MAKING FREE EDUCATION CONSTITUTIONAL
By Musa Etudaiye
Section 18 of 1999 Constitution which calls for free and compulsory education as and when practicable was drafted in good faith but its implementation so far has been characterized by callous neglect on the part of most State Chief Executives and even the Federal Government. Some do not even pay the traditional lip service.
Education is the same as the proper upbringing of children so that they grow up to be acceptable to society and hopefully also become respectable members of such society. If· such children grow to become peace-loving, 1aw-abiding, and responsible citizens, they will then be acceptable. While it is commendable to have· acceptable .citizens, it is even more desirable for every citizen to strive to be a respectable member of society. But in all good societies, Government has the responsibility of providing the facilities, and indeed the environment for the citizens to avail themselves of the opportunity so provided.
In a way, that opportunity was provided by section 18 of the 1999 Constitution. Education is an absolute necessity of life in any civilized society since as earlier stated it means PROPER UPBRINGING of children and a preparation for both Citizenship and leadership. The provision made for education in Section 18 of the current constitution does not compel our leaders to seriously provide for the "upbringing" of our future citizens and leaders. It is therefore not surprising that our laidback attitude to education has had serious impact on the quality of the products of such a system.
At present, governments at various levels largely ignore education or at best put such a prohibitive price on education or indeed, on the upbringing of our innocent children so as to successfully prevent most of them from becoming good citizens, let alone good leaders. Our leaders fully appreciate the benefits of superior and functional education and that is why they pay so much to send their own children to expensive schools abroad, including even Ghana.
As we are all aware most advanced nations of the world achieved greatness from either slave labour e.g. America or colonies e.g. France, Britain, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. But Japan, the world’s second largest economy, neither had slaves, colonies or even mineral resources. Japan is great economic power today because of the skilful and proper development and utilization of her human resources through education. Nigeria is a lot luckier than Japan in that we have both human and material resources. We are as backward as our educational system. The U.S. is as advanced as her education system.
The following amendments are therefore suggested: The whole of Section 18 should be amended by the deletion of the words "as and when practicable" from sub - section 3, which should now move to Chapter IV as RIGHT TO EDUCATION under Section 43, which will therefore read as follows: 18 –
(1) Government shall ensure that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels for all Nigerians
(2) Government shall promote science and technology.
(3) Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and shall therefore provide –
(a) free, compulsory and universal primary education;
(b) free secondary education;
(c) free tertiary level education; and
(d) free adult literacy programme.
By this, Education will become a Fundamental Right rather than a privilege for only the children of the privileged class as it is today. It will also become justifiable i.e. pupils, parents and other concerned bodies can go to Court to have this right enforced. The following advantages can, and should, be derivable from implementation:
(a) Our nation will be as great as our education system; (like the examples of US, Japan, Russia, China, Britain and even Cuba)
(b) It has the effect of even spread of our oil money, as virtually every family will benefit;
(c) It has the effect of reducing corruption because the proper implementation will reduce the quantum of careless money at the disposal of Government Leaders;
(d) It has the effect of accelerating relevant manpower development at both Certificate, Diploma and Graduate levels, which will always be helpful to a nation like ours
(e) It has the effect of reducing street begging by about 60% nationwide;
(f) Economically, Nigeria today loses a lot of income to the expatriate manpower in the area of our mineral exploration/and exploitation.
I am not unaware of cost implications, but if can honestly curb corruption, minimize waste in public office and begin to use our God-given resources well, there will be enough money to implement the proposal.
Finally, there can only be little progress so long as we continue to restrict the tapping of our human resources to just a small privileged group. We need to tap most, if not all the potentials of our nation to achieve the greatness we deserve and desire. One is not unaware of U.B.E for 9 years but we all also know that there is nothing universal about either the standards or the provision. In our modem complex and competitive world, enduring national greatness can only be predicated on a sound and comprehensive education. It takes a lot of courage and political will to get going on this Herculean task but it must be DONE for us to achieve GREATNESS. It is our patriotic duty to use constitutional provision to compel our leaders to give every Nigerian free, compulsory, quality and functional education.
· Alhaji Musa Etudaiye, a former Permanent Secretary of Education and Special Adviser, is the Makama of Ebiraland in Kogi State.
