The ruling class of this country in the 21st century and their apologists seize every opportunity they can to celebrate over two decades of the Nigerian state as an unbroken democratic project of the capitalists. They claim that this has afforded working-class people democratic benefits and economic transformations across all the sectors of the country.
But interestingly a quick analysis of the Nigeria educational sector reflects a terrible reality that questions the benefits of this “democracy” for a few in Nigeria, which in the final analysis is a perfect description of a Nigerian state in perpetual crisis. From North to the South and the East to the West, the educational sector in Nigeria is in a bad shape.
According to recommendations spelt out in the UNESCO Incheon Declaration, governments should commit between 15% and 20% of their countries’ budget for education. But since 1999, when the country returned to “democratic” rule by civilian capitalists, the Nigerian government has not committed itself to implementing this declaration.
Rather, the country embarked on a privatisation program that continues to have great implications on the educational sector. Between 1999 – 2024, on average, the government has only committed 10% to the educational sector.
For instance, the poor underfunding of the sector has led the government to introducing the student loan scheme. Socialist Workers League has noted that this scheme is a death trap for students, parents/guardians.
Students from poor working class backgrounds have suffered in countries that have embraced similar student loan programs which the Nigerian state and ITS apologists have called the Nigeria people to embrace as a way to help save education in the country.
Nigeria has always been a rentier state pre-independence and even worse in the post-independence period, while the chapter two of the 1999 Nigerian constitution technically called the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy explicitly laid down the principle of free education from primary to university education, the Nigerian working people have been told repeatedly that this chapter of the constitution is not justiciable in the court and the government is not obliged to provide this fundamental objectives by the state to the Nigerian people.
According to UNESCO in their report in 2024, they argued that one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria. The Nigerian education sector has been deteriorating over the last 20 years due to inadequate funding. It is essential to state the importance of adequate funding in the education sector. Proper funding can enable execution of teachers’ training, infrastructure development in all schools (basic, secondary and tertiary levels), and procurement of teaching and learning aids; however, the current proliferation of private schools at all levels reveals the Nigerian government’s failure to fulfil its primary duty of providing free education.
All sectors of the country are in a state of comatose, the Nigeria ruling class who are appendages of global capitalism cannot put premium on providing education for the citizenry.
What they concern themselves with is massive looting of the state treasury, oppression, and calling for the heads of individuals who speak to the abnormalities and devastating nature of the Nigeria state. Meanwhile, there is virtually no part of the country that is not agog in misery, pain, deprivation, and unrest.
The Nigerian education sector is just one of the many failed sectors in the country that exemplifies the current nature of the Nigerian state. And the ruling class itself reflects its state. They are both rotten through and through and cannot bring about a better society and the realisation of education as a fundamental right.
by Kelvin AYEMHENRE
