10 October 2006
editorial
Lagos — THE hallmark of the Obasanjo administration is reforms. Various aspects of this reformist drive can be observed in several aspects of our national life. One major component of these reforms is privatization; and almost without exception, major components of our socio-economic existence have been privatized or are slated for this exercise.
The latest area of our national life that is slated for privatisation is a social resource like education. Specifically, the Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has announced plans to privatize the Federal Government Colleges, otherwise known as the Unity Schools. In articulating this position, as regards the compelling need to privatize these schools, the minister came up with the seemingly unassailable argument that the resources being expended on the Unity Schools constitute over eighty per cent of the total budget for the Ministry of Education. She also drew attention to the fact that the total production of students in the Unity Schools constitute a mere 120,000 compared with around 6.8 million students that are to be found in the other secondary schools spread across the country. The minister was also of the rather humorous, but sad view that in any case, many of these schools have since fallen on hard times, since according to her, the resources meant for these schools have effectively been privatized by the managers of these schools. There is certainly a lot to be said for the minister's arguments.
However, a more reflective perspective will reveal that the minister has articulated a very technicist argument, which obscures other realities on this critical issue. On this note, we wish to draw attention to the original ideals which inspired the establishment of these Unity Schools in the first instance. These schools were established to foster the much needed unity that is sorely needed in a plural society like ours. In the course of their existence, these schools have amply fulfilled this noble role such that today, a typical meeting of old students associations of these schools draws its membership from various parts of the country. To this extent, it would be myopic of the Federal Government to ignore this reality, all because of the daunting costs as espoused by the minister. And talking of costs, it should be pointed out that this problem can easily be solved by an increase in the vote for education. Of course, we do appreciate here that, there are other competing priorities, yet we wish to remind this government that on consistent basis, the allocation to education has always fallen short of what UNESCO prescribed for its member-states. In any case, it should be pointed out that, the question of cost would not have been a problem, but for the massive looting of resources which characterizes our public life.
Perhaps the minister's weakest argument is that these schools have fallen on hard times, partly because the resources meant for them have been appropriated by the managers of these schools. The weakness stems from the fact that privatization as a solution in this context is very escapist. It is escapist in the sense that, nothing stops the ministry from investigating such erring officers, with a view to ensuring that these unpatriotic individuals are made to face the wrath of the law.
It is apposite to highlight the morality or better still, the immorality of a situation in which resources of the public realm will be cornered by a few individuals, courtesy of privatization. Meanwhile, as we write this piece, workers of the Federal Government Colleges are getting increasingly restless as regards what their fate will be under this proposed arrangement. As things stand, workers who started their careers in the Federal Service are about to be dumped in the high noon and twilight of their careers.
So, rather than privatize these Unity Schools, as the Federal Government plans to do; we want the government to effect a more creative re-think of this sensitive issue. In this respect, we suggest that the Federal Ministry of Education in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, like the old students associations and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) put in place, a viable mechanism through which these schools will be effectively monitored and supervised. In this way, the schools will continue to serve as watering holes for students from diverse backgrounds in a plural society.
Of course we do know that all is not well with these schools. Over the years for instance, the admission processes have been compromised and bastardized such that nepotism and the highest bidder syndrome have been the order of the day. We are of the deep conviction that these and other problems currently plaguing these schools should preoccupy the attention of the minister and her colleagues. We also believe that these problems are not insurmountable. So privatization as envisaged by the minister is not really the answer.
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