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Independent Northern Educational Crisis (INEC) By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u
As Nigerians mourn the allocation of positions by the Independent National Electoral Commission, except in few states, were the people stood firm to ensure that their will prevails. Another period of mourning occurred. Indeed a period of mourning because the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the secondary schools certificates examination taken in various parts of the country. While the mourning of the elections fraud affects almost every Nigerian who cares, the mourning of WAEC affects a section of the country more than the rest, because of INEC’s indifference, but don’t misunderstand me, here INEC does not refer to Professor Iwu’s rigging machine; it refers to independent northern educational crisis. It is independent northern educational crisis because as the late historian Dr Yusufu Bala Usman once put it, the resources received by northern states since the return of the country to civilian rule are enough to solve the educational problems the region is facing without blaming the federal government. Yet with the outcome of the just released results, one wonders what the region has achieved since 1999.
According to a report carried by Thisday newspaper on 28th April, 2007, it stated that “Edo State, with an abysmal average of 38.42 percent, ranked first among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC)’s Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), conducted between 2000 and 2006.
The report further stated that “Bayelsa State led the pack in the National Examinations Council (NECO)’s SSCE with an average of 50.50 percent, followed by Edo with 45.39 percent and Ogun State with 40.73 percent. This time, Yobe State brought up the rear with 4.68 percent, while Gombe and Adamawa States came 36th and 35th respectively, with 5.23 and 6.03 percent”, and concluded that “Ogun State came first in the provision of infrastructure with an average score of 51.74 percent, followed by Lagos State with 47.30 percent and FCT with 42.33 percent. At the rear (35th, 36th and 27th positions) were Jigawa, Bayelsa and Taraba States. A general ranking of the relationship between infrastructure and academic performance also showed Ogun at the top of the list, followed by Edo and Lagos, with a score of 38.02, 37.01 and 34.90 percent, respectively”.
The picture shown from the results released is relatively not different from what obtained eight years ago. The only noticeable difference perhaps is Bauchi State. In 1999, the Weekly Trust newspaper in a special edition on education evaluated the position of northern states and their performance in the secondary schools certificate examination, and those eligible to gain admission into various universities. The case of Bauchi State was one of the most embarrassing, in fact even difficult to believe, because less than ten students from the states’ secondary schools had the mandatory five credits to gain admission into Nigerian universities. So if Bauchi can change its position from the bottom to the top within eight years going by the stated result, then other states have no excuse to maintain the same position for almost a decade.
The most worrying of the results is that of Katsina State. Many will acknowledge the fact that in northern Nigeria, Katsina State is one of the states that has a large proportion of students in our tertiary institutions, especially those located in the north, so what happened to the state that within a short period it drifted to the bottom position in our school certificate examination? Somebody should please answer this question.
So who is to blame for this monumental failure? In the past, some of our elders use conspiracy theories to explain this failure. We were told that it is the conspiracy of southern dominated staff of WAEC that results in the failure of the region. So how did Bauchi State managed to move to the top despite the conspiracy theory. It is time that we hold ourselves responsible for our failure.
The northern states are autonomous enough with the resources they receive from the federal government to take serious measures that will address this menace. And the time to act is now. There is the need for a marshal plan to save the northern states from total extinction from the Nigerian project. Having political power without knowing what to do with it, will add nothing to the predicament of the region. The strength of every nation is in the classroom.
Today many countries have realised the potential of education not only as a means of individual and national development, but as a large market that strengthens the economy. Last year about eight thousand Nigerians came to the United Kingdom to pursue various degrees from undergraduate to postgraduate levels. The average tuition fee in the UK is eight thousand pounds (if you exclude expensive courses especially those in the physical sciences), and you need the same amount as living expenses. Let us do a little arithmetic here. If we take the exchange rate as two hundred and fifty Naira to a pound, that will give you two million Naira, add another two million as living expenses, the amount will be four million Naira. Though I am a poor student of mathematics, but if you multiply four million by eight thousand, the amount will be about thirty two billion Naira. This means within one academic year, Nigeria has contributed about thirty two billion Naira to the UK economy. This is not the only benefit, each international student in the UK subsidises the tuition fee of two home students.
Still from this number, only a pocket of them were from the northern states. Last year Yobe and Kebbi States sent thirty students each to pursue a master’s degree in various fields, Kano state also sponsored many students to pursue both masters and PhD in various fields, the exact figure of which I don’t have, but this is the only major effort that is visible. Though there are a pocket of other students from other northern states as well. Malaysia and China are making the same effort aimed at attracting international students to their countries.
The result released by WAEC is a clear verdict on the state of education in northern Nigeria. For this reason, I would like to suggest that the first task before the northern state governments is to initiate an emergency project especially on primary and secondary school education. If each of the nineteen northern states will contribute one billion Naira each every year to this project, that will be seventy six billion Naira in four years. A task force to be manned by honest and qualified educationists should be given the responsibility to handle the project. Perhaps if this is done, the gulf of difference between the north and the south in terms of education might be reduced. This is not to say that the south is free from educational problems, but compared to their northern brothers, they are mountain ahead. I hope there is someone over there who cares to listen.
Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u Department of Journalism Studies University of Sheffield United Kingdom
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