THE COUNTRY OF MY DREAMS-FOR THE GOOD OF NIGERIAN EDUCATION

I am a full grown Nigerian citizen, a student, an innovator, an entertainer and I'm also a concerned citizen of this great nation. I have a dream like Martin Luther King said and its starting to become like that dream might take longer than that of Martin Luther King Jr to come to pass. There has been lots drama that has unfolded this year and even though I don’t want to dabble into everything the main one I cant ignore is the issue of ASUU.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on the 17^th of December 2013 called of the 6 month old strike and all that I could just think of is ‘if it was the same agreement the FG refused to go ahead with in the start was what they agreed on at the end why did they waste our time in the first place?’ although if ASUU had gone back to school after 4 or 5 months it would have been stupid on their part, in fact at some point I stopped listening to the news concerning ASUU and even the news as a whole. There have been arguments that ASUU is fighting for the future of the Education sector and I find it hard to believe that there is even a cause to fight. The problem with Nigeria is we always put the cart before the horse in all sectors.

We want to fix the education sector and we start from the Tertiary Institutions when the primary institution is not yet fixed, the young minds that would enter these Universities are not well acquainted and well tutored and yet we want them to enter an environment where we want them to become super students. Nigeria is blessed with youths that can acclimatize in any environment and that is why our students are excelling all over the world, and yet in our country we are performing below our normal capacity. There are a couple of things that should change from the roots before the top could actually change. I would give a couple that I think could do it (I'm talking as an aggrieved student that wants the younger generation to have a better education than I did) so if you don’t agree please you could always drop your comments.

The Entrance of University of Lagos

-   Change the curriculum: it is obvious that the curriculum that my parents used in the University is still the same that I am using right now except for some little changes even the ones that were somehow changed were changed awkwardly. My younger brother is in a class called ‘Technical’ in his secondary school and they don’t even go for Biology class or even economics class, is that a change for the better or the worse? If the curriculum is to be changed it is not to focus 15 year olds to specialties that they might not get to continue with in the Universities because some universities would make Biology a general course for all science students even if you are in Architecture, engineering, Estate Manager, quantity surveyor and the likes. So ASUU asking for funds for ‘research’ and infrastructure’ could be good but could also backfire when the students they are arranging it for might not even be prepared to use it, it’s like buying a car for someone that not only cannot drive but is scared of trying.

-    Start from the roots: This problem is not in the University although it’s obvious that it’s only the universities that can stand up to the Federal Government however the primary and/or secondary school should be put in a structural place whereby they would align with the mission and vision of the Universities.

-   PROPER COUNSELING: Most secondary students don’t know which schools offer the best in the courses they want to study and which school has the best structure that would aid their career in that given course they just choose a University based on other things that I don’t want to dabble into now. There should be a proper arrangement for counseling of students and the courses they want to study with either a tour of the school or a brochure even from the school they wish to study.

-    Conducive environment: The Universities should be suitable for learning from the lecture halls to the library and even the lecturers should be friendly. Some lecturers would treat students like they are still primary school pupils and in turn the students behave as such. Once there is a mutual relationship and respect between the students and the lecturers the environment would become more conducive.

In conclusion I would just point out that there could be more that could have been done in our education sector rather than just focusing on the tertiary Institution and thinking once that is fixed every other thing would fall into place. Not only should we train our children and guide them towards where they would be best suited right from their Primary education  but we should also accept their perspective of how they feel things would work because now that the world is a global village through the internet they could easily be sharing knowledge through a smart phone while our teachers still teach them some archaic things and believe they are right. Until we focus on what is right we would continue to fix a solution that would still be a problem to the problem we were trying to fix.

HERO AND VILAN: OSHIOMOLE AND THE WIDOW

The audience was there, the actor was set and the villain or boss as the case maybe was on her knees begging for mercy. Did I get the castings wrong because in this case it seems the vilan or boss is on his feet while the actor or actress as this case might be is literally on her knees begging for mercy.

 

According to reports Governor Oshiomole was on a routine of evacuating petty traders and street hawkers off the streets of Edo when a supposed widow whose goods were seized went on her knees begging the governor for mercy saying she was waiting for a cab and not selling on the streets and Governor Oshiomole was reported to have said ‘Go and Die’ referring to the widow. Now there has been an uproar about the governor’s comments and why should he has shown such cruelty towards the poor woman. I must say here that what the governor said was cruel and uncalled for no matter the situation the woman was and what position he held.

 

However, let us not nail Com. Oshiomole to the cross just yet. Even though he has portrayed such cruelty in his days as the Head of the NLC both to the advantage of the Labour Congress and also to their detriment. Each and every one of us has been in a situation as the Governor at one point or the other especially those of us that live in Lagos. Picture yourself sitting in a commercial bus and a woman comes to the window where you are seated and she starts begging you and the thought just crosses your mind ‘she has no defect why can’t she go find a job?’ or  even some grave thoughts and all. Like I said earlier the statements of the Governor is so cruel that I can’t even imagine what he was thinking as the Bible has said it already that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” therefore I assume there would have been worse words in his mind that he could have spoken.

 

I do not blame the woman I mean she saw the man as a savior and probably wanted to play on his sympathy but he was just having none of it. There are a couple of things the Governor should have done because he was the one with authority and everything he does would always be put into perspective. In this present age of YouTube and blogs it would be impossible for him to have gotten away with that, the man might have though he was still in the days of NTA where he could control what was being broadcasted in his state. So I'm going to write a few things I believed the governor should have done if I was one of his aides or his press secretary or chief of staff as the case may be.

 

One important thing the Governor should have done was keep silent and just walk away; that works most of the time because the crowd would be left with their assumptions and deductions and that alone would keep people divided on who to support and what to believe. With him speaking he has put everybody into a boat and even his supporters would not stick their necks for him less he tells them too to “go and die”

 

Another was mumble a few words to his aides making gesticulations and just go about his normal routine; with this move nobody would know what he said and the attention would shift from him to the aide he was talking to and that could give him a head start to his car or give him time to think on what to do for the woman.

 

 

 



 

 

The last option I would render is the one everybody would have wanted him to do which is tell the woman to get up and he would give her the goods back or better still give her a grant; politicians should know that every obstacle, every disgruntled voter or citizen is an opportunity to campaign for your career and your party. If it were to be in the USA the Republicans or Democrats would use that opportunity and feed on it till the voters are tired of it.

 

Now the PDP I don’t know if it is the old one or the new one now but the party has reportedly come to the woman’s aid and given her two hundred and fifty thousand naira. Even though Governor Oshiomole has come out to apologize it just doesn’t cut it, with election year just a year out I am very sure the memory would be kept in the minds of voters till the next election and the APC can thank the Governor for selling the state to the opposition. The damage has been done and with Olivia Pope not yet in Nigeria I’m yet to know what move the APC would use to distant them from this issue. Good luck to them and their mission of trying to save face before the election in the turn of the year.