Sections
Poll: UK military offer
Do you support UK's military assistance as a way of fighting militancy and smuggling in Niger Delta?
Imagine 11 million more criminals by 2015
Font size:
One area of socio-economic life where most citizens and sojourners in Nigeria will like to see change is that of the insecurity that reigns across the country.
The streets and neighbourhoods of this country are ruled both day and night by armed robbers and kidnappers, while her creeks in the Niger Delta region are under the control of vicious militants prepared to snatch babies from maternity wards for ransom.
Many sociologists, criminologists and police officers agree that, barring the tiny minority of conscientious poor people, poverty is central to criminality. That is why it is so depressing to learn from our Education Minister that millions of children who should be in school are roaming the streets, learning how to be street-wise. The Minister's report, presented during the inauguration of the 2008 'Education for All' week, revealed that 11 million Nigerian children (almost 14 percent of the global total) are roaming the streets despite Nigeria's re-affirmation in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000, of her commitment to deliver 'Education for All' by 2015.
Courageously enough, the figure released by the Education Minister was one million higher than the one released recently by UNICEF, which claimed that no less than 10 million Nigerian children of school age are out of school. Of this number, 4.7 million are of primary school age while 5.3 million are of secondary school age, with girls constituting 62 per cent of the total, while 38 per cent are boys.
Let it be known to the Honourable Minister of Education that eight years have already been wasted and 2015 is only seven years away. If he does nothing to combat the so-called "teething problems" preventing those children from attending school, Nigeria stands the risk of producing an average of one armed robber, a prostitute and a 419 scammer in every street by 2015. Although this may sound alarmist, it is real. If 11 million children, none of whose parents are Ministers, Governors, President, Vice President, legislators, Councillors, powerful politicians, top civil servants, generals, etc, are out of school, it is due to poverty.
Since poverty and crime are Siamese twins, our country risks adding almost 11 million more robbers to its present population of criminals. Poverty is the only major obstacle preventing young children and those with special needs in education from access to and retention in educational institutions. It is for precisely this reason that governments across the world make basic education free, compulsory and a fundamental human right. Nigeria should be no exception to this humane global practise. After all, many of those who rule us and loot our nation's treasury today probably would never have seen the four walls of a classroom but for the free education programmes implemented by various Nigerian governments in the past at a time when Nigeria was not half as rich as it is today. Our governments at all levels need to improve on their records if 'Education for All' by 2015 is to be attained. There is no easy walk to education for all in any nation. It takes hard work and commitment.
However, the solution is not limited to getting children off the streets into classrooms. If children end up in ill-equipped, dilapidated schools where poor teachers are more committed to corridor trading than teaching, they will eventually return to the streets. Any approach to attaining 'Education for All' by 2015 therefore, must be multi-dimensional in order for it to be successful. Not only must there be a commitment to getting the children back into educational institutions, education must be of good quality, affordable and accessible. In the UK for instance, children from low income families are paid weekly allowances by government to remain in school until they are 18 years old. Yet in Nigeria, an adult 47 year-old nation, where most children need no persuasion to acquire education that many see as an escape route out of poverty, we are having "teething problems".
Government needs to put measures in place to ensure that free, good quality education is delivered to our children in schools across Nigeria. It is not enough for schools to remain paralysed by teachers' strikes for most parts of the academic session over non-payment of salaries or over government's refusal to honour its agreements with teachers' and lecturers' trade union organisations. A wise nation would also set aside a substantial part of the current oil windfall for investment in the educational sector rather than share the proceeds to States to expend as they deem fit.
Additionally, good quality education must deliver benefits both to society and the educated. Currently, millions of highly educated Nigerians are roaming the streets in search of jobs. Hundreds of thousands without godfathers take to crime out of frustration over their inability to secure gainful employment, while many more die without ever working after spending several years in schools acquiring certificates. In Nigeria today, the Golden Fleece has turned rubbish and must be polished by the dexterity of crafty godfathers to be appreciated by employers. Gone are those days when education was a Golden Fleece. Children need to be guaranteed good quality education and at the end of their educational pursuits, access to gainful employment. To do otherwise is to guarantee the emergence of a new crop of violent criminals by 2015, by which time the present crop of armed robbers would have reached retirement age anyway. Human resource planning means planning for a nation's future workforce through good quality education and training. Obviously, these cannot be acquired on the streets for to be streetwise is to be criminally-minded.
