Stakeholders split over UN report on Nigerian education

Stakeholders split over UN report on Nigerian education



Educationists are divided over the recent 2015 Global Monitoring Report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, that Nigeria now has the highest number of out-of-school children and one of the worst education systems in the world.

While those who agree say the report is a damning indictment of the failure of capitalism to meet the basic needs of Nigerians for education, those opposed to it say the report has a political undertone.

Themed:Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges, the report stated that Nigeria lacks progress in almost every Education for All (EFA) goal as corruption, conflict and lack of investment have resulted in Nigeria having one of the worst educational systems in the world.

Launched in Paris, New York, New Delhi and Santiago de Chile, the report also stated that Nigeria, Chad, Pakistan and Ethiopia are among countries which are way off target on the six key educational goals that 164 countries agreed to achieve between 2000 and 2015.

The report added that the political leadership has been identified as corrupt, losing $21million of education funding over two years. Despite Nigeria’s GNP per capita growing substantially between 1999 and 2012, investment in education remains low. As a result, the most basic of resources for education are limited, while an additional 220,000 primary school teachers, representing 15 percent of the global total, are needed.

The report further revealed that the gap between the poor and the average in Nigeria has increased with the number of children from the poorest households going to primary school falling from 35 to 25 percent in 2013, adding that no country in sub-Saharan Africa has achieved the global EFA goals.

While Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Pakistan, and Ethiopia were listed among those which are way off target on the six goals, countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Tanzania and India were lauded for their efforts.


Disagreeing with the report, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Federal Wing, Comrade Alex Okonta, said Nigeria’s education system is dynamic and boasts of a number of agencies working to ward formulating policies to better the lot of the sector.

Okonta said “in as much as I disagree with the report, we all know that the performance in the sector has been down due to the lack of implementation of these dynamic policies.

“Nigeria should not be classified as having one of the worst education systems in the world because we have very good policies on education. Rather, our problem is implementing the policies for science and technology schools and the trade subjects are not being properly implemented.

“Also, we have the issue of inadequate funding, lack of monitoring and poor teachers’ remuneration because if teachers are

not properly motivated, there is no way they can teach satisfactorily. The Federal Ministry of Education which is in charge of inspecting schools, should take the task seriously.”

Education systems

In agreement is the President, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Alogba Olukoya, who said; “in as much as everyone is entitled to his opinion, we should not disregard the report on Nigeria. Nigeria doesn’t have one of the worst education systems in the world and the issue of out of school children can be attributed to factors such as lack of facilities, poor teachers’ welfare, lack of or inadequate instructional materials, among others.

“The way out of this situation is for our leaders to make education top priority and do the needful by seeing that funds meant for the sector are judiciously spent.”

Questioning what criteria was used in adjudging Nigeria’s education system one of the worst, the Principal, Kings College, Lagos, Otunba Dele Olapeju, said the report has some political undertones while the case of out of school children is as a result of the rising activities in insurgents in the northern region of the country.

Strongly agreeing with the report, the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, ERC, Mr. Hassan Soweto said the is a damning indictment of the failure of capitalism to meet the basic needs of Nigerians for education, adding that the dilapidated state of public education is a consequence of the neo-liberal and pro-market education policies of the past decade that de-emphasized government role in providing investment for education.

Soweto said “The ERC feels vindicated because the report confirms what we have always said about the fact that statistics of progress habitually reeled out by Ministers like Okonjo Iweala, politicians and government apologists barely correspond to the reality that students and parents see on ground.

“For years, we pointed out that the Universal Basic Education scheme was a conduit pipe for corruption and that nothing fundamental was happening on ground. I am sure that other activists and unions like the Academic Staff Union of Universities  would not be surprised by the revelation that Nigeria is lagging behind in all the six major targets of the EFA goals.

“For the past 15 years, despite enormous revenues from crude oil sale and huge funds received from foreign donors for purpose of investment in education, no fundamental improvement has come the way of public education.

Public education

“In a lot of ways, things have worsened as we now have the highest out-of-school children in the world, more girls are out of school or are dropping out due to poverty, child marriage, early pregnancy, cultural practices, while in the South- East for instance, we have very low enrollment of boys at primary and secondary schools.

“We have a shortage of at least 220,000 teachers. In 2008, there were 17 million more illiterate adults than they were in 1991. Put together, Nigeria parades an embarrassing spectacle of a nation of substantially illiterate population put at over 40 million.”

The ERC National Coordinator added that since the report highlights the failure of capitalist neo-liberal policies in making public education available for all, the in-coming government can avoid such mistakes by halting all subsisting pro-market education policies and rather recognise that education, being the cornerstone of development, is the social responsibility of government.

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