Rivers
Don Faults Nigeria’s Educational System …Advocates Deschooling To Attain Educated Society Status
A lecturer in the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Professor Edward Ezebuaghom Adiele, has faulted Nigeria’s educational system, saying it awards degrees without the awardees acquiring commensurate skills.
Speaking as the 55th Inaugural Lecture of the university on the topic, “Epidemiology of the Paralytic and Epileptic Nigeria’s Education System: Towards Epistemological Oriented Based Economy”, at the university’s auditorium, Professor Adiele accused universities of having anti-educational effect on the society by their “role in awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees without commensurate knowledge and skills by those who possess such certificates and degrees”.
According to the Professor of Educational Planning, “schooling is not the only means of acquiring education, hence associating education with schooling portends serious danger to the society.
“It reduces the chances of the citizens acquiring other forms of alternative education that can be acquired outside the school environment which are equally important for individual survival and contribution to societal development”
He stated that “the erroneously held idea about schooling and education also account for the reason society looks down on people who did not attend school, but have developed their potentials and talents through other forms of education.
According to him, approximating education to schooling also negates the fact that schools may not be the best place to produce the best craftsmen, artisans, businessmen, musicians, footballers, film actors and actresses that are badly needed for economic development.
“It is because of the wrong idea of taking schooling for education that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to empty themselves into educational institutions even when they do not possess the requisite aptitude for higher education schooling”, he emphsised.
Professor Adiele noted that funding of education in Nigeria is another major challenge that is seriously responsible for the numerous ailments the education system is suffering from.
“Budgetary allocations to education, which on the average, has never exceeded 10 percent, does not show any seriousness on the part of government in Nigeria to provide education to the citizens when compared to other less endowed countries like Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia and Morocco where budgetary allocations to education range between 19 and 20 percent”, he stated.
The university teacher continued that poor funding of education sector is responsible for poor production of quality manpower to meet the economic development needs of Nigeria.
“These daunting challenges place the education system at a crossroad and at most the system can best be described as paralytic and epileptic”, he said.
The 55th Inaugural Lecturer hinted that the academic curriculum does not take into cognisance the employers of labours’ need “and this has made it difficult for university graduates to fit into the world of work.
“The course content of most tertiary institutions in Nigeria lacks entrepreneurial contents that would enable graduates to become job creators rather than job seekers”.
In addition to the stated challenges faced by Nigeria’s education system, he also identified the role of strikes.
“The incessant strikes by tertiary institutions has also resulted in the production of half-baked graduates who are unemployable”, he stated.
While informing that Nigeria holds the world record of having the highest number of dropouts from school with 20.5 million out of school topping the list of 12 other countries, he hinted that the number may have increased further by now.
“The Nigerian school system has not been able to develop the individual into a sound and effective citizen. The country has remained in the status of a developing economy for the past 47 years because of obvious weak education system”, he emphasised.
He, however, stated that although the causes of the paralytic and epileptic education system are numerous, the Nigerian education system can still be salvaged through a holistic education.
Adiele asserted that the cure to the identified ailments lies within the education system itself.
He said it can be done “by overhauling the system and redirecting it towards epistemological (knowledge) oriented based economy, if at all the country is ready to address the inherent development challenges”.
To attain this, he advocated the imperativeness of a paradigm shift from the old orthodoxy of over reliance on schooling alone as a means of acquiring education, to opening the education market to include the non-formal structures such as apprenticeship schemes, trades and the use of practical skills as a means of certification of claims of knowledge acquisition.
“Any society that genuinely seeks education as a means of effecting national development must do so within the ambit of educational planning framework that is anchored on rational decisions that seek to domesticate the school curriculum to reflect the peculiar Nigerian environment, develop a sound educational information management system, the planning of the non-formal education sector and develop a sound framework for educational financing, and finally, increasing access and equity in educational provision”.
He urged educational planners and policy makers to wake up and assume their rightful position of planning the right education for national survival.
In his remarks, the Acting Vice Chancellor of IAUE, Professor Okechuku Onuchuku, who agreed that the educational system suffer paralytically and epileptically, stated that for anything to be considered educational, “it must transmit cultural heritage to younger generation, develop skills and contribute to nation building”.
He stressed the need to take education and research seriously for growth and to minimise wastage in the system.
Professor Onuchuku observed that the country is stagnated because Nigerians are more of consumers than producers and that the overdependent nature is why the foreign exchange rate is very high.
He stressed the need to deemphasise the importance attached to certificates and to encourage and promote informal education, job creation and trade to reduce the mismatch between graduates and industries and for development.
Sogbeba Dokubo
The Rivers State Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, says the state judiciary has a total of 23,870 cases pending in various courts in the State.
This figure includes all cases pending in Magistrate, High, and Customary Courts, as well as Customary Court of Appeal in the State.
Justice Amadi stated this while presiding over a special court session held to mark the comencement of the 2024/2025 new legal year held at the auditorium of the High Court in Port Harcourt, Thursday.
The State Chief Judge, while giving the breakdown of performances by the Judiciary in the last year ended, revealed that the stastics of the cases brought before the courts from October 30, 2023 to 30th September 2024 is 31,886, while cases filed stood at 14,791 and cases disposed in the period under review is 22,725.
He further disclosed that the State Judiciary and the customary courts generated a total of #525,322,478,83 as revenue in the last judiciary year under review.
