EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: MEETING THE UN POST-2015DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

KEYNOTE SPEECH PRESENTED AT THE 2015 NATIONAL CONFERENCEOF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN,

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL, 2015

**GODSWILL OBIOMA

Professor of Mathematics Education and Evaluation

FORMER EXECUTIVE SECRETARY NERDC and VISITINGPROFESSOR, NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, LAGOS

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e-mail: obyswill@yahoo.com

EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: MEETING THE UN POST-2015DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

INTRODUCTION

I am delighted and deeply honoured to be invited topresent the Keynote Speech at the 2015 NationalConference of the Faculty of Education, University ofIbadan. Let me first congratulate the Faculty ofEducation University of Ibadan, the organisers ofthis conference, for choosing the theme; Revitalizationof Nigerian Educational System for Relevance and Development atthis auspicious time of seeking ways and strategy todeepen the quest for quality education at all levelsin Nigeria. It will be recalled that Nigeria has setfor herself the Vision 20-2020 where it is hopedthat Nigeria becomes one of the 20 key economicplanners globally by the year 2020. In other words,making her ‘one of the largest economies in the world, able toconsolidate its leadership role in Africa and establish itself as asignificant player in the global economic and political arena’.

Education as an instrument per excellence for socialand economic reconstruction of communities andnations, is definitely very vital in realising theideals of Vision 20-2020. Therefore as we fastapproach the magic year of 2020 (which of course isonly five years way), we need to deepen theconversations on:

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what is the current state of education inNigeria?

will the current state of education in Nigeriabe able to meet the targets set out in Vision20-2020?

In the event there are gaps, what can be doneto close these in the process of revitalisationof the education in Nigeria?

I have chosen to be part of these importantconversations. And in order to further deepen thedebate, I have taken the liberty to contextualise myhumble input within the perspective of the largerconversations on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda.I assert this because, any efforts geared towardrevitalising education in Nigeria for relevance anddevelopment should take account of the conversationson the Post 2015 UN Agenda and the outcomes. Thus Ihave elected to dwell on the topic: Education inNigeria: Meeting the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda.

Before I share my thoughts on this topic, I wish tohumbly state that generally, in the last decade orso, I have been directly involved in the quest forreforms in education in Nigeria. For instance duringmy tenure as the Executive Secretary of the NigerianEducational Research and Development Council, whichexpired on March 7, 2015, I promoted and coordinatedschool curriculum reforms in Nigeria withaccompanying instructional resource materials at theBasic and Senior Secondary Education. Thesecurriculum reforms were designed to meet local needsas well as global competitiveness. In particular, the

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Revised 9-year Basic Education Curriculumincorporated such new subjects as Basic Science andTechnology, Pre-Vocational Studies, Religion andNational Values (which includes Security Education)and Reading as a component of English Studies. TheNew Secondary Education Curriculum besides beingrestructured into four Fields of Studies, namely,Science and Mathematics, Humanities, Technology andBusiness Studies also incorporatedTrade/Entrepreneurship subjects as compulsory for allstudents. More elaborate discussions on this can befound in Obioma (2014).

I was part of the team that prepared the Roadmap forthe Nigerian Education Sector in 2009 and wasappointed to Chair the Steering and ImplementationCommittee. The Roadmap specified four focal areasnamely:

Access and Equity Standards and Quality Assurance Technical and Vocational Education and Training Funding, Resource Mobilisation and Utilisation

The following year 2010, I coordinated theuncoupling of a 1-Year Strategy for the Developmentof the Education Sector (May 2010-April 2011) fromthe Roadmap and also was appointed to Chair itsimplementation. The Strategy included two more focalareas:

Strengthening the Institutional Management ofEducation

Teacher Education and Development4

After an appreciable and effective implementation ofthe Strategy, we expanded it to a 4-Year StrategicPlan for the Development of the Education Sector(2011-2015) while retaining the six priority areasbut incorporating those elements that were left outin the 1-Year Strategy from the Roadmap. Of coursethe 4-Year Strategic Plan demonstrated anunprecedented continuity in public policy. Theimplementation of the 4-Year Strategic Plan was notonly on course but also effective. In July 2014 I wasappointed to coordinate the preparation of thedocument: Consolidating the Transformation in theEducation Sector (July 2014-May 2015) as well asChair its implementation. The underlying philosophyof this document, which also maintained the keyfeatures of the 4-Year Strategic Plan was toconsolidate on the gains recorded in the Plan butwith greater emphasis on such areas as Maintainingindustrial harmony within the sector, QualityAssurance, Resumption of academic activities in theNorth East and other areas where insecurity hadresulted to the internal displacement of persons,Teacher development and welfare. For details of thesedocuments reference can be made to the sitewww.educationstrategy.info.

