I do not want to be perceived as an antagonist of Professor (Senator) Jubrin Aminu. I have mentioned his name more than any other Nigerian on this blog since we started. Not for his good deed, but for the ills he caused Nigerian educational system. I understand that he is a good man, and I am not disputing that. Notwithstanding, all I know is that he fought against the introduction and implementation of free education at all levels in Nigeria when he was the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission. (By the way, there is a link to the memo elsewhere on this blog, I am not providing it this time). He argued vigorously and successfully that since northerners are not favorably disposed to western education, the idea should be rejected, because only southern children would take advantage of the project, if federal government introduce it nationally. According to him, free education would widen the educational gap between north and south the more. And our federal government bought his argument hook line and sinker.
That is our educational system today. Governors and Local Government Chairmen are busy buying houses overseas, building mansions at home, and laughing their way to the banks with our money, while Nigerian children keep paying exorbitant school fees and studying under dilapidated classrooms and hostile environment.
That is our educational system today. Governors and Local Government Chairmen are busy buying houses overseas, building mansions at home, and laughing their way to the banks with our money, while Nigerian children keep paying exorbitant school fees and studying under dilapidated classrooms and hostile environment.
What you are reading in the above (attached) story is the brain child of the same Professor Aminu. Nomadic education has never been a success story and it will never be. In one of our articles on this blog “The Search for a True Federalism: Balancing Feudal Interests with Southern Greed and Opportunism in Nigeria” posted on January 02, 2012, we digressed on this same issue and called for a nation-wide free and compulsory education at both elementary and secondary levels. We advised northern Governors to adopt the popular educational policy introduced by Governor Abubakar Rimi in Kano State in the Second Republic. We also made reference to Awo and UPN free education program that benefited everyone in the West and Midwestern region equally. It is not about religion and it is shouldn't be about Sharia. It is education, education, education. That was what Mr. Frank Olize of the NTA said about the health care, child marriage and educational challenges in the north about twenty years ago. Today, we are still talking about the same national malaise.
WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
My Father was a big time peasant farmer - he was into cultivation of yams. My step-Mom was into cassava planting (garri business), while my Mom was into merchandising - a wholesaler of yams, dried fish and Kain-kain. She would buy yams from Farmers in and around my Village, rent a truck (Big Lorry) through a "Chartered Man" and transport them to Warri and Sapele (sometimes with me) to sell to retailers, and on her way back, she would buy dried fish and Ogogoro to distribute to retailers in and around our village. My Dad had a thriving cocoa, rubber, and cola nuts plantations on the side as well. How he started, I do not know. I was very young when he died. What I do know or remember is that when he was with us, all his children would go to school in the weekdays and go to farm on weekends. He handled much of the farm-work using manual laborers. He took trade by barter to a new height; he would hire some of his mates and other grown up adults to work for him in the farm. At the end he would give them yams to plant during the next planting seasons. Most importantly, school was compulsory in our house - going to farm after school and on weekends was an obligation. It is the same story all over the whole of Ishan (Esan) land and Benin (Edo) communities when I was growing up. Even the Grammar School (boarding system) that I graduated from had a large farm where we grew yams, cassava, and pineapples. The School Principal and some of the Teachers had their farms too. It is a culture and a way of life.
In other words, going to farm did not stop us from going to school. And going to school did not stop us from going to farm. The Fulani children do not need special education or nomadic education. They need regular education like the Hausa children, like the Esan children, the Yoruba children, the Ibo children, the Ezon children, and every other kid growing up in Nigeria. Let the educational system be a uniform type and made compulsory under the control of the federal government. There must also be accountability. Governors and Commissioners for Education must account for the money they spent on each child. When you spend your entire educational budget each year to train less than twenty percent of the children who are of school going age in your state, why would we not have millionaire civil servant?
If we have a uniform system of education nation-wide, the people mentioned in that story would not have been so daring in their thievery of public funds. I went to graduate school in the Mountain areas of the US and took classes with some students who live in family farms and come to school directly from there – these are graduate students. And they don’t have problem introducing themselves as such. Most Nigerians in diaspora who live in and around the Midwest can attest to that. The fact that they are farmers or live in family farms is not of any hindrance to acquiring advance education.
Enough of nomadic education in Nigeria; let’s have a uniform educational system. All the talk about western education is 'haram' is a complete hogwash to deceive and dominate the talakawa. The educated Fulani’s and those in and out of Government should take the initiative and go back to the community, the country side to drum the importance of western education to the nomadic families. Going to school never stop you from going to farm and going to farm should not stop you from going to school.
I would like to point out that as far as government involvement in our education goes in Nigeria, most influential or vocal northern political leaders are responsible for the abysmal failure of the educational system in the northern part of the country and Nigeria at large. They are always worried about the money that would go to south if free education is introduced. If it is true as they have always argued that they have the population, then they should encourage the children who are roaming the streets to go to school. It is unpatriotic to keep using bogus population advantage to enjoy federal grants that do not go to the educational needs of our kids.
I would like to point out that as far as government involvement in our education goes in Nigeria, most influential or vocal northern political leaders are responsible for the abysmal failure of the educational system in the northern part of the country and Nigeria at large. They are always worried about the money that would go to south if free education is introduced. If it is true as they have always argued that they have the population, then they should encourage the children who are roaming the streets to go to school. It is unpatriotic to keep using bogus population advantage to enjoy federal grants that do not go to the educational needs of our kids.
I drove from New York to Denver by road about two years ago and what I saw was a study in amazement. Immediately I left Kansas City, Missouri, what I saw next on 'Interstate 70 Colorado West Bound' through Kansa state, was farm, farm, and farm on both sides of the road. I am talking of a journey of about ten hours drive through one state. They have villages, banks, schools, hospitals, gas stations, and recreational centers along the route. Families and generations live there.
We can do the same for the Fulani children inside of the federal grazing reserve mentioned in the article. Any special fund or set aside fund for nomadic education is like the security vote; they are avenue to enrich some people. It is not just about initiating policies, but implementation comes first. We have twelve months in a year and the nomads are not always on the road all year round. Therefore, we should take advantage of the raining season when they are not migrating down south in search of fresher vegetation or greener pasture. That is the time to concentrate on educating these children. If we have to alter or design a specific school calendar (without altering the national curriculum) to suit their grazing work, it is okay. But please enough of the set-aside or special fund or grant. A child who graduate from school and want to join the family business can do so, but not without basic education. And that's where government insistence must come in.
We can do the same for the Fulani children inside of the federal grazing reserve mentioned in the article. Any special fund or set aside fund for nomadic education is like the security vote; they are avenue to enrich some people. It is not just about initiating policies, but implementation comes first. We have twelve months in a year and the nomads are not always on the road all year round. Therefore, we should take advantage of the raining season when they are not migrating down south in search of fresher vegetation or greener pasture. That is the time to concentrate on educating these children. If we have to alter or design a specific school calendar (without altering the national curriculum) to suit their grazing work, it is okay. But please enough of the set-aside or special fund or grant. A child who graduate from school and want to join the family business can do so, but not without basic education. And that's where government insistence must come in.
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