Education: The Padlock In Nigeria, Not The Key -By Peter Oyebanji

I had to pick up my pen this time, not to criticise Buhari, not to write about the insanity in Nigeria, not to write about the state of the country, not to write about the absurdity of religion, not to write about the calamitous ethnicity that is supposed to be an exhilarating thing, not to poeticise my feelings but to write about how the disaster in our education has peaked. It’s really saddening.

The most painful thing here is that the role the educators play in the destroying of education in Nigeria is as significant as the one the government plays. They are suposed to be the most active in keeping the government on their toes but it is none of their business as long as they go on strike occasionally to get funds that will later be misused. They make life difficult for students, give grades according to mood, how the class conform with their rules and reasoning. They disdain non-conformists and the ones opposed to the status quo, they are responsible for some of the unrealised potentials out there. As long as you go to classes regularly, cram the illogical materials they recommend for exams and sit in the front of the class; you’re the future of tomorrow. Isn’t that mind-blowing?

Honestly, I’d have absolutely disagreed if someone had told me that the management of a University, the highest place to get academically educated would one day utter that the lives of its students do not matter because they do not stay on campus. As in, I got admission into a university. I was unlucky not to get a bed space in the school hostel. I had to stay off-campus, which is initially unsecure. The school management then introduced a new accommodation policy that significantly increased the number of students staying off-campus. It led to insecurity that later escalated to constant robbery attacks that has led to lost of properties, lost of a student and lot of injuries sustained by students through matchetting and axing. And the best thing the management of my institution has done is giving a logical clarification on how the lives of the students staying off-campus is not their concern. It’s not just a university, it’s a university that would be among the first to be picked if there was an ivy league. Yes, you’re right; Nigerian Harvard. While Nigerian Harvard was at it, the pioneer university, another ivy league member was suspending her student for a protest he led in 2017 for the release of ID cards that have been paid for. The people carrying out these acts are Professours. If you ever develop any curiosity as regards the current state of the country, visit a Nigerian university.

Students and youths are meant to be the future of a country but the case here is different. Government keeps allocating less than 8 percent of the budget to the education sector and our lecturers still think the problems are smart phones. Education in Nigeria is tiring, dying, kills intelligence, fordone. And the ones that keep trying to revive it are loathed, subjected to punishment illegally by the managements. Education is not a key in Nigeria, it is a padlock that needs to be unlocked because in there is the sanity.

Peter Oyebanji is a student Journalist and a vast writer in Obafemi Awolowo University. He can be reached through
Gmail: adewuyipeter50@gmail.com
Twitter: anderpeter2