Finally, I coordinated the revision of the 2004National Policy on Education to upgrade it to thedraft 2007 edition and the 2013 edition. Thepreparation of the 2013 edition was as a result ofthe report of the Presidential Task Team on Educationwhich recommended that the review and upgrading of

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the National Policy on Education should take accountof the developments in education and the sub sectorsof the economy. The 2013 edition of the NationalPolicy on Education can be accessed from the sitewww.nerdc.ng. However key highlights include;

the consolidation of pre-primary, primary andjunior secondary education to a 10-year BasicEducation in line with UBE and its establishmentAct;

improved quality assurance in the school system development and maintenance a credible National

Management and Information System (NEMIS) effective use of strategic planning to improve

the quality of education provision and servicedelivery

improving teacher quality elimination of overlaps in the coordination

education programmes across all tiers ofgovernment.

Besides all of these reform efforts and others whichtime and scope limit their presentation in thisspace, the quest for education reform is still openas continual emerging issues locally and in theglobal context tend to keep it so.

Having made these late remarks, I wish to invite youto join me in this conversation which I will engagearound the following issues:

The context in which we shall attempt tohighlight some of the key issues regarding theconversations and debates on the Post-2015

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international development and education agenda.These will provide the basis for identifying thegaps in education in Nigeria with a view tocharting the way of the future

A pre-view of some relevant statistics ofNigeria. This will point to the rational for therole education is expected to play in theperspective of social and economic development

A brief review of the state of education inNigeria and in the process identify the gapsagainst the backdrop of the outcomes of theconversations on the Post-2015 Education andDevelopment Agenda

Recommendations on bridging the gaps and chartingthe path for the future

THE CONTEXT

The time line for the International Agreed Goals, theEducation for All Goals (EFA) and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG) is set globally at 2015.There are eight MDG's (en.wikipedia.org) two of whichrelate directly or indirectly to education. Theseare:

eradicate extreme poverty and hunger achieve universal primary education promote gender equality promote global partnerships for development

On the other hand there are six EFA goals:

expand early childhood care and education

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provide free and compulsory primary education forall

promote life skills for the young and adult increase adult literacy achieve gender parity improve quality of education

The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) was set up tomonitor the attainments of these internationallyagreed goals of development.

Countries are expected to draw up locally compliantstrategies to try to achieve these goals by the year.In sum, the depth and scope of attainment vary acrosscountries skewing positively in favour of developedeconomies. The GMR show that most low and middleincome countries, including Nigeria, may not be ableto fully attain these goals by 2015. These gave riseto the promotion of strategies and initiatives (seefor instance the initiative of the Global Partnershipon Education) to fast track the attainment of thesegoals in the affected countries.

In the last two to three years ago, debates werebeing organised regarding both the EFA goals as wellas MDG's in the perspective of the Post-2015International Development and Education Agenda. Forinstance the Regional High Level Expert Meetingorganised by UNESCO in Bangkok in May 2012 identifiedthe following issues as relevant for the post-2015Agenda:

more emphasis on learning not just in access issues of equity and quality

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teachers capacity in terms of retooling skills inteaching and departing from the traditional modeof instructional delivery

skills development in the youths rethinking education in broader socio-economic

sense, laying emphasis on human management andsocial justice.

Specifically in 2012, the UN Secretary- General setup a UN Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development.The Task Team submitted a Think Piece whose majorhighlights are summarised below:

Enabling and driving inclusive and sustainableeducation. This recognises education as animportant catalyst for achieving all developmentgoals. The quality of learning in theperspective of equity should become a key issue.

The issue of quality of learning should be moreamplified. Mere participation in the educationprocess is not enough but rather what isactually learned (knowledge, skills competenciesand values)

Emerging trends should be considered in thefuture of education. Such factors as wideninginequality, growing youth unemployment all ofwhich exacerbate social exclusion and underminessocial cohesion are to take the front burner.The rise of emerging new technologies hasaccelerated the production and circulation ofknowledge.

There should be a shift away from teaching to anincreased focus on learning changing the role of

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the teacher as a facilitator rather than adispenser of knowledge.

