1, September, 2009

The Nation NewsPaper of 21 October 2010

Department for International Development (2005). Sustainable Development Approach Guidance Sheet 2.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (trans. by Betts). The Social Contract; Oxford University Press, 1994; p. 14; p. 80.

Decree 16 (1985). Education national minimum standards and establishment of institutions, Supplement q (official gazette extraordinary, 72 (13).

Aghenta, J.A. (2006). Human resource development and planning in Nigeria. Second faculty of education distinguished lecture series, University of Benin, Benin City

Bollag, Burton. Nigerian Universities Start to Recover From Years of Violence, Corruption, and Neglect, The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 1, 2002, A40-A42.

How individuals and NGOs can contribute to rebuilding Nigeria’s education system Dr David Ogbueli


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8: How individuals and NGOs can contribute to rebuilding Nigeria’s

education system Dr David Ogbueli

About the author Dr David Ogbueli is the President of the Golden Heart Foundation. This report is adapted from the full paper presented at the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit.

Quality education is part of every Nigerian’s constitutional and fundamental human rights.

Education improves the productivity of learners, and not only benefits the person being taught, but also society at large.

Researchers have found that schooling not only empowers individuals, but enables them to become more responsible citizens and make better informed decisions, including issues concerning their health, welfare and security. It also makes them more active participants in governance and in the democratic process. It therefore follows that an investment in education is not only an investment in human capital development, but also a worthy investment in the future of our society.

The root of the crises in Nigerian education Western-style education came with the Christian missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century. By the 1950s, Nigeria had developed a three-tiered system of primary, secondary, and higher education.

By 1960, the time of political independence, Nigeria had gone through a decade of exceptional educational growth. In the North for instance, primary school enrolments went from 66,000 in 1947 to 206,000 in 1957. In the West, it grew from 240,000 to 983,000 and in the East from 320,000 to 1,209,000 in the same period.

Secondary level enrolments went from 10,000 for the country as a whole in 1947 to 36,000 in 1957 – with, of course, some regional variations.

It is remarkable to note that during this period, the graduates of these institutions were of very high quality, perhaps comparable to any anywhere in the world. This growth in quantity and quality continued until the early 1980s, when the collapse in oil prices led to the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which triggered sharp reductions in spending on education. And that was where our problems began.

From the 1980s till now, the situation has gone from bad to worse. According to the Nigeria Millennium Development Goals 2009 report,

Literacy levels in the country has steadily and gradually

deteriorated, especially within the 15-24 years group.

By 1999, the overall literacy rate had declined to 64.1

% from 71.9 % in 1991.



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The statistics also indicate glaring

imbalances against girls in enrolment,

attendance and completion rates in all

levels of education in Nigeria,

particularly in the northern parts of the

country, due to a variety of socio-

cultural inclinations.

Further Statistics show that:

Federal government expenditure on

education between 1997 and 2000 has

been below 10% of overall expenditure

as against the UNESCO recommendation

of 26% of national budgets. Note also

that the national expenditure on

education cannot be computed because

various states expenditure on education

cannot be determined.

In National Examination Council (NECO)

examinations, November/December

2009, only 1.8 per cent of the candidates

who sat for the examination passed with

five credits and above, including English

and Mathematics – the necessary

requirement for gaining admission into

university.

Joint Admission Matriculation Board

Exam (JAMB) 2010 recorded a 41%

Pass.

National Examination Council (NECO)

2010 recorded a 44.8% Pass

West African Examination Council

(WAEC) 2010 recorded a 20.04% Pass!

In 2009, there were 1,276,795 applicants

who sat for the JAMB UTME exams, but

all the universities in Nigeria put together

only have the capacity for 270,000

candidates.

A Federal Ministry of Education statistics

shows that 85% of Nigerian graduates

are unemployable, primarily because they

do not have the required skills, and are

therefore not globally competitive.

This is far from an exhaustive list, but makes

the point that despite all government is doing

to improve Nigeria’s education; governments

efforts alone will not bring the change we

seek.

Individuals and non-government

organisations can contribute to rebuilding

Nigeria’s education in the following ways:

1. By setting up skills acquisition centres

with a City & Guilds-type of certification.

2. Instituting a scholarship scheme for bright

and intelligent students across the

country.

3. Provide funding assistance to schools

through endowment funds and

sponsoring of chairs.

4. Development of alternative teaching

methods and curricula.

5. Volunteering to serve as temporary

teachers, guides and counselors in our

public schools.

6. Policy advocacy activities for greater and

more visionary government involvement.

7. Adopting various public schools and

providing the needed assistance (e.g

infrastructure, academic staff, reading

materials etc) for improved quality

education.

Golden Heart Foundation Case Study

The Golden Heart Foundation is a Non-

Governmental Organization (NGO) with a

unique mandate to raise young and dynamic

leaders that will be agents of National

Transformation.

We major on; value-reorientation, leadership

education, youth empowerment and

entrepreneurial development.

