By Lillian Okenwa
“There are fewer and fewer teachers in classes to impart knowledge. It is obvious. We are suffering a major brain drain…The brain drain from Nigeria has had a severe impact on the country’s educational system. The lack of qualified teachers and experts has been especially detrimental to providing quality education opportunities to many citizens…”, wrote sactsng.org on its website.
It is however heartening that Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN has called for a total overhaul of the country’s tertiary education system.
Although the Senior Advocate of Nigeria recently noted that the higher education sub-sector in Nigeria is riddled with challenges such as poor funding, corruption, industrial actions among others, other stakeholders insist that the entire education architecture needs an overhaul.
In a post shared on Wednesday through her X handle to commemorate the International Day for Education, Prof. Joy N. Ezeilo,SAN, Dean Emeritus Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), ex-UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and founder of WACOLTamarSARC said: “Nigeria’s education system is decaying due to government neglect. Lecturers are leaving for Western countries with better wages. Councillors in some states earn more than university professors/ lecturers. Unequal Nigeria!”
Also expressing concern over the situation, one-time, Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside said: “We must provide all forms of financial and psychological incentives to teachers. We must ringfence their benefits and emoluments in both federal and state budgets and never allow a situation where governments owe them salaries. The reward of teachers must be here “on earth and not in heaven.” We should pay them wages when due and pay them a living wage. We must review the pay of teachers on the basis of current economic realities and attract the best to the teaching profession.
“The future we want to build for our children will be worse than what we have now if we do not prioritise education.”
