NANS speaks

FROM the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Tijani Usman Shehu, has come an appeal that the government should increase the allocation to education in the 2015 budget, saying the current vote falls short of UNESCO recommendation and what is obtainable in other African countries.

Shehu who expressed with dismay that
hitherto education in the country is not receiving adequate attention as it ought to, worries that the trend is likely to jeopardise the future of the country if not adequately addressed.

He challenged government to make education matter a priority and also look into alternative ways of funding education so Nigeria could acclaim its rightful position in the international
arena.

He said, “There is no denying the fact that
education is very poorly funded in Nigeria, which is yet to comply with the UNESCO recommendation that 26 per cent of annual budget be spent on education. Nigeria spends 8.34 per cent of her annual budget on education.

As concerned education stakeholders,
we are calling for the upward revision of the 2015 budget to meet the 26 per cent
recommended by UNESCO, as the amount voted for education fails to adequately address the funding of the vital sector.

“The future of university education in Nigeria will ultimately boil down to priorities. Government at all levels, career officers in the ministries of education and parastatals, the universities management team can decide to reverse this trend and shift university education costs away from those least able to afford it.

The situation in our higher educational
institutions will improve considerably if the government spends at least 25-30 per cent of her annual budget on education and out of this amount 18-20 per cent on capital expenditure
for infrastructure in the sector with low cost-sharing and tuition fee.”

Shehu averred that if government at every stage boosts their investment in public university education, there would be massive development of human capital needed for national advancement and better livelihood.

“Since the educational system needs to be financed, the private and public sector
assistance or contribution should be more encouraged. In order to derive these benefits, the government should uphold the World Bank’s
advice that Nigeria and thirty-eight other African countries should subject their educational system to revitalisation and selective expansion policies in order to benefit from the World Bank donor countries.

“The use of taxes whether direct or indirect, income or property tax could also be more intensified to generate more revenue for the country.

Likewise, government could explore
the re-introduction of loans to students of
tertiary institutions while the scholarship
schemes could be revamped at the federal and state levels,” he said.

For cost effective strategies of universities education to be achieved in the country, he urged government to pay adequate attention to policy frameworks; proper management and accountability of fund allotted to university education sector; and also ensure that officials
need to provide long-term solutions are elected rather than politically expedient fixes that leave the system of university education at risk.

Shehu also preached on the need to provide access to all qualified students regardless of their financial circumstances; meet the nation’s workforce needs by producing graduates able to contribute to every sector of society; and allocates resources based on a competition of ideas, not history, politics or privilege.

Written by Ujunwa Atueyi

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Management vs Administration

Management and Administration can be confused sometime. As an administrator these will help you know your basic Job description. If you are : Setting organizational objectives based on available resources Formulating plans and policies for the achievement of the set objectives Defining and Forecasting especially for human and material resources in form of budget. Initiate work activities and defining specific tasks to be performed to achieve objectives Setting up controls and standard of measurement to evaluate human activities leading to achievement of the objective Coordinating and integrating peoples effort and material resources to accomplish set objectives Providing necessary structure and procedure to enhance people's action and activities Defining the type of leadership and authority necessary to accomplish the objective Providing solutions to remedial actions to be taken if objective are yet to be met Providing incentives, motivations and encouragement for better performance If you do all the above then your are involved in Management and not administration. You are a part of the management Management set the vision, mission statement. It is broader in nature.

If you are: Implementing plans, policies, programs after formulation Using scarce resources available to achieve the stated goals Coordinating human efforts and material resources to accomplish educational goals Describing the specific duties and responsibilities to be performed by different officers Training staff for effective performance on the job Establishing policies and procedures, rules and regulations guiding organizational behaviour Solving problems and complaints that may inhibit process of achieving the stated objectives Supervising and evaluating activities based on standard measurement Communicating and set objectives and work activities required fir achieving the goals Promoting and rewarding good performance amongst staff.

