The raging controversy over the Federal Ministry of Education reforms of Unity Schools has taken a multi-dimensional platforms leading to the teaching and non teaching staff of Federal Government Colleges nation-wide embarking on an industrial action to protest what many referred to as privatization of the colleges. The Senate Committee on Education, Chaired by distinguished Senator Joy Emodi which has notable, informed and experienced people like erudite Prof. Jubril Aminu also summoned the Minister of Education, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili to address the Senate Committee on the proposed policy. Apparently the reaction of all Senators and majority of the stakeholders as it is presently constituted seems to be, that it is not ripe to implement the laudable policy, even though it is ideal, with the emphasis that only the advanced countries can apply it, according to Senator Emordi. Disturbed with this scenario, I sent a message to Prof. Jubril Aminu, who also happened to be my Senator to ask him what are the issues about the Unity Schools?
I am yet to get a reply from Prof. Jibril, when Kayode Komolafe also a very informed journalist published his piece on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 on the “Unity Schools and the privatiser”, this, prompted me to reply Komolafe on the issues discussed.
The Federal Ministry of Education came out to refute the widely circulated notion that the Ministry is privatizing the Unity Schools, what the Ministry wants to do is a Public-Private Partnership. Therefore, the debate is a divide between Public-Private Partnership and privatization or selling of the Unity Schools to private concern. The concept of Public-Private Partnership is to bring the efficiency of the private sector to bear, while ownership and control still remain with the authority. The owners will pay the private concern for the services rendered and not necessarily the users of the facilities that have to pay as being debated. While privatization means transfer of ownership completely to private concern with the aim of divestment. Public-Private Partnerships entails the bringing of the strength of both the public and private sector to deliver services or infrastructure for public good. The norm in Nigeria is that the moment there is reforms; the conclusion is that government wants to sell entities. As a matter of fact, one of the teachers on strike, that the Hausa service of BBC interviewed claimed that he has documents that the Minister of Education has sent to Mr. President and obtained approval to privatize the Unity Schools; therefore, he was calling on well meaning Nigerians to come out and defend the intended policy that will deny the poor children the opportunity to get qualitative education through the Unity Schools. It is the same sentiments that is being expressed in many places including Kano, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Ogun etc etc. Notable Nigerians like Prof. Babatunde Fafunwa, Adams Oshiomhole also kicked against the policy. Komolafe is not left out in the believe of status quanta. However, the Federal Ministry of Education is rolling out statistics that no right thinking group or individual can ignore the happenings in the education sector in the name of protecting children of poor parents or affordability of education in the light of their present conditions. We must look at the issues holistically as a nation in order to solve the problems of leakages and not under funding as there is enough money being wasted on the Federal Government Unity Schools. What is a Unity School? One might ask. Adams Oshiomhole has defined it as follows:- “Unity Schools have enabled many gifted children of the poor to break out of poverty cycle through quality and affordable public education”.
Mr. Kayode Komolafe also put his understanding of Unity School as “the schools established to encourage national unity among other values after the Nigerian civil war”. Quality, unity, affordability are obvious indices of the Unity Schools.
Therefore, Unity Schools can be said to be schools established basically to provide quality education to Nigerians and in a unified manner and to provide every Nigerian child the opportunity to be educated on his merit. The Federal Government Unity Schools establishment is an after civil war policy like the NYSC, but globally anywhere a qualitative school exists, it has no bound whether established by state or individual. It is obvious from the above definition that it is not the exclusive right of the Federal Government to establish Unity Schools. In other words, what is important is the education of Nigerians in a conducive environment. Infact, many State Government then, after the civil war provided Unity Schools. My Alma Matar, the General Murtala Muhammed College (GMMC) Yola was a Unity School with over 20 students in my class 5C, only about 5 of us were actually from Gongola State then. All the rest came through schools exchange. The W.A.S.C. and later G.C.E., O’Level results of GMMC has been ranging from 97% to 99% with 6 credits and above during our time. It is on record today, I have as my mates, Chika Eze (from Enugu), Moses Ottah (Cross River), Ismail Oyebanji (Lagos), Bamai Hamman (Borno), Aliyu Musa Ningi (Bauchi), Musa Gassal (Taraba), Paradik Omor (India), Isham Mohammed (number singer in Egypt), Jamilu Afegbua (Edo State), and many more.
Therefore, no Federal Government College that can boast to have had more quality education nor unity in composition than GMMC Yola, for it was news that when a student fails his WASC, the rest of the students will be trying to remember who was that student. Today GMMC Yola is a shadow of itself to an extent that religious wars are fought in the school and now it is the news that when a student passes his WASC, others will try to fish out who was that student that passes. Education generally in Nigeria has stepped down in the public schools and reforms have become inevitable.
The Federal Government Colleges are no better in standard nor in uniting Nigerians. If there are 6.4 million secondary school students in Nigeria and it is only 122,000 that are admitted into the 102 Federal Government Colleges out of 11,000 other colleges) with only 24,400 of them passing with 5 credits to qualify for further education, then out of N7.6 billion budget of the Federal Ministry of Education in 2006 about N6 billion will go into these Unity School Ventures; then we better start thinking. How can we have 80% Federal Ministry of Education budget going in to train only 24,400 qualitative students out of 6.4 million that are in the secondary school system? The idea of unity of Nigerians obtainable from these colleges are even no longer there. It is only by luck that you will find a student from Taraba State in the Federal Government College, Aboloma as much as unavoidable circumstances that will take a student from Bayelsa to Federal Government College Wukari. This is the dilemma of our public schools be it Federal Government Colleges, State Unity Schools or Local Government establish secondary schools in Nigeria. By the definition of Unity Schools presently in Nigeria, it is only the like of Loyola Jesuit College, APTI Academy Yola, Igbinedian College Okada, Almin College Minna, Turkish or Italian Schools in Nigeria that are really the Unity Schools, because quality and unity are obtainable here, but for the affordability.
Nigerians have option of complete reforms to the way our schools are being managed. It is definitely not the issue of funding, but the issue of blocking leakages by all the stakeholders and that is why Madam Ezekwesili should be supported rather than being condemned. The Minister’s commitment to bringing in positive change is not in doubt from her performance in the Solid Minerals Ministry and that her intellectual capacity is synonymous to value creation. The Minister’s position has been that the government is not selling the schools, she wants to bring a modern management to the schools, get value for the money being wasted through competitive bidding of doing jobs, save money being thrown to undeserved channels, instill merits and punish fraud, and bring in all secondary school going students to schools through expansion, recruitment and training of qualified teachers. What is privatization about that? What Nigerians should concern themselves is affordability. No analysis by the opposing views that reveals to the fact that there will be a problem of affordability to the poor after the reforms. Therefore, we cannot live with sentiments when the facts are glaring. We all know that servicom cannot solve the problems in the educational institutions. Education is learning and is more than service delivery. What is possible is to have a legislation that will bar our policy makers from grade level 10 to 17 and top political office holders from taking their children to private schools and insist in addressing leakages. This policy was applicable to NEPA Managers not to have generators in their houses and it was beneficial to all their neighbours that steady power supply was obtainable to any where a top NEPA staff resides. Let us try as part of our educational reform agenda the idea of top public servants having their children in our public schools as a matter of necessity. For me, be it business model, backward integrating or millennium gral development, I support reforms in our educational system as of today even the UBE is not functional in my village.
ENGR. SAIDU NJIDDA
S_jidda@yahoo.com |