Life-long learning is expected to utilise newtechnologies to meet the challenges of newprofessions and associated skills need

Future learning will blur boundaries betweenlearning, working and living and in the processemphasise work-based learning for youths andadults

There should be a redefinition of minimalisticfunctional literacy and numeracy to address theissue of adequate literacy, information andmedia literacy required in the digital world

employability challenges should be addressed inthe perspectives of transition from school towork

Development of more responsive education andskills policies that include greaterdiversification and flexibility

Finally we refer to the Experts meeting on KeyCurricular and Learning Issues in Post-2015 Educationand Development Agenda organised by the UNESCOInternational Bureau of Education in Geneva onSeptember 25, 2014. The outcomes of that meetingintended to contribute to the international debatereflected the following key issues:

The narrowing issue of 'quality of learning' Curriculum is at the heart of learning Teachers are essential component of quality

learning

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Access and quality dimensions are inseparableand intertwined.

The following major points can be summarised from theabove debates and conversations on the Post-2015Development and Education Agenda:

More emphasis on quality of learning and takingaccount of equity

Curriculum and assessment should be at the heartof learning

Teachers continue to be essential in the qualityof learning but utilising new technologies tofacilitate, rather than dispensing theacquisition of knowledge, skills and values

employability challenges should be addressed inthe perspectives of transition from school towork as well as laying emphasise work-basedlearning for youths and adults

Development of more responsive education andskills policies that include greaterdiversification and flexibility

A PRE-VIEW OF SOME RELEVANT STATISTICS

A pre-view of some vital statistics in Nigeria willprovide the necessary background and in the processshow case the potentials of Nigeria and at the sametime expose the draw backs in social and economicdevelopment. Since education plays a key role in thedevelopment of communities and nations, any strategy

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at revitalisation of education in Nigeria within thecontext of the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda,should take account of this background.

By 2013 Nigeria had grown to become the biggesteconomy in Africa beating South Africa to the secondplace along the parametric grid. In fact, with a GDPof US$ 509.9, Nigeria ranks 26th in the world.Nigeria has huge potential and endowed with richnatural resources, although and unfortunately thecountry largely depends on a mono driven economy,that is oil. The country is supported by a largepopulation of 178,516,904 by July 2014. Thispopulation is projected at 182,175,270 by 2015. Thismakes the country the largest population both inAfrica and indeed the largest black nation.

Half of this population is made up of youths, whoseages range from 15 to 34 years. However the sad newsis that by 2012, the unemployed population wasestimated at 11.1 million. The unemployment rate by2011 was 23.9%. Thus the figure of the unemployedyouth will have risen by 2015. We note that 2/3 ofthis population or 7.4 million represents youths aged15-24.

The essence of presenting these vital statistics isto draw attention to the fact that any efforts in therevitalisation of education in Nigeria for relevanceand development efforts should factor in sustainablegrowth of the economy as well as preparing youthswith employable skills.

A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA12

The state of education in Nigeria in the last fiveyears or so has been adequately documented. See forinstance: Obioma (2014) on school curriculum;Nwokeocha (2013) and Obioma (2010) on teachereducation and development; Obioma and Ubani (2014) onemerging public policies; Obioma (2010) on educationreforms.

Until 2006, pre-tertiary curriculum remained stagnantas there was no review of the school curriculum forover twenty years or so. This affected the contentsof what learners were taught and the quality ofeducation offered. However between 2006 and 2008,there was aggressive reforms in school curriculumwhich yielded the 9-year Basic Education Curriculum(BEC) and the new Senior Secondary EducationCurriculum (SSEC). The latest review of the BEC whichtook place in 2013 was in response to reduce thesubject over load while not compromising quality. Theimplementation of the SSEC commenced in 2011 whilethat of the revised BEC commenced in September 2014.However in a recent study Obioma et al (2014),reported that the SSEC in general does not havetransferable skills embedded in the contents.

The academic programmes of universities andpolytechnics have essentially remained traditionaland stagnant. This has often resulted to theproduction of unemployable graduates with little orno entrepreneurship skills and facing obviouschallenges in the perspective of globalcompetitiveness. This is compounded by the everdecaying infrastructure and obsolete equipment and

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facilities in tertiary institutions. Old regime offunding tertiary institutions and rewarding teachersat that level has often led to incessant industrialactions and epileptic academic calendars.

Although the National Certificate of Education (NCE)was prescribed as the minimum qualification forteaching in primary schools, there still existunqualified teachers and even 'secondarians' inschools in some state. This scenario continues toplay itself out in some parts of the North. This isdespite the efforts of the National TeachersInstitute in upgrading of such teachers. The othercompounding factor is that the post-trainingperformance of the upgraded teachers have recentlycome under public scrutiny and criticisms due to whatis perceived as poor output. Pre-service teachers ongraduation for basic education have not done verywell either in coping with the implementing therevised BEC. Part of this reason is that theprogrammes in Colleges of Education has not beenproperly harmonised with the BEC . There is adearth of well qualified and well motivated teachersin tertiary institutions.

