At last, Education Ministry is taking the lead. I have seen the signs. I have deciphered the handwriting on the wall, many thanks to my dream. Just like 2pac’s hit track, Changes where the late Amaru said that things would never be the same, that is just the way it is. Hey! Please do not say 2Pac appeared to me in my dream! While still basking in the euphoria of the aura that came after my ability to fathom the undertone of retrogressive forward movement of the Education Ministry (you call it paradox?), I swiftly swung into an extempore writing, given no room for ominous omen to hijack my present mood. Many thanks to my telepathic understanding of the historical forces at play and my adaptive affinity garnished with my enigmatic pen. Never mind, I am only defining the premises that saw the emergence of this vignette. So let’s go back to business.
For those who can cultivate the courage to look convincingly without making recourse to magnifying glasses, they would observe that the Education Ministry is on the threshold of making history. What history? You seem to soliloquize. Then you will need to send your memory arbiter to a thoughtful journey. If you cannot identify the historical happenings, you will need to cultivate the courage to look convincingly. It becomes more spine-tingling when the Ministry is viewed from the perspective of the current state of understanding of the Minister of Education vis-a-vis the rebranding jamboree. Now the education sector is get an immensely paltry amount of allocation in the 2009 budget while millions have gone down the drain in the all fruitlessly inconsequential SMS-powered rebranding gigs in Abuja. Isn’t that historical?
Again, this year marks the end of the grace given to all our lecturers to get their PhDs which is the benchmark for teaching in Nigerian universities as propagated by the Ministry through the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2007. Lecturers are currently rushing to put their thesis together; those who are running experiments are boycotting experimental procedures in a bid to save time. Those who are being neglected by their supervisors are making recourse to trado-pastors and trado-alfas to get stuff that could help them win the hearts of their almighty supervisors (what if they were God?). Even those who started in 2007 when the directive was issued are in the race of putting finishing touches to their PhD programmes in 2009 (is two years too short for PhD programme?). To the Ministry, quality teaching and ingenuity become inconsequential in the face of flashy and mere PhD certificates which is utterly absent in the culture of our role models (developed nations). Hurray! All our lecturers will e PhD holders by the end of 2009. Isn’t that historical?
The Ministry is at present, muscle-flexing with virtually all educational civil associations (ASUU, SSANU, SSANIP, NUT, NASU etc.) as to which should bend for another. Isn’t that historical? Ok, let’s look at this critically. Among the big boys in Africa (of course Nigeria also prides itself as a big boy-yes, recall giant of Africa). But over the years, it has been only the Ministry of Education in Nigeria that has been synonymous with non-result based policies formulation. Take for an instance, the failed polytechnics and universities merger and truncated privatization of Unity schools. It then becomes ultimately essential to relate the failure of the past to bear on the morass of current policies particularly when talking about the future of the pre-university basic education system and unified entrance examination into tertiary institutions.
Trust the busy bodies, they have lampooned the current semi-innocent (if at all) Minister of Education for not prioritizing his dealings. Some critics said the Minister was not prepared for the task given to him and that he was only made the Minister as a compensation for losing the ruling’s party chairmanship. Anyway, these critics must understand that the Minister needs to learn too. He needs time to understand the happenings around Nigerian campuses and I guess, that is why he is currently busy attending convocation ceremonies alongside his entourage (even if uninvited). Alas! Our Minister is on tour and education is on the freeway to the valley down below!
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