akanbi system failure in nigeria

Journal of Education in Developing Areas (JEDA) Vol. 19, No. 1.

SYSTEM FAILURE IN NIGERIA: EDUCATIONAL POLICY MONITORING AND

VALUE REORIENTATION TO THE RESCUE

BY

DR. AKANBI GRACE OLUREMILEKUN

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

EMMANUEL ALAYANDE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

OYO

Abstract

This paper discussed system failure in Nigeria and how effective policy monitoring and value reorientation could help solve this problem. Brief examination of Nigerian and African traditional education was done to establish its relevance at time like this. It identified some of the systems such as education, the Nigeria Police Force, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Nigeria Telecommunication Ltd, transport sector and the health sector; and their level of decay. It then suggested the importance of effective monitoring of educational policies at the level of implementation and reorientation of the citizenry towards embracing positive values in our culture and traditional education.

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1).

w w w . j e d a - u n i p o r t . c o m Page 1

Introduction

Every society in the world, whether developed or developing, has some form of

ethical practice and inbuilt mechanism of operation to hold the body polity

together. Those mechanisms are formed into a sort of organization, institution or

establishments responsible for the smooth running of such society. The success or

otherwise of these mechanisms determine the extent to which the society will

develop. Education has been identified as an instrument par excellence in making

this function. Nigeria as a nation is not left out of this arrangement, hence the

establishment of such institutions. However, recent events in the country show that

nearly all of these institutions and establishments have failed in their bid to meet

the needs and aspirations of Nigerians and Nigeria as a nation; and are already

been substituted. They are:

a) Educational institutions which are tagged public or government schools

replaced or displaced by private educational institutions at all levels.

b) The Nigeria Police (NPF) – emergence of “Cultural Police” such as Oodua

Peoples’ Congress (OPC), Egbesu Boys, Bakasi Boys and Arewa Youth Forum

(AYF) Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL) displaced by the Global System of

Mobile telecommunication popularly called GSM.

c) Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN) - PHCN failure has brought

power generating sets to almost all the homes especially in the urban centers

resulting to air pollution and unprecedented health hazards.

d) Health institutions - Health institutions have not lived to expectation and

this has led to the emergence of private hospitals and maternity centers that

are out to exploit their clients.

e) Public Works Department (PWD) - Young jobless boys patching and

mending roads is a common feature on Nigeria highways now, while those

employed for this purpose are found under trees in the Works ministry

discussing or sleeping.

f) Family Institutions have also failed - Our youths are more interested in

foreign culture and parents are not helping the situation. Schools are full of

cultists and prostitutes.

g) Political Institutions - The establishment of the National Orientation Agency

did not play remarkable role in the attitude of politicians towards elections.

Coupled with this, is the erosion of the value system by bribery, corruption

and moral decadence. Things that should attract shame are being applauded and it

is becoming fashionable to be corrupt. But the question is why is it that basic



human essentialities refuse to function in some societies but function in many

other nations of the world? What do we do? This is why it becomes necessary to

examine few of these systems and discuss where the process of failure started and

what could be done through educational policy monitoring and re-orientation of our

value system to rescue the situation.

Brief Examination of Mass Failure of Systems in Nigeria Educational

Institutions

According to Fafunwa (1974:17) although Nigeria consists of many ethnic groups

and societies each with its own culture and tradition, they all have common

educational aims and objectives with varying methods to achieve them. The aim of

traditional African education is multilateral and the end objective is to produce an

individual who is honest, respectable, skilled, cooperative and conforms to the

social order of the day. In traditional Nigerian society, all parents want their

children to be upright, honest, kind and helpful to others. Fafunwa further

identified seven aspects of this traditional education as:

1. To develop the child’s latent physical skills;

2. To develop character.

3. To inculcate respect for elders and those in position of authority;

4. To develop intellectual skills;

5. To acquire specific vocational training and to develop a healthy attitude

towards honest labour;

6. To develop a sense of belonging and to participate actively in family and

community affairs;

7. To understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the

community at large.