Our goal is to equip young people across the

country with the right value system,

leadership abilities, skills and social posture,

so they can put them to use in transforming

the Nation. We offer young people guidance,

mentorship and the enhancement of their

self-worth. The impact of these efforts

encourages us to scale up and reach out to

even more beneficiaries.



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We believe every Nigerian has an inherent

potential to do great things that will influence

Nigeria positively, hence Nigeria can

actualize the vision 20:2020 only when the

youths are empowered with knowledge, skills

and right values to take up their daily

challenges

In all we do, we seek to:

• Model the right leadership path for the

next generation

• Raise a new generation of value driven

leaders within our society

• Help Nigerian youths discover, develop

and deploy their gifting for personal and

societal benefit.

• Provide Leadership education: training

the Heart (character), Head (intellect)

and Hands (skills)

• Promote patriotism and national

integration

• Promote ‘grass root’ enlightenment and

development

The Golden Heart Foundation was

established on the understanding that a

nation is only as strong as its people and

their value system. We believe that the

greatest driver for National Transformation is

inculcating the spirit of patriotism, respect for

moral and ethical values in Nigerian youths

and that every Nigerian youth has what it

takes to make a difference in the society. The

challenge of change, in all the developed

Nations, has always been spearheaded by

the youth. With our current population of 150

million consisting of a 70% youth

composition, the youth are indeed the hope

of the New Nigeria.

But unfortunately, Over 70% of the recent

graduates in the urban areas are

unemployed and this has lead to the increase

in crime, kidnapping, illegal exploitation and

dehumanization. Most of these graduates

have the capacity to turn the course of the

nation around if equipped with the right

values, skills and an enabling environment

(due platforms).

Hence the Golden Heart Foundation is fully

committed to equipping the Nigerian youth

with the tools that will make for our rapid

societal transformation, engender tribal and

religious co-existence, and move us further

away from an unenviable pariah status we

inherited, to a Nigeria that is indeed the Heart

of Africa.

Our approach and strategy

GHF’s approach to nation building and

transformation is an all encompassing

approach through Training, Information,

Mentorship and Research.

We have an array of projects, professionally

designed to equip the youths in different

areas according to their passion or area of

interest. This would aid the exploration and

development of different spheres of society,

thereby promoting a diversified economy.

The projects focus on both personal and

national transformation in the different

spheres of the society.

Programmes & Projects

Project YOUTHLEAD: is committed to the

promotion and sustenance of integral and

holistic human development. YouthLEAD

which means Leadership, Employability,

Accountability and Development seeks to

arrest the slide by informing, educating

and empowering the youths of our great

nation. It will imbibe in our youths most

especially those in the tertiary institutions,

timeless values like the culture of hard

work, servant leadership,

entrepreneurship, employability and

excellence in service thereby restoring

lost values in our society.

DESTINY: Developing Entrepreneurial

Skills That Impact Nigerian Youths

(DESTINY). The vastness of Nigeria's

wealth is overwhelming, and it is

imperative to tap into the resources

available for exploitation. About two-thirds

(2/3) of Nigerian people are poor despite

living in a country with vast potential

wealth. With the abundant human and



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natural resources, if well harnessed,

Nigeria can be one of the leading States

in the world. The economy will only grow

when there are many informed and

empowered small and medium scale

entrepreneurs driving it. DESTINY thus

is aimed at training and empower many

aspiring young entrepreneurs within our

society to drive the economy of a

Transformed Nation by increasing the

number of value-based skillful and

patriotic youths.

Project Changemakers: Project

Changemakers is dedicated to ensuring

sustainable community transformation

and growth in Nigeria through the

effective utilization of available

indigenous human and material

resources. We believe strongly in the

strategic strength of the youths in

pioneering sustainable community

transformation and growth, that is why we

focus more on the youths as our core

transformation vehicles within

communities, without necessarily

neglecting other strata of community

populations. (with pictures of projects)

ONEYOUTH-ONESKILL: This project set

out to address unemployment and

underemployment early in a young

person’s life which often impair their

entrepreneurial and job prospects as

adults. Getting the right foothold in the

labour market either as a producer or

service provider is, therefore, critical not

only for “ personal success” but also has

a multiplier effect on the nations GDP.

The programme ”One Youth One Skill”

therefore seeks to further provide values

reorientation and skill acquisition

necessary to redress the present ethical,

nonproductive and values quagmire in

Nigeria, starting from the younger

generations.

RE-AWAKENING (WAEC CLINIC): The

consistent downward trend in

examination performance by students

has continuously generated concern

among stakeholders which has lead to

renewed call for a permanent solution to

this menace. However the recent

pronouncement by WAEC that “83% of

the total student population that sat for

the May/June 2008 WASSCE failed to

obtain the mandatory five credit passes

and above in five subjects” has brought

the gravity of the situation to fore.