He described the special court session as an annual ritual of the judiciary marked to herald the beginning of a new legal year, stressing that it affords the judiciary and all stakeholders the needed opportunity to take stock of the activities of the judiciary in the past one year in order to improve, with a view to strengthening the justice administration.
The number one state judiciary officer stated that the judiciary had undertaken a lot of capital infrastructure in the year ended to ensure the comfortablility of the workers and judicial officers, and announced that additional high courts would be constructed at Okehi and Degema to ease the challenges of numerous cases coming from such jurisdictions.
Justice Amadi further disclosed that the state judiciary has a total of 51 judges, 57 magistrates, 30 Chairmen of customary courts, and 60 presiding members, adding that the state judiciary has 12 judicial Divisions, 37 magisterial Districts, and 30 customary courts.
“We lost seven judiciary staff, Port Harcourt NBA lost 16, Okehi branch 1, Bori branch 2, and Ahoada branch 2 . Creation of a judicial Division is based on cases filed from such area and we recommend for approval of such and not for politically based”, he stated.
The State Chief Judge used the opportunity to thank the State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, for the support given to the judiciary in the state, noting that the success recorded by the judiciary in the state was attributed to the huge support from the State Governor.
He also appreciated the efforts of the security agencies and the media for their various cooperation and support and urged them to sustain such in this legal year .
In their various speeches at the event, the State Attorney General and Commissoner of Justice, Dagogo Isreal-Ibroma, SAN; the Leader of the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Rivers State, OCJ Okocha, SAN; and the Chairman of NBA, Port Harcourt Branch, Mrs. Eke Cordelia, commended the achievements recorded by the state judiciary and urged that more measures be put in place to enhance speedy dispensation of justice.
The special court session was preceded by a church service.
By: Akujobi Amadi
A religious body in Rivers State, the House of Jesus Christ Ministries, has appealed to the warring politicians in the State to stop the orgy of violence over leadership supremacy and embrace genuine dialogue.
This is contained in a recent statement by the Parish Church Council (PCC) meeting of the church.
The statement, which was signed by the General Overseer, Apostle Joseph Emmanuel; Secretary, Evangelist ThankGod Akpanowoh; Parish Women Leader, Mrs. Promise Aniebet William; and Parish Evangelist, Elder Aniefiok Benneth, noted that the spate of violence witnessed across the state has taken unimaginable dimensions with the recent killings, wanton destruction of properties, and the burning down of Council Secretariats.
It said if care is not taken, the crisis could extend to homes, and therefore called on the warring parties to stop and gove room for a lasting solution.
Blaming the Federal Government under the watch of President Bola Tinubu, who it said had been seemingly passive in handling the political difference between the former Governor of the State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
“The kind of crisis we are seeing cannot be rationalised. Whether in Rivers or Lagos, whether we are talking of state violence of political upheavals rocking the state, we plead as a church with the contending politicians to pull back their hatchets of indifference for the sake of peace, unity, stability and progress, and allow the possibility of genuine dialogue to begin, and lasting peace restored”, the church said.
Noting that the xurrent wind of democracy blowing in the state is one of the legacies of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and others who preach peace, love and development in the state, the Church cautioned against further crises “in the once peaceful state for posterity”.
It urged the current politicians in the country to emulate the peaceful disposition and virtues of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, which is instrumental to the prevailing peace in the state, in the face of continued provocations.
By: Bethel Toby
Rivers State has topped the performance chart in the implementation of the Nigerian Community Action Resilience And Economic stimulus (NG -CARES) programme in the South-South and Nigeria.
This was contained in a report released at the just-concluded two-day peer learning and experience sharing event in Port Harcourt.
According to the report, Rivers State performed excellently in all aspects of the programme implementation.
The state was followed by Delta State, which emerged second both in the South-South and the country at large.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved an additional $500million for the extension of the programme for the next three years.
World Bank Task Team leader, Dr.Lire Ersado, said at the event that the programme has lived up to expectations as it has gone along way to alleviate the sufferings of millions of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
Ersado, who was represented by Professor Folorusho Okumadewa, said NG CARES has gotten the right strategies and approach in making sure that poor and vulnerable Nigerians can smile.
He said the programme, which was initially setup to address suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, is even more relevant today with a view to addressing the plights of Nigerians affected by flood and other natural disasters.
Ersado said the Port Harcourt meeting, which is the sixth in the series of meetings held across the country, will provide opportunity for all states in the country to cross check their performances with each, as well as learn from the successes and failures of each other.
Also speaking, Rivers State Commissioner for Commerce And Industry, Barrister John Otamiri, said the programme was in line with the State Government programme of alleviating the sufferings of the people.
He also said the government is ready to partner with NG CARES to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Otamiri said also assures that Rivers State is safe for investment.
While reeling out its performances, National Coordinator, NG CARES, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje, said the world Bank is passionate about the programme , adding that the bank has graciously extended the programme for another three years with an additional $500 million.
He said within the last three years $750 million was disbursed to the 36 states and FCT in 160 delivery platforms.
Obaje added that 9.2 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians also benefited from the programme across the country in the last three years.
Earlier, Rivers State Coordinator, RiV CARES, Mrs. Ephraim George Imaonyani, commended the delegates for choosing Rivers State for the South-South meeting.
By; John Bibor