There had been an upsurge in public policy reforms ineducation since 2000, that is, at the beginning ofthe new democratic dispensation. The adoption of freeand compulsory UBE in 2000, marked a major policyshift where it is expected that public education willbe free and compulsory for the first nine years ofschool. Most recently the revised and upgraded 2013edition of the National Policy on Education has

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incorporated pre-school as part of free andcompulsory UBE. An Act establishing the UniversalBasic Education Commission was passed into law in2004 in order to effectively drive the implementationof the free and compulsory UBE.

Some data are also indicators of the state ofeducation in Nigeria.

Table 1: School Enrolment in Public and PrivateSchools in Nigeria*

No.ofpublic sch

Maleenrolment

Femaleenrolment

No.ofptesch

Maleenrolment

Femaleenrolment

PS 54054 11057069

10711433

32187 1930824 1046049

JSS 21548 2668721 2375706 10376 563238 571099SSS 9881 2150170 1781451 11025 641790 569394

*Source NEMIS Federal Ministry of Education (2014)

The total school enrolment in public primary schoolsis 21,768.502 with parity almost being achievedbetween males and females. Similar trends exist forprivate schools. Transition from primary schools tojunior secondary schools is very low with only5,044,427 in public junior secondary schools. Eventhe inclusion of enrolment in private schools do notmake much difference. The scenario in seniorsecondary schools is even more pathetic with only5,142,805 enrolment.

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Specific public policy reforms from 2006 to dateinclude:

Draft National Book Policy (2006) expected todrive book development and quality assurancefor school texts. Up till now the NationalBook Policy, inexplicably, is yet to beapproved.

Community Accountability and Transparency andInitiative (CATI) (2006) to increasetransparency and due process in the spendingof funds in the execution of UBE programmesand projects in communities. CATI wasunfortunately dead on arrival

Roadmap for the Education Sector (2009) whichfor the first time articulated in a cohesiveand compressive manner education reforms. Itwas adopted by the National Council onEducation and approved as a guide to improvethe education sector by the Federal ExecutiveCouncil in June 2009. Some of the initiativesassociated with the Roadmap include: Nationalcampaign for access to education;strengthening and enhancing vocationalenterprise institutions and innovativeinstitutions; strengthen inspectoral servicesfor quality assurance; promotion of privatesector investment in education; expand thecarrying capacity of universities and othertertiary institutions; establish themodalities for the award of B.Tech bypolytechnics and relevant colleges of

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education; strengthen NEMIS; finalise theimplementation of the UTME; refocus andreposition ETF; ensure timely review ofcurricula at all levels.

1-Year Strategy for the Development of theNigerian Education Sector (June 2010-July2011) which incorporated two more priorityareas. These had been stated earlier

4-Year Strategic Plan for the Development ofthe Nigerian Education Sector (2011-2015)which expanded the scope of the 1-YearStrategy. Both plans were uncoupled from theRoadmap.

A Strategy Plan on Consolidating theTransformation in the Education Sector (July2014-May 2015) which is aimed atconsolidating the gains of the Roadmap andthe ensuing plans.

In sum, policy reforms in Nigeria have made someimpact but not to the maximal level desired. This isgenerally due to lack of inclusive process in theirimplementation as well cohesive institutionalframework to enable buy-in by states, localgovernment and community stakeholders. The othercompounding factor is that reform plans were oftennot backed up by appropriate budgetary provisions andlegislations.

CLOSING THE GAPS: THE WAY OF THE FUTURE

The following gaps can be identified from thediscussions above:

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pre-tertiary curriculum did not in generalincorporate transferable of skills which willhave enhanced the employability opportunities ofthe graduates

university and other tertiary academic programmehave tended to remain traditional and stagnantover the years. This has affected the smoothtransition from school to work by the graduates

systematic decaying infrastructure and facilitiesin tertiary institutions despite huge publicinvestments

low teacher capacity in terms of knowledge,competency and modern skills at all levels ofeducation

given the trend in school enrolment theattainment of free and compulsory UBE by 2015 isvery bleak

public policy reforms lack appropriate budgetaryprovisions and inclusive institutional frameworkfor their implementation

The above analysis is not exhausted and limited bythe scope of this presentation.

Any strategies to be evolved to close these gaps inthe process of revitalising education in Nigeria forrelevance and development should considered withinthe context of the conversations and debates on thePost-2015 UN Development Agenda. We now raise thefollowing recommendations on the way of the future:

Curriculum at all school levels should bereviewed and upgraded taking into consideration

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that curriculum and assessment should be at theheart of learning. In reviewing curriculumconscious efforts should be made to incorporatetransferable skills.