RE-AWAKENING, thus is a Free CORE

SUBJECTS clinic designed in response

to the need for civil society to contribute

towards stakeholders efforts at averting

the disaster looming in the education

sector in regards to students

performance in their recent examinations

especially at the O’ levels. The general

objective of this initiative is to contribute

to academic excellence and improved

academic performance of WASSEC

/GCE students and by extension quality

of students being admitted to our tertiary

institutions.

Executive Leadership Programme: This

package is designed for leaders in

various institutions and systems

anchoring on Transformational

Leadership and Total Quality

Management.

National Youth Summit: This is an annual

event that attracts thousands of Nigerian

Youth from all states and regions of the

nation for the purpose of instilling in them

the National vision and modeling the right

leadership path that will lead to National

Transformation.

The program majors on vision casting,

providing positive direction to youths

while emphasizing on the fundamental

values and practice that ensures both

personal and national transformation.

The National youth summit is a one week

intensive training programme that is

targeted:

- At promoting behavioral change and

building the leadership Capacity of the

Nigerian Youth, enabling them the



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ability to contribute positively to the

current transformation of our nation.

- To address the current economic

trends and teach them the cardinal

principles of wealth creation, moving

them to aid in the building of the

nation’s business climate, from

ground floor up.

- To encourage the shunning of

anything determined to cut short our

productive years, like youth

restiveness, militancy, cultism, and

the scourge of HIV and AIDS,

amongst others.

- The 2010 summit played host to more

than 60,000 youth leaders drawn from

all the geo-political zones of Nigeria.

The Future

Our goal is to impact, equip, mentor, train

and fully mobilize 1.5 million Nigerian youth

by the year 2030, who will be deployed to the

various sectors of the Nigerian society to

provide the required leadership and become

agents of transformation.

We are currently training and mentoring

10,000 monthly in various training centres

across the country.

We believe in the future of our great

nation.

We believe Nigeria will be the pride of

Africa.

We believe that by the year 2030,

Nigeria will take her rightful place in

the community of Nations.

It can be done. It will be done. It’s already

being done.

The Finnish Education System – Lessons for Nigeria: Alero Ayida-Otobo


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9: The Finnish Education System – Lessons for Nigeria Alero Ayida-Otobo

About the author Alero Ayida-Otobo is the coordinator of the Education Reform Team and CEO Incubator Africa Limited, a development agency that partners with delivery-minded governments and agencies responsible for managing education and health systems to improve and transform schools and primary health centres by building their capacity to transform their operations and achieve measurable outcomes.

A dynamic group of 8 members of the Education Reform Team (ERT), set out from Nigeria and the United Kingdom in April 2012 on a 5-day learning journey to Finland. Some of whom returned two weeks later with representatives from Cross River State, a state at the fore-front of change in Nigeria. Two Learning Journeys to the same country in three weeks. Why? You may ask.

Well, ‘Finland Works!’ This is the title of an insightful book that captures the substance, spirit and character of the Finnish. Their education system works.

The book uses certain key words to describe the system – ‘equity’; ‘quality’; ‘efficiency’ and one of our favorites, ‘no dead-ends’. The educational system gives equal opportunity to every child and adult to develop their potential and become all they are capable of being.

The word ‘equity’ rings through the education plans for most countries. It is at the centre of the United Nations Global Campaign on “Education for All”; but it is in Finland that we have seen the true implementation of this vision and aspiration.

Every child regardless of place of birth – urban or rural, social status, race, creed or nationality – once you live in Finland, you have undeniable and unfettered access to quality education. This for us was a key takeaway; the implementation of education as a basic human right for all.

Learners are educated in their own time, according to their unique development potential. Children have the right to learn in the way that best appeals to their learning styles in a qualitative environment. We have discovered that it is this exceptional quality education that made Finland the number one in international comparisons.

The 5-Day Learning Journey is a learning experience with a difference. You feel the heart of the nation – their commitment to life-long learning, the professionalism and passion of the teachers; the excellent content of the curriculum; the unique delivery of guidance and counseling in schools; the excellent management of schools by school leadership, and the joy in the classroom of the children who thrive in a child-centred environment.

Bolaji Osime, CEO of Global International College and member of the Education Reform Team (ERT) aptly described what we saw as “an extraordinary and innovative educational system”. While Professor Owan-Enoh, a government official from Cross River State, observed that “Finland is the first country I have come across that has turned all the theories I have learnt into reality”.



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Another ERT member, Folasade Adefisayo, a director with Corona Schools in a profound and reflective manner said;

“for me, the Finnish experience was a paradigm-changing and epochal event in my life. I am not using hyperboles for the sake of using these words but I need to explain myself. Before I went to Finland, I was of the school that believed in testing and rewarding teachers according to the performance of their students. I have done a 360 degree turnaround. I still believe that testing is essential, but I believe that we should do more formative rather than summative (exams and end of period tests). Formative assessments would involve the quality of the teacher-student interaction made evident in the questions asked by both, reflection on learning and progress, team work and collaboration and a general belief in equity and the right of every child to receive a good education. I still believe that we really need to train and re-skill our teachers. The content of their training will now be key”.

