The current levels of crime, deprivation, poverty, income and wealth inequality are mostly the results of errors in policy over many years. Wrong policy choices, poor implementation of the right policies or both. We have indeed run an unfair country in which the majority are victims of the policy errors of successive governments, at whose expense the few thrive. We threaten our democratic experiment as a republic if we do not urgently correct this injustice and the within power dynamics.

This week, we re-join the “it takes a minister” series to share some thoughts on education and human capital, as strategic to correcting this injustice and imbalance in power relations. Access to quality education can improve the hands and minds of our growing youth population to become good and active citizens. Our future economic development, peaceful and safe communities would depend on access to quality education that positively influences behaviour and shapes character. The talents and tools required to grow inclusive local economies to create jobs, and to minimise corruption would depend on access to quality education. So that our large population can be an advantage as we compete and partner with the rest of the world.

We need to think education aligned with our national social and economic goals and ambition. The latter is broadly defined in the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Education, quoted in parts below:

“…delivering sound education for the public good”; and “…use education for fostering the development of all Nigerian citizens to full potential in the promotion of a strong, democratic, egalitarian, prosperous, indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God”.

The problem with education in Nigeria

The problem is that our education system is not accomplishing as much of the above intent as mandated and as we would expect. There are structural and systemic factors that limit educational performance in Nigeria. These factors define our country, our ecosystem. It has produced an education system that reflects it but not good for Nigerians and Nigeria’s future.

For education to improve our future prospects, we need to address the structural supports of our ecosystem and look at education as an industry within our ecosystem. This article will limit subsequent contributions on the subject to the latter – the education industry. The demand and supply side issues that can widen and deepen the education value and supply chains, interacting within and positively influencing the Nigerian multisector economic spaces. When the Ministers and Ministry of Education and the National Assembly (in liaison with other stakeholders in education at federal, state, and local government levels) think of education in terms of industry, they will collect local data for evidence. They will improve their understanding of the determinants of the education value chains and how the quality of teaching, learning and problem solving, correlate and link.

As I shared in my book, National Ambition Reconstructing Nigeria, education is the ultimate public good, as the “foundation on which the future security, peace, and prosperity of Nigerians and Nigeria would depend.” For such a megastructure like Nigeria, the educational foundation has to be strong. Giving our children an early start to quality education is the key. This means that every child should have access to free solidarity compulsory quality education (and healthcare), with a focus on benchmarking the quality of teaching, ability to learn and acquire skills and to apply knowledge and skills to solving problems.

There are many successful models that Nigeria can study and modify to suit its cultural contexts and national social and economic goals. First, like other successful countries, Nigeria must think education in terms of long term investments. Such investments should focus on:

Integrating education to health, and access for all

Education value chains

Improving the quality of teacher training, recruitment, and retention

Improving the number by geographical distribution and the organisation (management and administration) of schools

Improving the quality of teaching

Promoting competition among schools and ratings

Strengthening the transitions between schools, training, and work

Integrating education into the overall national social and economic ambition and regularly assess the performance of the key process and outcome indicators.

What we can learn from other countries

So, Nigeria can take a look at Canada’s approach to helping schools set targets and goals on educational achievements. Through a “literacy and numeracy secretariat”; “student success strategy”; and through cost-neutral (to ministry and schools) strategic partnerships with technology companies to increase the use of digital technology for teaching and learning, we can improve outcomes. We can also look at Japan where teachers are the best paid Civil Servants and thus attract only the very best into teaching and keep morale high. What about examining the “thinking schools, learning nation” program of Singapore, and their workplace-based skills acquisition program? As a long term strategy, world-class companies are given tax incentives in return for integrating skills and industrial training and transfer linked to Polytechnics.

Mainstream anticorruption through Education

Considering the scale of corruption in Nigeria and the threat it poses, Nigeria needs to complement fighting corrupt people with changing the structural and systemic issues that promote corrupt behaviour. One way to do the latter is by investing in anti-corruption education and training. The Minister of Education with its Agencies, Departments and Programs, should liaise with the National Assembly, anti-corruption and national orientation agencies, states, local governments, Teachers’ Unions and other stakeholders to develop and deliver a national standard and guidelines for anti-corruption and national values curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools.