Many sociologists, criminologists and police officers agree that, barring the tiny minority of conscientious poor people, poverty is central to criminality. That is why it is so depressing to learn from our Education Minister that millions of children who should be in school are roaming the streets, learning how to be street-wise. The Minister's report, presented during the inauguration of the 2008 'Education for All' week, revealed that 11 million Nigerian children (almost 14 percent of the global total) are roaming the streets despite Nigeria's re-affirmation in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000, of her commitment to deliver 'Education for All' by 2015.
Courageously enough, the figure released by the Education Minister was one million higher than the one released recently by UNICEF, which claimed that no less than 10 million Nigerian children of school age are out of school. Of this number, 4.7 million are of primary school age while 5.3 million are of secondary school age, with girls constituting 62 per cent of the total, while 38 per cent are boys.
Let it be known to the Honourable Minister of Education that eight years have already been wasted and 2015 is only seven years away. If he does nothing to combat the so-called "teething problems" preventing those children from attending school, Nigeria stands the risk of producing an average of one armed robber, a prostitute and a 419 scammer in every street by 2015. Although this may sound alarmist, it is real. If 11 million children, none of whose parents are Ministers, Governors, President, Vice President, legislators, Councillors, powerful politicians, top civil servants, generals, etc, are out of school, it is due to poverty.
Since poverty and crime are Siamese twins, our country risks adding almost 11 million more robbers to its present population of criminals. Poverty is the only major obstacle preventing young children and those with special needs in education from access to and retention in educational institutions. It is for precisely this reason that governments across the world make basic education free, compulsory and a fundamental human right. Nigeria should be no exception to this humane global practise. After all, many of those who rule us and loot our nation's treasury today probably would never have seen the four walls of a classroom but for the free education programmes implemented by various Nigerian governments in the past at a time when Nigeria was not half as rich as it is today. Our governments at all levels need to improve on their records if 'Education for All' by 2015 is to be attained. There is no easy walk to education for all in any nation. It takes hard work and commitment.
However, the solution is not limited to getting children off the streets into classrooms. If children end up in ill-equipped, dilapidated schools where poor teachers are more committed to corridor trading than teaching, they will eventually return to the streets. Any approach to attaining 'Education for All' by 2015 therefore, must be multi-dimensional in order for it to be successful. Not only must there be a commitment to getting the children back into educational institutions, education must be of good quality, affordable and accessible. In the UK for instance, children from low income families are paid weekly allowances by government to remain in school until they are 18 years old. Yet in Nigeria, an adult 47 year-old nation, where most children need no persuasion to acquire education that many see as an escape route out of poverty, we are having "teething problems".
Government needs to put measures in place to ensure that free, good quality education is delivered to our children in schools across Nigeria. It is not enough for schools to remain paralysed by teachers' strikes for most parts of the academic session over non-payment of salaries or over government's refusal to honour its agreements with teachers' and lecturers' trade union organisations. A wise nation would also set aside a substantial part of the current oil windfall for investment in the educational sector rather than share the proceeds to States to expend as they deem fit.
Additionally, good quality education must deliver benefits both to society and the educated. Currently, millions of highly educated Nigerians are roaming the streets in search of jobs. Hundreds of thousands without godfathers take to crime out of frustration over their inability to secure gainful employment, while many more die without ever working after spending several years in schools acquiring certificates. In Nigeria today, the Golden Fleece has turned rubbish and must be polished by the dexterity of crafty godfathers to be appreciated by employers. Gone are those days when education was a Golden Fleece. Children need to be guaranteed good quality education and at the end of their educational pursuits, access to gainful employment. To do otherwise is to guarantee the emergence of a new crop of violent criminals by 2015, by which time the present crop of armed robbers would have reached retirement age anyway. Human resource planning means planning for a nation's future workforce through good quality education and training. Obviously, these cannot be acquired on the streets for to be streetwise is to be criminally-minded.
Add to:
del.icio.us |
Digg
del.icio.us |
Digg
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain textRate this article
Comments ( posted):
Post your comment