Teacher Education So what did we learn about teacher education that was so impactful? In a nutshell, the emphasis in Finland is on creating the environment that enables learning to take place in the classroom; especially as it relates to empowering the teacher who is at the centre of children’s learning experience.

Coming from a country where teachers are not highly regarded or adequately motivated and rewarded, there are some very key qualities of the experience of teachers in Finland that immediately strike you as unique:

Firstly, the undeniable desire and passion for well qualified, intelligent people to be teachers. Teaching is the no 1 profession, rather than doctors, engineers or lawyers.

Secondly, the competition for places is stiff. A case in point is Jyvaskyla University; with over 2,800 applications for 80 places.

This is the complete reverse of Nigeria where several Colleges of Education do not have enough applications from interested students and many come into education as a last resort because they could not get onto any other university-level course.

In Finland, teachers have strong academic qualifications with the minimum qualification being a Masters degree (except at the Early Childhood level). The minimum qualification in Nigeria is the National Certificate of Education (NCE) which is lower than a first degree.

Finland has built world class teacher education programs, and teachers are reasonably well paid; but the real distinguishing factor “is that teachers in Finland are empowered to exercise their professional knowledge and judgment both widely and freely in their schools. They control curriculum, student assessment, school improvement, and community involvement”. Many are drawn to the profession by its “compelling societal mission and its condition of autonomy and support”i.

Another major learning point as observed by Olusola Adeola is the

“'Professionalization' of every career path and lifelong learning. We learned that every vocation and career has become a profession, from the cook in a restaurant, to the professor in a university. Every job has an education path. This speaks to close collaboration between the job market and the education system, which is also a reflection of the collaborative nature of the system”.

Imo Oyewole a HR Specialist, reflecting on her experience declared that,

“One of the highlights of the tour was visiting the 'World Skills Competition' where I saw a demonstration of excellence in action both on the part of the organizers and the participants and where the atmosphere was charged with the feeling of satisfaction! Students satisfied with their choices, and for having been well taught! Employers satisfied with the prospect of employable workers. And because theirs is a system of life-long learning, this satisfaction can only be temporary as improvements and upgrades must continue in every sphere and dimension”.

This is Vocational Education at its very best.

Another quality worth mentioning is what Olusola Adeola so eloquently described as “how the Finnish education system reflects the needs, culture and value system of the Finns. This is inspiring me



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to dream about what a Nigerian education system would look like. What are our strengths and values as Nigeria? How do we draw from our diversity, our history and our people? How do we design an education system, applying similar principles but reflecting a Nigerian education; one that would attract foreigners to Nigeria to understudy the Nigerian education system? This is one of our tasks as reformers”.

According to Imo Oyewole,

“the Finns decided 30 years ago to embark on a journey to reform their education sector with the child at the center of their vision, they committed to changing whatever was required to be changed (from laws, policies, methods to infrastructure), and now Finland has become the Jerusalem to which the world flocks in order to glean from their remarkable success story. Because of their selflessness, not seeking personal gains applaud or recognition, they were able to lay out long term plans and were satisfied with taking small but calculated steps towards the overall goal of developing an education system that serves the development needs of every Finnish child”.

Our dream for Nigeria as summarized by Toju Chike-Obi,

“is that the Education Reform Team can implement what we learned in Finland so that equitable access to quality education is guaranteed for every child”.

Abby Olufeyimi summarizes most beautifully our views on the Finnish Educational system.

“The system works for the Child... for it is child centered. This is a nation that values her children. The child is an individual and valued as one.

It works for the drop out, even those who are at the margin of society, and simply drop out of the system are followed up and encouraged to re-integrate because they have value. And because they have value, there is something they can still contribute and something to benefit from. The door is always open, they have access.

It works for the teacher; who from the moment she starts the application process to train to become a professional, is valued, and takes on the challenge of becoming a life-long learner.

It works because there are no DEAD ENDS. It works because government has made education its priority, and has devolved 'power' to the municipals, schools, teachers and students. Finland’s education system works because from working together trust has been built and so it works for all. It did not always work, and this transformation did not happen overnight. It was a 30 year journey of working, re-working and discovery.”

That is the uniqueness of the System described by Catherine Bickersteth as

“the beautiful tapestry of Finnish Education”.

The Every Nigerian Child Project: Olajumoke B. Bamigboye


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10: The Every Nigerian Child Project Olajumoke B. Bamigboye

About the author Olajumoke Bamigboye is the Managing Partner at Fibonacci Investment Consultants, CEO of Hěveneiress and a co-founder

of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

In January 2011, a small group of UK based professionals came together with a single vision; to create an effective and sustainable collaboration platform upon which various stakeholders can work to significantly improve Nigeria’s Education system over the next 10 years.

The journey began in December 2010, following the Joint Parliamentary Roundtable discussion convened by the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) on ‘Education for All’ and ‘Nigeria’, on “Expanding Civil Society Engagement in Nigeria’s Education Sector” in the British House of Commons attended by representatives of the Nigerian High Commission, TY Danjuma Foundation, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Results International, DFID, and the World Changers Foundation.

