Infrastructure, education and the example of Abia State

It is common knowledge that a few weeks ago, the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, inaugurated a 188-megawatt geometric power plant in Aba, Abia State, to accelerate the supply of energy to industrial clusters in the region.

The power plant is a private sector initiative and is described as the first and largest integrated power facility in Nigeria, located in the Osisioma Industrial Zone in the southeastern state and it is understood that Aba Power Limited Electric, a new electricity distribution company (DiCo) will draw electricity from the plant and supply it to nine local government units – out of 17 – in Abia State.

Although this feat is celebrated, what seems very interesting is the remark of the state governor that “When he first saw the proposal for a geometrically integrated power plant, he knew that he had to commit to it immediately, because if only 50 percent of what was proposed solutions could be achieved , the industrial production of this great city and its surroundings would triple and, in the short and intermediate term, millions of new jobs would be created directly and indirectly. The success of the energy project will send a clear signal to local and international investors that Aba is open for business. He stated.

Indeed, while the state governor’s decision to join this initiative and his commendable efforts in other sectors, especially as the state’s infrastructure continues to be commendable, Governor Alex Otti’s recent allocation of 20 percent of the state’s 2024 annual budget to the education sector remains a positive development for the country that deserves our collective recognition.

In addition to demonstrating the government’s unwavering commitment to maximizing the potential of these key sectors, which will ultimately benefit our citizens, the allocation of 20% and 15% of the 2024 annual national budget to education and health respectively represents a historic milestone in Nigeria’s budgeting.

Successive administrations at the state and federal levels have done very little to fund education. This has led to the multi-faceted challenges we face today. To illustrate: a specific report from 2013 that described as numbing the realization that approximately 10.5 million Nigerian school-age children are not in school. The report explains that of this number, approximately nine million are children of beggars, fishermen and other less privileged people in society.

A 2018 study again showed that the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria had increased from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest level in the world.

The survey says otherwise; there are still a huge number of people who go to school but do not learn anything, noting that schooling does not always lead to learning. In Nigeria, more unschooled people study in schools than outside them. It’s over.

A similar study expressed concern that with the country’s current population of approximately 200 million, 45 percent of which are under the age of 15, there is a huge demand for learning opportunities, resulting in increased enrollment. This has created challenges in providing quality education as resources are more dispersed, resulting in more than 100 students per teacher in most public primary and secondary schools in the country.

Basically, there are, in my opinion, three main disturbing realities that characterize the situation as a crisis. Firstly, the realization that Nigeria has no shortage of policy measures and laws to ensure that no child is left behind in education. However, this number is increasing every year. As argued elsewhere, there is free and compulsory primary and secondary education for children aged five to 14.

To clarify this point, the Universal Primary Education Act 2004 provides a legal framework that ensures compulsory, free and universal primary education for all primary and secondary school children in the country. There is also the Child Rights Act, which reinforces this as a fundamental human right by mandating schooling until junior high school.

As we know, UBEC intervention funds focus on working with other state entities to improve access to basic education and reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria. For example, the 2020 budget allocation for education is N671.07 billion, representing 6.7%. Of the $671.07 billion allocated to the Federal Ministry of Education, this amount includes the statutory transfer allocated to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which amounts to $111.79 billion.

However, most states cannot use this fund due to their (states’) inability to provide adequate funding.

So what are the benefits of the fund? I presume this was such a burden that it prompted the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, a few years ago to call on the Federal Government to withdraw funding from counterparts as part of the basic requirements for states to access Federal Government funds for Universal Primary Education Commission (UBEC)

The second factor fueling the school dropout challenge in Nigeria stems from the realization that despite the Universal Declaration of education as a fundamental human right for all and this right specifically defined in the Convention against Discrimination in Education, Nigerian governments, especially the northern governors, have not devoted more of their energy to nor have they focused their creativity on useful things that will translate into empowering people.

They have created policies that view education as very narrow and limited.

Nigeria now needs restless determination to make the idea of ​​governance a reality. At this critical juncture in our nation, federal and state governors must learn a lesson from the Abia State government. They must do this work, and in doing this work, stimulate their people, especially the youth, to learn and acquire higher levels of skills and techniques for economic independence.

Some technical steps need to be taken.
First, it is time to recognize that any nation that wants to secure the future of its citizens must invest in education. This is more urgent in the north, where there is a consensus that the historical underdevelopment of Western education is more responsible for the social imbalance between the region and the south than the diversity of religious loyalties.

Similarly, the hour has come for state governors in Nigeria to adopt and support the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda – a United Nations initiative and successor program to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which includes a set of 17 global goals formulated, among others, to promote and nurture people, peace , planet and poverty. And it has at its center; partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and adaptation of various public and private sector and civil society intervention efforts.

A few years ago, it was reported that Mathew Hassan Kukah – a well-informed, independent and quietly influential bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, during a four-day workshop titled “Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement” for Christians and Muslims in Minna, Niger reports that the Kukah Center (TKC) has promised to establish in the northern part of the country, skills acquisition centers where approximately 10 million Almajiri children will pursue their chosen profession.

Certainly, with Nigeria’s slow but high population growth, especially in the north, such a program would be an effective tool to combat unemployment and consolidate economic growth. However, for reasons yet to be ascertained, no northern governor has agreed to this opportunity or provided or encouraged their youth to take advantage of such opportunities.

Regardless of what others say, it is in the government’s interest to educate its citizens in a variety of skills that will create jobs for young people, which is a powerful way to reduce crime and reduce looming insecurity in the country. This must be done not just for political reasons, but from the point of view of national development and maintaining our democracy, and the best starting point is adequate funding of the education sector and deliberate efforts to drastically reduce the number of school-age children.

When this is achieved, it will in turn bring about lasting peace; result in improved hygiene and medical care, and greater educational opportunities. Like Abia State, this article enjoins other state governments to aggressively educate their citizens, making it compulsory to a certain extent.

To catalyze this process, it is important to change our actions because “we cannot solve our socio-economic challenges with the same mindset that we adopted when we created them.”

Governors must shift their leadership paradigm by moving to a leadership style that enables them to make effective decisions based on higher quality information.
Utomi is the Program Coordinator (Media and Politics) at the Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA) in Lagos. He can be reached at: [email protected]/08032725374.