It should be noted also that, functionalism is the main guiding principle of

this education with the individual having his/her role to play towards the

development of the society. With the coming of western education however, things

started changing but unfortunately, the changes were not properly monitored,

harnessed and tailored towards the realization of traditional aims and objectives

that would lead to genuine development of the nation. Okonjo (2007) quoted by

Sule-Kano (2007) rightly observed that Nigeria has inherited a colonial educational

system which has failed to cater adequately for the needs and aspirations of most

Nigerians. This according to her is reflected in the general low quality of life in the

country, the distribution of indigenous holistic system of education, culture and



civilization. The current educational system which we inherited from the colonial

period is inadequate in several respects. The defects include the philosophy of

education, the structure and content of curricula at the various levels of the

educational system, the objectives and goals of education, access to education in

terms of space and financial resources and funding.

The National Forum for Policy Development (NFPD) in her 2007 observation

on access to education submitted that;

(a) At the pre-primary level, there is no government involvement in the supervision

and funding of education of children aged between 2-5 years;

(b) At the primary level, children who should be in school are about sixteen (16)

million but only 1million are in school, representing 6.25%;

(c) At the secondary school level only 6.5 million (17.1%) out of the 24 million that

should be in school are in school, leaving 17.5 million (72.9%) out.

(d) At the tertiary level, of the estimated total of 17.7 million only 1.5 million (8.5%)

are currently enrolled as students. (Sule-Kano & Edeh, 2007)

This implies that a total of over 56.7 million representing 73.1% of school age

population are out of school, a reflection of the fact that Nigeria is not a literate

society contrary to the view of the great Greek philosopher Plato, who believed that

education should take paramount position in any society. According to him,

educated people are easy to govern and there can be justice and peace in the

society only when people are educated and if each segment is doing what it is

supposed to do. Examination malpractice is no longer news; both parents and

learners are involved and discuss it with impunity. It has gotten to an alarming rate

and 324 secondary schools were blacklisted by the Federal Government recently as

centers of public examination. The Federal Ministry of Education has also planned

compulsory integrity training for examiners, supervisors and invigilators because of

malpractice and has decided that whoever fails the examination will not qualify to

be an examiner for the ministry. Education has failed to instill the culture of

communal interest; rather it has produced selfish and self-centered people and

greedy leaders.

The Nigeria Police:

Police force in any nation is established to enforce law and order. They are to

protect the populace from danger and harassment; and with the presence of police

security seems guaranteed. What would life be like without police? This question



was answered with what happened in 1977 when 18,000 police officers went on

strike in the Brazilian city of Recife, leaving its more than 1 million residents

without police. As reported in Awake (2002:3), in five chaotic days, the crime rate

had tripled and eight banks have been robbed. Gangs have run wild through a

shopping mall and driven through upper-class neighbourhoods firing guns. And no

one was obeying the traffic laws. The crime wave had tested the limit of the morgue,

gunshots and stabbed victims flooded the large state hospital, stretched out on

hallway floors. One can be sure that the situation may not be different if it were to

be in Nigeria.

The British colonization of the different societies that presently constitute Nigeria

started in 1861 from the territory of Lagos. By 1903, the British colonialists had

succeeded in colonizing all the nearly four hundred nationalities in the country

(Otite, 1990 in Alemika & Chukwuma, 2007). The colonialists according to them

executed the colonial project employing violence and fraud or deceits through the

police. The establishment of the police forces in colonial Nigeria therefore reflected

administrative policies and concerns. Police forces were established along the line

dictated by the indirect rule policy.

There is the need therefore to recognize and comprehend three important historical

factors that have shaped the development and character of the Nigeria police force

and police public relations in Nigeria. According to Alemika (2007), first colonial

conquest of Nigerian nationalities took place piecemeal over a long period (1861-

1903). As a community was conquered a British colonial presence was established

by creating a police force for the territory. Second, violence and fraud were

employed in the conquest of the nationalities and; police forces under various

names were established and employed as instruments of violence and oppression

against the indigenous population. Third, given the character of colonial rule, police

force was the instrument used to sustain the alien domination, so it may be

convenient to say that colonialism has also entrenched itself in the Nigeria Police

Force. Sad enough, the Nigeria Police Force is taking Nigeria to colonial era again if

the recent request by Nigeria from the British government is anything to go by. The

Federal Government has asked the British Government to assist it in restructuring

the Nigeria Police Force over insecurity in Nigeria at the just concluded



Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Uganda (November, 2007).