The acting Nigeria High Commissioner, His Excellency Ambassador Dozie Nwanna, challenged the Nigerian delegates from TY Danjuma, CSACEFA and the World Changers Foundation to work together to organize a summit to be hosted by the Nigerian High Commission to discuss and propose a roadmap for the development of Nigeria’s education system. Thus, the Future By Us Education summit was birthed.

In February 2011, under the umbrella of this vision, the 3-day Summit was convened by the Nigerian High Commission in London with the support of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education. The event brought together a wide range of expert researchers, practitioners, ministry officials, civil society and non-profit organisations and other key stakeholders in a process designed to produce a framework and roadmap for all those working to improve Nigeria’s education system over the next 10 years.

The Summit was constituted to achieve the following outcomes;

Firstly, to Identify and engage expert practitioners and researchers in a collaborative and consultative process to produce a robust framework for the sector.

Secondly, to highlight and collate existing best practices, new and existing initiatives and seek to increase the level of support and recognition necessary to scale up the impact of non-state actors in this space.

Thirdly, to create an environment in which education enthusiasts can gain practical knowledge useful for contributing to new and existing efforts to improve the sector.

Fourthly, to develop a pragmatic view of the role government can play in creating an enabling environment to enhance the impact of non-state actors.



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With over 160 participants from the UK and Nigeria, the summit highlighted 5 key areas of focus for the sector over the next decade.

These were to;

improve the quality of education;

increase access to education, especially for girls;

enhance the value and effectiveness of funds invested in the sector;

establish an independent monitoring and evaluation framework to report on completed projects and progress in the established roadmap.

lastly, to establish a policy advocacy group that will research and highlight best practices, offer workable solutions, and challenge state authorities to adopt and scale up these initiatives whilst adhering to their commitments.

Our Impact

Following the summit, a detailed interim summit report was submitted to the Presidential Taskforce Team on Education in 2011.

An inter-disciplinary team was established to develop the framework ahead of the 2012 summit to be held in Nigeria. This team included a Sponsors Board, Senior Advisory Board, Technical Panel, Implementation Partners & Programme Management team.

Some members of the Future By Us group were co-opted onto the Presidential Taskforce Team on Education (PTTE).

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, former Kwara State Commissioner for Education and Future By Us panelist at the 2011 Future By Us Summit was appointed Federal Minister for Youth Development.

On the back of the 2011 Future By Us summit, the Every Nigerian Child Project (ENCP) was established to take forward the recommendations from the summit.

Today, the Every Nigerian Child Project is a diaspora-led education policy advocacy group that blends the knowledge, skills, networks and capacity of people and organisations in Nigeria working to improve the quality and effectiveness of Nigeria’s education System, with the

knowledge, experience, resources and know-how of diaspora and international development partners.

The group exists to provide Monitoring & Evaluation, Policy Advocacy, Human & Organisation Capacity Building and Impact investment in the Nigerian education sector.

The core team includes Ms Akunna Amadi, Dr Debisi Araba, Mr Gori Olusina Daniel, Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya, Dr (Mrs) Modupe Adefeso-Olateju and Ms Olajumoke B. Bamigboye.

In October 2011, the Every Nigerian Child Project collaborated with Implementation partners and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to host the 2011 National Youth Summit in Abuja.

In February 2012, ENCP partnered with Golden Heart Foundation, RESULTS UK, CSACEFA, Chief Segun Odegbami and NASSCOM to lead a UK delegation of MPs to Nigeria to review the effectiveness of UK Aid in transforming Nigeria’s education sector.

The Parliamentary delegation to Nigeria was timed to coincide with the second 2-day Future By Us Education summit, chaired by Professor PAI Obanya, which generously supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and kindly hosted



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by National University Commission (NUC) Abuja.

The summit sought to consult more widely on the FBU Interim report submitted to the Presidential Taskforce Team on Education in 2011, showcase innovative projects that are positively impacting the lives and development of the next generation of Nigerians and formally launch the activities of the Every Nigerian Child Project in Nigeria.

The ENCP team worked with various international and local organisations including ESSPIN, Results UK, CSACEFA, Living Seed Academy, All Party Parliamentary Group, NASSCOM, Global Poverty Project and the Federal Ministries of Education and Youth Development amongst others.

Day 1 of the programme, a session attended by the delegation of UK MPs, covered various thematic areas including “the state of the Nigerian education system and what we can do about it”, “Government’s role in Education”, “Building the institutional capacity required to deliver quality education” amongst others. Here, academic and field research collated by various organisations and practitioners including DFID’s ESSPIN, CSACEFA amongst others, were presented.

Day 2 saw various non-profit and civil society organisations showcase their work through plenary session where best practices were also shared. The day

provided a platform for networking and soft drafting of avid participants into areas where their skills and expertise can be leveraged.

