Onwuka Nzeshi
1 July 2008
Lagos — The three-day retreat was organised for stakeholders in the sub-sector to deliberate on various challenges confronting the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. Issues that were listed for discussion included the non-enforcement of the enabling law, funding mode and mismanagement of the funds released to the states, among others. But as it turned out, the controversial Teachers Salary Structure (TSS), for which members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) are now on strike, dominated the stage.
Since the UBE was launched by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on September 29 1999, it has constantly remained in the news, often times for the wrong reasons. If it was not being castigated by skeptics who saw it as a clone of the defunct Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme launched by the same Obasanjo in 1976, it was being lampooned by those who saw it as another avenue by a not-too-trusted government to divert huge funds to its political favourites in the states under the guise of intervening in the education sector.
These perceptions were made worse by the frequent change of guards at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and at the various State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) over allegations of mismanagement of the funds accruing to the scheme at both levels.The retreat was therefore an ample opportunity to reach out to key stakeholders in the basic education sector and make them understand the workings, challenges and future of the programme.
Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, set the tone for the discussion with a historical review of the programme and asserted that significant progress has been recorded in enrolment, provision of infrastructural facilities and instructional materials, recruitment and training of teachers, and development of a new nine-year Basic Education Curriculum.
Despite this seemingly impressive performance in the implementation of the programme, he said, there were numerous challenges confronting the scheme, adding that these obstacles required urgent attention if Nigeria must join the league of nations on the path of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
These challenges, he said, included the granting of access to over nine million out-of-school children, improving mechanism for the draw down on Federal Government FGN-UBE Intervention Funds, accountability and transparency in the utilization of FGN-UBE Intervention Funds and the need for increased and sustained budgetary allocation by State Governments to the UBE programme. He said the retreat would proffer solutions to these and other challenges.
According to him, there were over 10 million children within school age who are not in school, while thousand others with special needs were still left uncatered for in the country. To ameliorate the situation, he advocated the integration of qur'anic education into the UBE programme, a reduction of the 9.3 per cent drop out rate in primary schools; increased transition rate to junior secondary school and improvement of quality and quantity of teachers who are the drivers of the programme.
Available statistics indicate that Nigeria has about 590,655 teachers nuturing about 24.77million children in primary schools across the country. Mohammed said through the UBE Commission, the Federal Government has provided significant opportunities and interventions and established a modest framework for the delivery of quality basic education in the country.
He however observed that the feedback from states and Local Government Education Authorities and other stakeholders indicated a growing gap between UBE set targets and global expectations regarding the attainment of Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He advocated an alternative strategy to driving the programme if the country is to meet the access, quality and equity requirements for EFA and MDGs which are fundamental to the attainment of Vision 2020. Also, he said as at June 20,2008 the scheme had disbursed a total of N33.3 billion to all states from the unconditional grants for 2005 and 2006 fiscal years while plans are on for the disbursement of the 2007 unconditional grants. He however observed that many states were yet to access their funds due to their inability to provide their matching grants.
Minister of State II for Education and Chairperson of the programme, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku reminded participants of the central role of education in the achievement of President Umar Yar'Adua's Seven-Point Agenda. According to her, the vision to accelerate economic growth and social change, create a stable polity and improve on the quality of life of Nigerian citizens would remain a mirage unless Nigeria took seriously, the issue of uplifting the standard of education in the country.
She pointed out that for education to successfully drive the national development process, there is an urgent need to address some of the challenges in the sub-sector which she said, included insufficient and inequitable access, low learning achievement of students, lack of accountability and transparency in the use of funds allocated to education, acute shortage of qualified teachers, infrastructural decay and shortage, poorly motivated, ill-equipped and unskilled teaching force and insufficient instructional materials. She drew the attention of participants to five critical areas that should be addressed with a view to making concrete suggestions. These areas include the primacy of educational planning, provision of equitable and inclusive education directed at bringing into the school the over nine million out-of-school children, improvement of teacher quality and welfare, additional funding sources for UBE and the need for attitudinal change on the part of the public that will engender support for and commitment to the UBE programme.
Participants agreed that there was the need to address the peculiar problems in the states which constituted obstacles to the smooth implementation of the programme; the encumbrances that impede the accessing and utilization of the Federal Intervention Funds by States, especially as these relate to the UBEC guideline and the need for reliable and accurate data for effective planning in the education sector generally and the UBE programme in particular;
Other highlights included meeting the challenge of bringing out-of-school children and other marginalised groups within the fold of formal education; improved working relationship among the various agencies responsible for the implementation of UBE as well as the need to improve teacher supply, teacher quality and welfare as a means of achieving better delivery of quality education. In this light, the conference urged the states to employ the first batch of the participants in the Federal Teachers Scheme (FTS) who will be completing their service at the end of October 2008.