Corruption and extortion are widespread among the members of Nigeria Police

Force and have soiled their image. While corruption is endemic in segments of

Nigerian society, it is particularly objectionable among the police because it is their

occupational responsibility to prevent and work at its elimination. An article titled

“Make Begging Plate part of Police Uniform” was published sometime in the

Sunday Punch of February 11, 2007 and described the police as beggars on the

highway who have lost their integrity. It quoted in part;

The big shots stay behind while using the recruits as cover. On the highway . . . they simply beg for money. Begging and begging all the time while inflicting hardship on road users. What is left? Just add begging plate to their uniform to complete their ‘Babi-Allah show.

Police brutality is another cankerworm in the security system. The police in

Nigeria frequently acted outside the rule of law. Often, they take laws into their own

hands, maiming, killing and detaining people arbitrarily and with impunity. They

are ready to kill once the complainant’s pocket is bulging enough.

Power Holding Company of Nigeria: (PHCN)

National Electric Power Authority (NEPA - PHCN) was created by the Federal

Government Decree No. 24 of 1972 consequent upon the merger of Electricity

Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) and Niger Dams Authority (NDA). By that decree,

PHCN was mandated to maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system

of electricity supply to all parts of the Federation. With that provision, the four

basic functions of the authority cover generation, transmission, distribution and

marketing of electricity. But an average Nigerian can not say that PHCN has

fulfilled any of its function. The PHCN on the other hand has claimed that the

vandalisation of gas pipeline that evacuates gas from the Niger – Delta to the gas

thermal stations was responsible for the energy mess. Coupled with this is our

maintenance culture, mass of generating equipments are out of date and turn

around maintenance by successive government have not yielded the expected

results. The table below shows the degenerating level of the power generating

company

Table 1: Power Plants and Generation Capacities.



Station Type Inauguration date Installed MW Current MW

Afam Thermal 1978 – 1992 710 85

Delta Thermal 1966 – 1990 912 366

Sapele Thermal 1978 – 1981 1,020 62

Egbin Thermal 1985 – 1987 1,320 243

Ijora Thermal 1978 60 -

Oji Thermal 1956 30 -

Kainji Hydro 1968 – 1978 580 445

Jebba Hydro 1983 – 1984 570 339

Shiroro Hydro 1989 - 1990 600 281

Geregu Thermal 2007 414 137

AES Thermal 2001 270 191.8

Agip Okpai Thermal 2005 480 424

Rivers Omoku Thermal 2006 150 56

Ajaokuta Thermal - - 63

Source: Bureau of Public Enterprise and PHCN (Punch March 13, 2007 p. 34)

Available data from the Bureau of Public Enterprises in 2006 estimated

economic losses from blackouts at about 1 billion US dollars annually. Families

who could afford it now make do with generators. Should this continue? Hardly will

you pick a newspaper in Nigeria without finding 1 or 2 articles complaining about

PHCN.

Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL)

The communication sector is not spared of rot. The era of looking for vehicle to

carry ladder for repairs on your line is gone courtesy of Global System of Mobile

Telecommunication (GSM). The GSM also has not been spared of the failure. We are

becoming used to phrases like

“sorry, your call can not be completed, please try again later”,

“the number you dialed/ called is not available at the moment, please try

again later”,

“the number you called does not exist/available on the … directory/network,

check the number and dial again”

“the number you called is switched off”.

Despite all of this, there is, at least a measure of relief in communicating with

people in most part of the nation. Before the advent of GSM, NITEL officials had

turned themselves to tin gods to few Nigerians who could afford telephone lines.

Most often you pay bills you did not incur by yourself due to “tapping” by officials

and other fraudulent elements. But the “Nigerian factor” is gradually setting into



the GSM operation. This is because education has failed to instill morality and

honesty in citizens, and it is no longer fashionable to be upright.

Transport Sector

Transportation system is a major factor in the economy of any nation. Effective

movement of goods and people from one location to the other is dependent on the

transportation system. Though there are four major means of transportation – road,

rail, air and water – there is none that is functioning to the level expected. Bad

roads, poor water ways, abandoned rail roads because of some powerful people who

want to begin large scale haulage business – and purchase of over used and

rejected aircrafts by airliners. In the Punch of Tuesday, April 25, 2006 there was a

screaming headline “Plane, car crashes make Nigeria major disaster – prone

Country” According to the report experts mapping the effects of natural and

technological disasters on international trade say Nigeria is the ninth most disaster

– prone country in the world. Road accidents are no longer news, people perish on

daily basis, yet our leaders could afford stacking millions of Naira in their accounts

ready to be spent on things that are not beneficial to the society.

