Concluded ASUU Strike - Policy and Politics in Nigeria (Part II)

This appeal to Mr President is being made with all seriousness because he is the first and probably the last elected president with a doctorate degree (Ph. D) by examination. The President and his advisers should know that quality education at all levels is a commodity that is currently in short supply in the nation. It should be viewed as an infrastructure with roads and power to form an economic triad that will bring in foreign direct investments, increase manufacturing base and grow the economy with creation of good paying jobs.

This President knows there are two sovereign nations that are only 12 and 13 years older than Nigeria; both are nuclear powers, namely Israel (1947) and Pakistan (1948). In stark contrast Nigerian schools and universities have shortages of science and maths teachers and have neither respectable Physics departments nor pipe borne water supply to all Chemistry laboratories in 2013. Furthermore there is no incentive to train and induce Science, Maths and engineering teachers in the nation. One of the biggest errors made by Pakistan after her creation was the relatively low budgetary allocation to education that subsequently undermined her economy to date. Nigeria should avoid making the same costly mistake and should therefore implement the agreed demands of ASUU or get financial help/loans from friendly countries like the USA and Britain. Incidentally, both Pakistan and Israel receive huge amounts of aid in billions of dollars from America whereas Nigeria gets peanuts only to strengthen her democracy and protect our oil supply to the developed world.

My attention has just been drawn to Walter Carrington's brilliant convocation lecture at University of Ilorin in 2013. As a past "liberator" of Nigeria he did not address the question of who stole the prosperity of Nigeria? Apart from corruption which he emphasized and which is a universal trait there are other ancillary factors that contribute effectively to developmental stagnation in critical sectors of Nigeria's growth. These factors need to be addressed. For example emigration to the US, UK and the developed world should be blamed for the quiet loss of our prosperity over time. While this is referred to as "brain sharing" instead of "brain drain" what is Nigeria getting in return for this brain sharing apart from remittances being sent home by Nigerian immigrants in Diaspora. Should we not ask for help with improving our educational standards? President Kennedy sent Peace corps staff to Nigeria. Can we not ask the US and UK for peace corps teachers in science and maths to help in our secondary schools and even more important teachers for our vocational schools? In addition to asking for "drones" to silent the Boko Haram and Ansaru terrorists can sting operations not be conducted by the developed world to expose those stealing our oil on a daily basis?. These are policy issues that are distinct from politics. The national interests of each country should be respected and considered.

Source: AllAfrica

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