Then, you are administering, you are an administrator. Administration set out smaller goals to carry out mission statement Management cannot survive without administration. Both are inseparable. Well, If can do administration perfectly well, you can become a part of the management someday.

We can do Better

Arise o, Compatriot
Nigeria's call Obey
To Serve our father's land
with love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might....

That is a part of our National Anthem, it says "to serve our father's land with love" .... hmmmm, when we love someone or something we are ready to go the extra mile for the person and  that thing.

"The labour of our heroes past Shall never be in vain...." Hmmmm, some of our past leaders lost their blood and lives as they fought for the things we are now enjoying in Nigeria, so what is wrong with us this younger generation in position of authority to do the right thing......

What do you think our education sector will be on the next few years....

Will Nigerian education would have been better that people from overseas will fly in to study in Nigeria rather than what it is right now?

Will it be that only private schools will be up to the standards of the world?

When our very own government owned schools should be a role model.

We need to plan to achieve this with a stipulated day, month, week, year attached to our plans as deadline

I will suggest some solutions to some identified problems of Educational Planning in Nigeria.

The cart before the horse syndrome - This means doing the last thing first. Nigerians we need to always follow due process, and be patient and not boycott the laid down procedures. There ought to be a plan formulation, plan preparation, plan coordination, plan implementation, plan evaluation, etc should be done well efficiently by the appropriate authority dutifully. I would suggest that planning should be done by professional programs and project planners that are independent from external influences.

Unprogressive administrative Traditions: This involves  some subconscious administrative activities that has been in place for a long time in the system but so far it has not helped the system rather it has crippled it. It is high time we do away with irrelevant bureaucracy, nepotism, tribalism, flimsy conflicts, etc within our education system. We need to be re-oreientated on some administrative practices and their impacts on the education system and the economy at large, afterwards  we set up new rules practices and sanctions to inculcate and encourage the new the practices.

Weak Database: Hmmm, it is in our subconscious to always be untruthful with information especially with governmental parastatals, may be because we were once bitten now we are shy (smiles). But for how long do we want to continue like this? We don't have accurate data about all our schools both qualitative and quantitative data. We need to be wise and get information from other means that are connected to schools at different levels through banks, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Birth registrations, external examinations, etc. We need to re-orientate the general public we need to inculcate better values into our society. Wrong data equals wrong planning, wrong planning equals wrong results.

Lack of Public support: We Nigerians we need change right, we need to trust us one more and we will not disappoint you again, we need answers from you, understand your real needs we need your views, what you think, even ideas from you. Educational Planners should partner with reputable organizations, get social support, organize orientations through various available platforms- social Media, conduct online surveys, etc.

Politics: Politics and Education, hmmm we cannot separate politics from the educational system because education is a segment of our political system too. But we need to identify irrelevant and relevant politics in the educational system, in terms that will this politics help or deteriorate the educational system. Yes  we  know that the authorities that decides for our education system is our political systems. We need to evaluate so far has partisan politics help the sector or made it worse.... So far it has made it worse so we need to take a new turn. We can't keep doing the same thing and expect the same results, Nigeria!

Inadequate Resources: Resources like Professional Educational Planners, Professional Curriculum planners and writers, Excellent statisticians, etc. Currently in our Educational system we have so many square pegs in Round holes, people who really are qualified for the Education sector are in other sectors of the economy because this economy has not really made an impact and members of the sector are looked down on. Its high time we only accept round pegs on square holes, square pegs in square holes, Education Professionals in other sectors should please be return to this sector. Also, our personnel should be well motivated not just only those at the very peak of this education sector, all needed and relevant educational resources should be adequately provided at the right time. Our available resources should be judiciously used, not mismanaged.

Proper Implementation  : During implementation process there might be itch, but it is advisable to stick with the plans no matter what. We need People are don't easily change their minds to do this implementation.
It must be regularly inspected, evaluated to know if this is exactly what we took so long to plan.

Our Nigeria Education System can be better, if only we take other directions to aim at a better / same goal.