In specific terms, the retreat, among other resolutions recommended that the UBEC Law should be reviewed to remove the encumbrances that currently impede the smooth implementation of the programme; State Governments should increase their level of funding to the UBE programme outside the Matching Grant provided by the UBE Law while there should be some flexibility in the utilization of intervention funds on the basis of needs and peculiarities of States.
It also agreed that there should be provision of funds for monitoring UBE projects from the matching grants component of the Intervention funds and states should set aside adequate funds for the supervision of teaching and learning in the schools; while the 5 percent Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme Fund be applied to address the problem of special need education, the provision of instructional materials and other programmes as the need arises.
Perhaps one of the issues that generated so much debate and passion was the issue of teachers welfare. National President, Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Onem Nelson Onem in his brief remark, described the situation of teachers in the country as one of neglect and abandonment. He did not mince words on the demand of his union to have the Teachers Salary Structure implemented. Onem said the demand by the union was long overdue and declared that primary and secondary teachers would have no other option if by the expiration of their ultimatum, the Federal Government failed to release the official circular meant to bring the TSS into operation.
However, the union's position came under heavy bombardment when the issue came up for discusion. Dukku said rather than demand a circular proclaiming a Teachers' Salary Structure, the NUT should encourage their state chapters to press for improved conditions of service including housing and transportation allowances.
She said since the monthly revenue of states differ and their priorities also differ, it would be impracticable for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to pay a uniform wage to teachers in their primary and secondary schools.
She disclosed that a state like Zamfara has on its own accord put in place enhanced salary and allowance package for its teachers as a way of motivating them to deliver quality teaching and enhance quality learning, adding that other states should follow suit and save the nation the embarrassment of having a crippling strike when there was no need for such an action.
"The Federal Government has already said it that it cannot impose salary on any state. The President has no right within the law to ask any state to adopt a wage structure for any category of teachers. He doesn't have such powers and that is why he is very sceptical about approving the one that he can even afford - the Federal Government Colleges. He (Yar'Adua) said he cannot say 'yes' to TSS because his own teachers ( Unity School teachers) are just a drop in the ocean of teachers in the country," she said.
Executive Secretary of National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Professor Mohammed Jinaidu said the TSS was only a proposal brought before the the National Council on Education and does not represent an agreement as the NUT has made the public to believe. He therefore urged the NUT to explain to its members the truth of the matter and avoid dragging them into another strike.
"TSS is not implementable. When that decision was taken, it was just a blank cheque because there was no proposal on the salary structure. But in principle, it was approved by the National Council on Education to improve the salary of teachers.
"We presented it to the NCE and the federal ministry of education was about to take it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for endorsement before taking it to the National Council of State, where the governors meet. It was at that point that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation advised the then minister of education to step down the memo because there was a complain by the chairman of the National Wages and Salaries Commission that they didn't participate fully in it and that they needed to look at it," Jinaidu said.
Plateau State Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Education, Mrs Paline Tallen said the issue needed to be handled with caution given its sensitivity. "We should realise one thing and that is that the President is a respecter of law. Nigeria is a federation. He has said it point blank that he has no powers to impose salaries on any state. So this TSS issue is an issue that each state has to tackle on its own. The oil producing states like Bayelsa and Rivers get over N10billion each every month while a state like Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe receive about N1billion each. So how do you compare these states and expect them to pay the same wages? It is not possible. But I want to plead with all of you, striking or being aggressive will not help us. This issue entails lobbying. We must use kind words. We must try to plead, negotiate and talk kindly to the teachers because people believe in comparism but again there should be grounds for comparism.
"If only we receive the same allocation, then we can talk about paying a uniform salary nationwide. But the northern states are receiving only about one percent of the oil producing states are receiving. We believe that the system deserves the best and if we have the money we should give the best to the teachers. The Ministry of Education has the largest workforce in any state and the general public are sympathetic to the Nigeria Union of Teachers. So it is a very delicate situation that we have found ourselves. Every state has their peculiar problem so let us handle it with care. I beg you all don't be too hard with your NUT when you go back," she said.
At the end of the day, the federal government and other stakeholders in basic education appeared torn between two opinions. In one breath they were determined to boost quality basic education, but in another they were not favourably disposed towards the Teachers Salary Structure (TSS). It is uncertain now which direction the pendulum would swing as the aggrieved teachers have already locked school doors in the face of their hapless pupils. It is yet to be seen how the country intends to achieve an accident-free ride to EFA and MDG goals with disgruntled teachers in the driver's seat and the bumpy road ahead.
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