In 2013, the ENCP identified and mobilized support for the Slum 2 School project which is geared towards supporting the enrolment and ongoing support of children in the slums of Makoko who otherwise would not be able to attend school.

In March 2014 the ENCP was invited to contribute to the 20th Nigeria Economic Summit Group Session on Education, which also served as the platform for launching the inaugural edition of the Nigeria Education Policy Review.

Going Forward ENCP team remains committed to creating an influential platform that enhances the impact of the wide range of stakeholders committed to ensuring every Nigerian child goes to school and has access to good quality education that will enable them to make a positive contribution to society.

In 2014, in view of the upcoming elections this years Future By Us Summit will focus on establishing an accountability framework to capture and communicate the state of Nigeria’s education system, and the evidence required to inform interventions that can enable the wide range of actors to take appropriate action to drive the sector forward.

2012 Future By Us Education Summit: Conference Summary Report Chris Maiyaki


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2012 FUTURE BY US EDUCATION SUMMIT: Conference Summary

Report Chris Maiyaki

About the author Chris Maiyaki is the chief of staff to the Executive Secretary National University Commission. He was on the Honorable Minister’s delegation to the 2011 Future By Us Education Summit convened by His Excellency Ambassador Dozie Nwanna, the former (Acting) High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

The National Universities Commission (NUC) hosted the 2012 Future By Us Education Summit and the launch of the Every Nigerian Child Project in Nigeria with the theme “What is the State of Nigeria’s Education System and What Can We Do About It”, at the Idris Abdulkadir Auditorium, Abuja on the 16th & 17th February 2012.

In her opening address, the Honorable Minister of Education (HME), Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, OON, noted that the summit was convened as a platform to pull together some of the country’s most outstanding experts, thought leaders, investors and practitioners in the education sector as well as implementation partners, to review the current state of the nation’s education system, showcase and highlight the immense work done by non-state players, share best practices and create solutions around the already identified gaps and areas that require improvements, whilst charting an implementation framework for monitoring and evaluating interventions.

The Minister, represented by the Executive Secretary, NUC, Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON, asserted that the “Every Nigerian Child Project”, a Diaspora group of Nigerian professionals, had worked tirelessly to organize the summit, adding that their effort exemplified the passion that emerged from good Nigerians working to ensure that the country’s potentials were realized.

She said that education was pivotal and core to national development, stressing that all aspects of empowerment and capacity building initiated by the private sector and Civil Society were needed as they had a recognized and increasingly important role to play in developing a robust and effective education offering.

The Honorable Minister acknowledged the previous efforts of many groups and organizations to uplift the education sector that had not been recognized, saying however that there still existed significant work to be done. She submitted that non-state actors must be invited and empowered to play a greater role in the delivery of low cost and free education.

She highlighted the number of objectives and policy attainments that could be charged to such willing groups to include improving the quality of education offered through assisting with provision of learning resources and infrastructure, monitoring performance and creating learning support programmes; improving access and equity through policy advocacy, monitoring of state level access policy and implementation;

2012 Future By Us Education Summit: Conference Summary Report Chris Maiyaki


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and increasing the value and effectiveness of funds invested in education through advocacy for transparency and accountability in funds management, allocation and utilization.

Professor Rufa’i particularly called upon Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to ensure wider dissemination of information on performance, best practices and continuous improvement at the macro and micro levels. On the part of government, she said that education should be viewed not only as an economic necessity, but also as a political and moral obligation and to focus on rebuilding the public education system as according to her, it bridged the gulf between access to education that exists in different socioeconomic strata in Nigeria and ensured equitable access to knowledge that transcends class, gender and ethnic divides, thus enabling the highest number of people to attain their potentials. The Honorable Minister stated that the policies of the ministry were to continually ensure improvements with a clearly defined and communicated delineation of responsibilities at all levels of government, effective appropriation and management of, publication of data to ensure stakeholders monitoring and evaluations.

She appealed to stakeholders to work with a clear vision and goal, aim and forge united front in ensuring that the future of the next generation of Nigerians was secured and the development needs of the nation’s children and youths were catered for through the provision of internationally competitive standards of education.

In his own remarks, Professor Okojie expressed delight at the summit, saying that the education system at all levels in the country was lamentable and advised that stemming the tide would need responding to the situation more proactively. He suggested that cost-sharing should be explored as one of the alternatives towards arresting the situation for the future of education in Nigeria to be guaranteed.

In his speech, the Director of Policy, Planning, Research and Management (DPPRM), Federal Ministry of Education (FME), represented by Dr. (Mrs.) Lami Amodu, said that the forum was quite timely and supported the idea of effective education delivery in Nigeria as enunciated in the

Transformation Agenda of the present administration. She averred that FME had devised various strategies to address the challenges of the sector that included the Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector and the One-Year Strategy Plan that consolidated on the gains of the previous Roadmaps of the ministry.