Health Sector

Nothing less has happened to the health sector. The decay in the health care

system in Nigeria, in the opinion of Awe (2006) needs no gainsaying. It is evident in

the way clinics spring up everywhere, doctors are always on strike, teaching

hospitals operate without functional theatres, doctors transfuse HIV-infected blood

and surgeons forget surgical instruments in patient’s tummy (Awe, 2006).

Government officials themselves seem to have lost faith in the system. Often you

read in newspapers or you hear in the daily news about officials that were sick and

flown abroad for treatment. Drugs that were meant for patients at subsidized rate

in government hospitals find their way into private pharmaceutical stores at

exorbitant prices for whoever could afford it. Nigeria was a dumping ground for fake

and expired drugs leading to mass untimely deaths. If not for the effort of National

Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the whole system

would have been in total mess. Doctors in government hospitals refer patients to

their private clinics after consultation in the government hospitals, leaving patients

at their mercy. The Primary Health Care system was paralyzed by shortage of



health workers, location of hospitals to the benefiting communities, unavailability

of drug, electricity and water.

The World Health Organization’s world health reports for 2006 draws

attention to Nigeria as one of the countries that are critically in short of health

workers. The major reason for this shortage of health workers in Nigeria is their

migration to countries where they can be paid better, have access to better facilities

and have a better living condition.

Towards A Nation Where Everything Works

Switzerland has been described as a nation where everything works and this

acronym is real. One may be tempted to argue that this became possible because it

is a developed nation with low population, however it can also be argued that it did

not get to that level the same year that it started as a nation. The nation must have

passed through its own development process also. But one thing is sure; the level of

literacy (99%) is high, and it is a factor in making everything work. Below is the

information on Health and Education in Switzerland.

Life Expectancy

Female – 83.5 years

Male – 77.7 years

Infant Mortality rate – 4 deaths per 1,000 live births

(2006 estimate)

Population per physician _ 284 people (2004 estimate)

Population per hospital bed – 167 people (2004 estimate)

Literacy rate – 99% (1995)

Number of years of compulsory schooling – 9 years

Number of students per teacher in the primary school – 14 students (Encarta

Premium, 2007).

In Nigeria, it seems as if nothing works and the future looks gloomy with no

hope in sight. The present state of things in Nigeria calls for conscious and

concerted effort towards monitoring educational policies. It was rightly observed

during the workshop on National Education Reform in January 11, 2007 that the

philosophy on which the current educational policy is based is not suitable for the

development of the Nigerian society. At the workshop it was agreed that we need an

indigenous system of education that incorporates the best aspect of other traditions

without being just imitative. To address this deficiency, the forum observed that the



curricula content should reflect the Nigerian pre-colonial development, the

relationship between economic policy and educational development, and the history

of Nigeria and Africa and the imperatives of African freedom. To meet the needs of

national development and to avoid continual system failure, the educational system

must among others accomplish the following goals:

1. build a knowledge based society that accepts the primacy of intellectual

capital;

2. enable Nigeria to attain a high level of scientific and technological

development within the shortest time

3. incorporate indigenous civilization, though systems and models of

development that will replace the current values of corruption, selfishness

and other social vices with moral values of honesty, respect, integrity, family

and community ties;

4. generate within the shortest possible time the quantum of human capital

that would serve the total development needs of Nigeria;

5. maximize the usage of existing educational facilities;

6. formally incorporate and develop the pre-primary level into the educational

system; and

7. develop quaternary educational sector as a tool for effective socio-economic

advancement of Nigeria. (Sule-Kano & Edeh 2007 )

One important area however, if we want the educational system to achieve

the above goals that will eventually affect every other system positively, is the need

for adequate monitoring of the educational policy at the level of implementation.

There is a lot of decay in the educational sector and those in charge seem not to be

bothered especially as regards frequent evaluation of policies. For example, the 6-3-

3-4 system could not be seen as successful, especially in the aspect of the 3years of

post junior secondary school. Students that were unable to continue in the senior

secondary school were not catered for because few technical colleges were available.

There are technical equipment imported for this purpose but most technical

education teachers do not know how to operate them. Some of these equipments

are still in some schools rotting away or being pilfered by some teachers.

The soundness of the educational system determines to a very large extent

how effective the other system will be, whether political, economic, health or social.