In particular, academic programmes inuniversities and other tertiary institutionsshould be overhauled to link courses to therelevant world of work so that as to rendertransition from school to work seamless.

employability of the youth population can beenhanced by taking account that a lot ofemployability skills can be acquired outsidethe traditional and formal learning systems.Work place learning and open learning systemsenable youths and adult learners acquirerelevant knowledge, skills and values requiredto engage their modern world of work. Thusdeliberate policy should be developed on life-long learning with appropriate new technologiethat drive and enhance independent learning

Teacher education programmes at all levelsshould be completely overhauled. With new modeof learning being facilitated by newtechnologies, teachers at all levels should beprepared to facilitate learning not dispensersof knowledge. Besides the education andtraining of pre-service teacher based on thisnew regime, programmes should be designedv toupgrade serving teachers at all levels

Although conversations on the Post-2015Development and Education Agenda tend to lay

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more emphasis on relevance and quality oflearning, yet given our peculiar countrycontexts we should continue to consider thechallenges of access alongside quality. This isvery important given the current trend inschool enrolment.

Public policy reforms and plans should be backedby appropriate legislations and budgetaryprovisions at all levels of government. Suchreforms should be geared toward responsiveeducation and skills policies that includegreater diversification and flexibility

For effective implementation, inclusiveinstitutional framework that will enable theactive participation of all stakeholders.

Selected References

Federal Ministry of Education (2009): Roadmap for the NigerianEducation Sector.

Federal Ministry of Education (2010): One-Year Strategy forthe Development of the Education Sector (May2010-April 201

Federal Ministry of Education (2011): 4-Year Strategic Planfor the Development of the Education Sector (2011-2015)

High Level Expert Meeting on Post-2015 Development andEducation Agenda organised by UNESCO in Bankok May 2012; en-wikipedia.org

International Bureau of Education (2013): Learning in thePost-2015 Education and development Agenda; InternationalExpert Meeting organised by UNESCO IBE, Geneva 23-25 September

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Nwokeocha, S (2013): Nigeria, Managing Teacher Education andPractice in era of Transformation; Centurion South Africa,Africa Forum of Teaching Regulatory Authorities #of pages 377

Obioma,G; Apeji, E; Omole, D; Lawani, M (2014) Assessing softskills contents of basic and senior secondary education curriculum in Nigeria,Journal of Educational Assessment in Africa, vol 9, pp72-79

Obioma, G (2010 a): Education reforms in nigeria; in Akande, SO andKumuyi, AJ (ed), Nigeria at 50 Accomplishments, Challenges andProspects, Ibadan, NISER. pp509-522

Obioma, G (2010 b): Reconstructing Teacher Education andDevelopment in Nigeria for Global Competitiveness; KeynoteAddress presented at the 2nd International Conference onTeacher Education organised by the Faculty of EducationUniversity of Calabar in collaboration with Teachers Borders,Seattle, Washington, 7-10 SeptemberObioma, G (2014) Innovations In The Nigerian Education System:What is New About The School Curriculum?, Keynote address atthe 4th National Conference of the Institute of EducationUniversity of Uyo, 11 June

Obioma, G and Ubani, C (2014): Emerging public policies in the nigerianeducation sector: a focus on access and quality, in Nwagwu, NA and Ivowi,UMO (ed), Education in Nigeria, Lagos, Foremost EducationalServices Ltd, pp381-396

UN Task Team on Post-2015 Development Agenda, Think Piece, 2012,en-wikipedia.org

** Godswill Obioma is the President of the Governing Councilof the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE), Geneva

UNDERGRADUATE ENROLMENTS IN NIGERIANUNIVERSITIES (with the entry of Private

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Universities)

S/N YEAR

Federal State

Private Total

11999/2000

312,344

134,166 1,720

448,230

22000/2001

320,465

188,559 4,105

513,129

32001/2002

353,619

148,909 7,362

509,890

42002/2003

393,138

218,678

14,285

626,101

52003/2004

445,859

216,753

20,153

727,765

62004/2005

456,763

246,931

21,162

724,856

72005/2006

467,228

298,941

37,323

803,492

82006/2007

468,745

316,457

39,333

824,535

92007/2008

511,606

270,437

56,063

838,106

102008/2009

512,501

269,753

57,912

840,166

112009/2010

497,258

285,647

59,314

842,219

122010/2011

506,358

293,622

65,112

865,092

132011/2012

561,742

358,975

62,174

982,891

142012/2013

761,363

438,642

74,260

1,274,265

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