She listed the major challenges of the sector to include poor quality of products, low enrolment, retention and transition, inadequate funding, amongst others, noting that it had necessitated the invitation of private organizations and individuals to partner in their various areas of competence in education delivery.

Professor Pai Obanya, the Chairman of the summit, in his welcome remarks, said that the import of the event was to brainstorm and articulate the sector’s challenges and proffer solutions to same. The Summit featured parallel break-out sessions and papers including those of Professor Obanya (Looking for Nigeria’s Abundant Human Resources); the Programme Manager of CSACEFA, Mr. Wale Samuel (A Presentation of the Nigerian Education Data Survey), the National Programme Manager, ESSPIN, Mr. Ron Tuck (Transforming Nigeria’s Schools- The Integrated School Improvement Model), amongst others.

The summit was supported by a wide range of organisations such as Action Aid (Nigeria), DFID ESSPIN, All Party Parliamentary Group on Education for All (UK), Federal Ministry of Education Department for Policy, Planning, Research and Management, The Nigeria Governors Forum, CSACEFA, Incubator Africa Limited, Segun Odegbami Sports Academy, Freedom Foundation, Golden Heart Foundation, and attended by a wide range of experts and professionals from various organisations. NUC staff at the event included Mr. A. S. Agbaoye (Deputy Executive Secretary), Professor L. A. Bichi (Director, Academic Standards), Arc. Bola A. Balogun, (Ag. Director, Physical Planning), Dr. S. B. Ramon-Yusuf (Ag. Director, Open and Distance Education), Mr. Sam Onazi (Ag. Director, Finance and Accounts) as well as Professors C.O.E. Onwuliri and A.I. Essien, both Visiting Professors in the Commission and Mr. C. J. Maiyaki, Chief of Staff to the Executive Secretary.

Conclusion: Rebuilding Nigeria’s Education System: Policy Imperatives Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya


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About the author

Dr Ifechukwu Nnatuanya is a Director of DPI Associates Ltd a UK based specialist Transformation practice. He is a co-founder of the Every Nigerian Child Project.

In the early 1960’s the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Singapore and Malaysia all had something in common with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a newly independent nation.

They were all relatively “young” countries whose education systems where in a similar state (Gopinathan & Boon, 2006) (Page, 1994) (Kpolovie & Obilor, 2013).

However if you were to compare statistics from that era it can be clearly seen that:

They all had worse statistics than Nigeria in child education

The government was heavily involved in the education sector

GDP was smaller than that of the newly Independent African country

Fast forward fifty years and the story could not be more different. The statistics now show that:

The comparator countries now have better statistics in child education

Their governments are is still heavily involved in the education sector

Their GDP’s have all exceeded Nigeria’s How has this situation transpired? According to the OECD the most successful education systems combine local autonomy for schools with strong public accountability. These countries have found a way to turbo charge their economies and societies off the back of highly successful education systems. They have certainly followed up on these two central themes of having a very strong public accountability framework while allowing a certain degree of autonomy within their local school networks.

As has been highlighted in this report, human capital is projected to be the bed rock of a successful Nigerian economy. And this is true of any economy.

Without improvements in the Nigerian education sector, Nigeria’s economic promise would be near impossible to achieve. We therefore need to harness the various policies proffered, ideas suggested and energy being exerted at this time by a variety of individuals and organisations to achieve a single goal: Transform the Nigerian education sector in a sustainable way to ensure it is once more fit for purpose and serves to ensure “Every Nigerian child is afforded a basic quality education”. This is the vision that drives the work of the ENCP. This is the Raison d'être for its existence.



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A new direction Having participated in the last two Future by Us Education Summits, I have seen my views as well as that of other participants evolve in a way that would have been almost impossible to predict.

At the start of this journey in 2011, the vast majority of participants and contributors laid the blame for the state of the education sector squarely at the feet of Nigerian governments’.

It was very easy to hold the Government of Nigeria at its various levels as being solely responsible for the deterioration witnessed in the education sector over four decades.

As such the natural conclusion proffered which most participants subscribed to was the exclusion of the Government from the rescue mission required to this sector, which is critical to the life, wellbeing, social mobility and sustainable development of Nigerians.

Frankly speaking, we sought a reduction of governments influence in a sector that mattered so much, in favour of an increasing influence and participation of a variety of NGO's and private bodies who could step forward to rescue the education sector from the stranglehold of the Government of the day.

It would transpire, as we listened to the experts that this notion of a solution which required a reduction in government influence in the sector, flies squarely in the face of the evidence and the reality of what it takes to run an equitable and universally accessible public schools system.