This is because education sector is the foundation as well as the building blocks for

other sectors. Individuals that are in other sectors must have had a taste of



education to some level but, have they been properly seasoned as to know what to

do and what not to do in their various duty posts? It is important to know that the

solution to our dilemma is somewhere wrapped around the engine that drives the

world’s progression – Self discipline. Self discipline is a character trait that helps

people evaluate what they are doing, stop doing what is harmful and start doing

what is constructive. This should be embedded in every system and in fact be

inculcated from infancy through all facets of life.

Re-orientation of our value system is another major area to forestall system

failure. This should be included in our educational policy and in the curricula.

Patriotism, obedience, tolerance, honesty, morality, hard work, discipline, integrity

are some of the values to be emphasized rather than laziness, selfishness,

corruption, greediness and other vices. Emphasis should be laid on functionalism

rater than carrying certificates about and not being able to perform.

Plato, the great Greek philosopher advocated that kings/rulers should be

philosophers and well educated. This would afford them the opportunity of

understanding what governance entails – not accumulation of wealth and

embezzlement of public funds but self sacrifice, commitment, dedication, focus and

humility. There has to be a change of mindset which will lead to general

transformation of the individual and the society at large.

Many public officers and political leaders in Nigeria are corrupt, selfish and

disregard public opinion and even the law at will. President Yar’Adua in an

interview with a Punch correspondent established the fact that things are not going

the way they should in Nigeria and there is the need for a change. According to

him;

Nations and the people and societies that achieve

greatness and solve problems, do it through hard work and

determination. All of us have been going out, we have seen

how others are working. These are some of the things that

we have to face as a nation. . . I will assure u that if I have

the opportunity to serve for 8 years, If I am able to solve the

power and energy problem in this country, and able to

reverse the crisis in the education sector and help

standardize the education sector and begin the process of

rail capacity for mass transit and the development of the

solution of the Niger-Delta problem, if that is all I do, I will

be satisfied. (2007:39).



Civics as a subject should be reintroduced and this time around it should cut

across all levels of education. Pupils should be taught conformity to rules and

regulations of the society without exceptions, and should imbibe the culture of

being their brothers keepers rather than being self centered.

Conclusion and Recommendation

It has been established through various media that most systems have failed in

Nigeria, but hope is not lost if there is proper monitoring of implementation of

educational policies so as to achieve what is set to achieve. Reawakening the value

in our culture and traditional education and reorientation of the entire citizenry

toward imbibing culture of honesty, dignity in labour and unity will also go a long

way. Nigeria is still in the process of national reconstruction and therefore needs a

very sound system of education, the cooperation and commitment of all Nigerians.

REFERENCES

Adetubo, L. (2007). “Make Begging Plate part of Police Uniform” Sunday Punch February 11 p.16 Adeyeye, J. (2006). “Plane, Car crashes make Nigeria major Disaster-Prone

Country” The Punch. Tuesday April 25, p.3 Alemika, E. E.O.(1993) .“Analysis of Police and Policing in Nigeria”

http://www.cleen.org/policing.%20driver%20of%20change.pdf. Awe, O. (2006) “Brain Drain Strips Health Sector Bare” The Punch Friday April 14

p.3 Deji-Folutide, B. (2006) “Education Issues: A society wallow in decay”. The Punch April 25, p.40 Fafunwa, A.B. (1974) History of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen &

Unwin. Federal Government of Nigeria (2007) “Why we blacklisted 324 Schools”. The Punch

Monday February 11, p.16 Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium (2007) Switzerland Facts and Figures. NEPA (PHCN) http://www.nepanigeria.org Nwankwo, C. (2007). “Insecurity: Yar’Adua invites Britain to assist Police” The

Punch Tuesday November 27, p.2.



Punch (2007) “Why Blackout Persists” (Stakeholders) Tuesday March 13, p.34 Sule-Kano, A. &Edeh, F. (2007). Communiqué of the National Forum for Policy

Development Workshop on National Education Reforms, held at the Auditorium National Universities Commission Abuja, 11th January 2007

Watch Tower Bibles & Tract Society (2002) “The Police, why Do We Need Them?”

Vol. 83 No.13, pp.3-12 Yar’Adua, U. M. (2007). “We need to Create Wealth”. Punch. Wednesday March 14,

p.39. Zhawa, A. (2007) “Malpractice: Compulsory Integrity Training for Examiners”

Punch. Friday April 20, p.38.

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