The opportunity for thinking education differently

An opportunity for inter-ministerial collaboration is in bringing early education and primary health care (both development fundamentals) under one roof, working with the right strategic partners. This can be accomplished by transforming primary health centres in all wards into community-led integrated family centres (for early education, skills training, and primary health care). These integrated model service centres would also be data-rich centres to strengthen data registration systems and transmission. As I shared in my book, National Ambition Restructuring Nigeria, these facilities could also provide adult literacy and skills acquisition services and enable men and women to learn about nutrition, common health conditions, home care/treatment. Such integrated centres can also improve community spirit; create low and middle-level local jobs for the grassroots (retrained traditional birth attendants, village health workers, community extension workers, community nurses and midwives, community pharmacy technicians, and others, for task-shifting), and strengthen local governance.

There is however a genuine question about financing. Where will the money come from? How would we pay for it? The answers to these questions are in our worldview and national ambition. Sadly, we don’t ask these questions when spending priorities are on politicians and the rich, run opaque systems that allow corruption and when we give tax reliefs and create loopholes for the rich not to pay their fair share. It is time to increasingly look at improving access to quality education for all as an investment that would pay for itself in the near future and the ultimate insurance. It would pay in social and financial returns – in real economic terms – peaceful, secure and inclusive economy. This is given that we are successfully implementing the right strategies and there are no leakages to corruption. It is the proper thing to ring-fence investments in education.

But, education is also an industrial sector with value and supply chains. There are massive policy opportunities for the Minister and Ministry of Education in liaison with stakeholders to explore. What are the existing government policies that constrain private sector investments in education and the related sectors that supply inputs to education? How can these be resolved to grow, strengthen and deepen these value chains; create employment; increase tax receipts to increase funding for free compulsory early education up to secondary and vocational levels? What about promoting the adoption of some public schools for specific sponsorships by philanthropists and corporate citizens?

How can we finance tertiary education? Can there a targeted, and capped zero interest rate student loan possibility, given that most of the value and supply chain can be localised and Naira-denominated? Is there an opportunity for promoting STEM? What about the education, research, knowledge, and application into solving our power problems looking at renewable energy, building sustainable houses, transportation, digital technology, agriculture, healthcare, etc.? Could there be an opportunity here to inflate the Naira-economy given fiscal and monetary policy up- and down-sides and corruption to manage?

What the Ministers and the Ministry of Education can do right away

The Ministers and Ministry of Education can immediately start to reorganise the Ministry to be performance-driven. As I shared in my book, National Ambition Reconstructing Nigeria, one place to start is the website of the ministry. The latter including the website of the Departments, Agencies, Parastatals, Institutions, and Programs under the ministry can be integrated to provide services. These could include information communication and education to Nigerians on policies, procedures and processes and various programs. Clarity would improve access and attract investments into education and related sectors.

For example, in liaison with federal, states, local government and other stakeholders, it could provide guidelines (downloadable) on its website on standards for Nursery, Childcare, Primary and Secondary schools. In liaison with its agencies, states and local government, it can provide leadership on registration enforcement, accreditation and supervision systems, and an online database of all Nursery, Childcare, Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria by small area segments. It can also lead on establishing league tables based on standardised themes, including the establishment of criteria (enablers and enhancers) for assessing, scoring and grading the compliance of schools.

The above can create competition in continuous quality improvement amongst schools. The Federal Ministry of Education and its partners may also consider developing an online education platform or application looking at “life skills in Nigeria” such as ‘basic language and numeracy skills’, ‘know Nigeria challenge’, ‘accessing services especially for people with special needs’, ‘democracy and citizen’s rights’, ‘understanding Nigerian languages’, etc. This can be useful for continuous and life-long learning and doing, and strengthening Nigerians to become active citizens.

This article has been contributed towards promoting a better Nigeria for all. Our country is down already. We should not be easily satisfied with quick-wins and short-term gains that push the cans down the road. This approach will cause us long-term pains later. We should be far-sighted.