From the evidence presented, we came to realise that there are three distinct roles the government, and only the government can play in successfully reforming Nigeria’s education sector. Notably:

1) Creating an enabling policy environment. In all societies (democratic or otherwise), the Government of the day has sole responsibility for the creation and enforcement of laws. Reforming the education sector and addressing some of the root causes of the decline in education will involve the creation, modification and scraping of a variety of policies. This will be

impossible without partnering with the relevant arms of government. 2) Financial investment in infrastructure. Education is an expensive business and only those countries that invest in it (as referenced by the developed world) reap the benefits that can accrue to the nation. The last global financial and economic crises proved yet again that no corporation or grouping can match the financial resources governments possess and wield on behalf of their people. 3) Evidence from our sample country set. South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia as well as the emerging BRIC countries are living proof of the effect of a targeted investment by a nation’s government in their education sector. How do we solve this problem? The approach we need to take us back to the proverbial promised land of having a basic quality education available to every Nigerian child regardless of ethnicity, creed or religion lies in partnership between both the state sector (Governments and development agencies) and the non-state sector (NGO's and other private sector participants). Following two highly successful summits, the major policy imperatives identified from all the discussions, papers and plenary discussions can be summarised as follows: 1) Change the funding formula: Increase the

proportion of funding spent on delivery (front line services) whilst reducing that spent on administration

2) Increase the quality and calibre of delivery staff at all levels (teachers)

3) Give the non-government sector a greater role and enable more effective partnerships across both the government and non-government sectors

4) Create more effective monitoring and control mechanisms and systems (Accountability frameworks)

5) Increase accountability at the Local Government level which forms the bedrock of the countries education system (Local Governments in Nigeria being in charge of primary education)



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6) Innovate and provide unconventional solutions to take into account the unique circumstances in the various communities and cultures that exist in Nigeria

Our focus As a diaspora led volunteer initiative, the ENCP project group has taken a decision to focus its efforts on a single area with the potential to have the greatest and most effective impact.

We are committed to working with local delivery partners to create an effective monitoring, evaluation and control mechanisms.

In a sense, going forward, our focus will be on creating “Accountability frameworks” that can be utilised by non-government organisations, NGO’s and individual parents.

Parents are the second most important stakeholder interested in an improved educational system. The primary stakeholder being the Nigerian child.

As such the next Future by US Education Summit will be focused on creating a forum for discussing ideas, projects and activities in this area. This should however not detract from the other key areas that are equally important. However in the spirit of maximising impact, this is where the primary drive from this group will be invested.

The call to arms We invite other bodies, NGO's, private foundations and of course various levels of the Nigerian Government to pick up one or more areas we have identified and work in partnership with all stakeholders to address and resolve all issues identified in this summary report. Imagine what can be achieve if each of the five areas highlighted in this summary are picked up by a specific group who will then in partnership with various bodies drive through reform, and deliver change.

Why do we want this? Do we need this? Fixing our education system has the potential to be the catalyst that will turbo charge Nigeria’s economy, just like it did for South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. A vastly improved economy is one of the key ingredients to a better society.

If this is not a good enough reason to get involved; think of Usman, Ninah, Uchenna, Ayodele and Anthony. Children born in 2013 in the various geo political zones of Nigeria.

Picture their path through till 2030 when they are all seventeen. Their future is in our hands. Whether they become criminals or commercial farmers is down to us.

Let us work to give them the future we dream of for our own children, a great, wholesome society as part of a stable and prosperous Nigeria. All because we all cared about the education system we bequeathed to them.

References Kpolovie, P. J., & Obilor, I. E. (2013). Adequacy–Inadequacy:

Education funding in Nigeria. Universal Journal of Education and General Studies , 239-254.

Page, J. (1994). The East Asian Miracle: Four Lessons for Development. In e. tanley Fischer and Julio J. Rotemberg, NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1994, Volume 9 (pp. p. 219 - 282). MIT Press.

Professor Gopinathan, S., & Professor Boon, G. C. (2006). The Development of Education in Singapore Since 1965. Asia Education Study Tour for African Policy Makers. World Bank.

Educate Transform Deliver OUR FUTURE



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i Programme for International Student Assessment - PISA 2000 and

2009. ii Sahlberg, P (2011) “Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland”.

The Every Nigerian Child Project is a diaspora-led policy advocacy platform that blends the knowledge, skills, networks and capacity of people and organisations in Nigeria working to improve the quality and effectiveness of Nigeria’s education system, with the knowledge, experience, resources and know-how of the diaspora and international development partners.

The Nigerian Education Policy Review is a publication of the Every Nigerian Child Project, made possible through the generous support of our sponsors, contributors and partners. All rights reserved.

All enquiries:

http://www.everynigerianchildproject.org.uk

The Every Nigerian Child Project c/o The Education Hub, Suite 104 – 109 1st Floor, East Wing City Hall, Lagos Island Lagos, Nigeria

DPI is the proud sponsor the Nigeria Education Policy Review

DPI Associates is a UK based specialist Transformation practice that uses Research, Consulting and

Training to define, manage and deliver the change process within organisations, integrating

organisational processes, systems and human resources across various sectors.

Having partnered with various universities, research institutes and organisations, we have worked

with and delivered projects for several medium and large scale multinationals, local and central

government organisations, as well as small and medium scale enterprises.

HTTP://WWW.DPIASSOCIATES.CO.UK/

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