EDUCATION SECTOR

An Overview of the Eduction Sector

By LT

"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history" George Orwell.

Summary      

One must examine both the sector and the factors that have an impact on the poor educational sector, such as corruption, nepotism, funding, etc., in order to address the issues facing the rot within our education system. For stakeholders and other interested persons, this brief article provides an overview of some of the statistics that are accessible in this industry. 

Crucially, it backs the idea that education should fall under each State's jurisdiction, expanding on proposals for more regional autonomy, restructuring, or any other euphemism for returning greater authority to each region, state, or subnational level.

The education sector in Nigeria consists both public and private sectors playing dominant roles with the public sector playing a vital role, having more control of educational institutions across the three tiers of government (Federal, State and Local Governments). The Federal Ministry of Education is the main agency responsible for regulating the education sector, engaging in policy formulation and ensuring quality control. Whereas, the Federal Government is more directly involved in Tertiary Education and Unity  Secondary  Schools,  State  and  Local  Governments  are  responsible  for  other  categories  of Secondary, Primary and Pre-primary Education. The educational sector is divided into three sub-sectors.

1      Basic (nine years),

2      Post-Basic/Senior Secondary (three years), and

3      Tertiary (four to seven years, depending on the course of study).

Education is the foundation for sustaining and developing the people. With education, people are able to endure, mature, wisdom acquires experience, and the capability to fend for themselves as well as serve their communities and nation. Education is also both an instrument of stability and of change: stability in the sense that good traditions are documented, taught, imbibed and practised, and changes because it equips people to meet new challenges. In the same vein education is a tool for inculcating moral values in the citizen. Education statistics, like other social data, facilitates sustainable development planning and policies. [39]  

 

The global benchmark for developing countries to spend on education from their budget is approximately 20 per cent.

 

·         But from 2016, a total budget of N6.06 trillion was approved by the National Assembly, N480.28 billion was allocated to the education sector which is about 7.9 per cent of the total amount budgeted for the year.

 

·         Also, in 2017, N448.44 billion was allocated to the sector, representing about 6.1 per cent of the N7.30 trillion total budgets for the year.

 

·         In 2018, the approved budget for the year rose to N9.2 trillion and N651.23 billion which is about 7.1% was allocated to the education sector.

 

·         In 2019, N8.83 trillion was presented, estimates to the National Assembly as the year’s budget. The education sector got N745.53 billion, about 8.4 per cent of the total budget.

Figure 4: 34% of the total children population, out of School 2022

In In 2020, the sector received a total of 686.82 billion, which is about 6.5 per cent of the total approved budget for the year.

 

·         For 2021, the education sector received N742.52 billion allocations which is about 5.6 per cent of the total budget for the year, the lowest budget the sector had ever received compared with the previous budgets allocated to the sector in the past.

 

·         Presently, out of the 2022 budget totalling N 17.13 trillion a sum of N923.79 billion was allocated to the sector. Though the figure increased, the budget is at 5.4 per cent of the total budget approved by the National Assembly.

 

Below are some other relevant figures on education to provide a bird’s eye view, this figures can and should be further investigated by stakeholders for more detailed or low level information investigation, to determine appropriate policies, such as the ratio of females to males in education, type schools ownership, public or private, teachers registered, qualifications which sector, public or private etc. In all these figures represent one part of the education statistics, the other important part is the measure of the quality of education, another vital ingredient but not addressed in this paper

 

Table E1.0 1: Registered Teachers by State, Sector and Gender 2016/2017

State	Primary			Secondary			Tertiary			Administrative Positions
	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F
Abia	8,130	36,782	44,912	4,802	7,702	12,504	126	109	235	31	49	80
Adamawa	21,739	12,487	34,226	5,249	3,629	8,878	424	194	618	123	24	147
Akwa Ibom	16,444	31,780	48,224	7,465	6,941	14,406	199	150	349	226	445	681
Anambra	5,182	34,968	40,150	4,494	10,209	14,703	267	394	661	91	532	623
Bauchi	16,409	6,028	22,437	3,783	2,682	6,465	212	256	468	206	162	368
Bayelsa	10,090	12,464	22,554	4,778	4,082	8,860	109	114	223	327	535	862
Benue	36,142	21,739	57,881	9,219	4,491	13,710	354	156	510	749	993	1,742
Borno	10,453	11,968	22,421	4,101	4,392	8,493	632	330	962	343	188	531
Cross Rivers	13,250	19,450	32,701	4,742	4,242	4,742	173	117	292	175	88	175
Delta	13,420	34,958	48,378	9,483	15,418	24,901	483	296	779	660	1,504	2,164
Ebonyi	12,168	13,250	25,418	4,525	4,511	9,036	185	135	320	646	89	735
Edo	9,946	28,273	38,219	5,697	6,684	12,381	21	190	211	798	1,075	1,873
Ekiti	8,906	21,194	30,100	7,357	8,710	16,067	232	135	367	172	134	306
Enugu	13,210	27,876	41,086	5,149	7,441	12,590	302	270	572	1,604	4,861	6,465
FCT	11,818	21,728	33,546	7,657	9,527	17,184	256	213	469	3,939	7,100	11,039
Gombe	12,520	8,153	20,673	4,670	3,159	7,829	270	158	428	152	134	286
Imo	37,259	31,570	68,829	7,121	9,513	16,634	411	164	411	272	696	968
Jigawa	10,499	2,687	13,186	2,528	1,997	4,525	195	88	283	108	19	127
Kaduna	18,617	25,481	44,098	9,110	7,564	16,674	762	449	1,211	1,428	696	1,428
Kano	17,878	6,820	24,698	7,624	4,176	11,800	553	315	868	1,195	440	1,635
Katsina	19,123	7,681	26,804	5,211	3,080	8,291	392	157	549	347	57	347
Kebbi	8,317	5,492	13,809	4,356	3,051	7,407	327	122	449	114	440	554
Kogi	36,924	20,069	56,993	4,874	3,991	8,865	256	131	387	8,715	5,651	8,715
Kwara	17,346	29,818	47,164	7,277	7,275	14,552	545	248	793	1,696	94	1,790
Lagos	11,330	41,354	52,684	12,423	23,037	35,460	599	415	1,014	1,440	5,651	7,091
Nasarawa	13,435	8,208	21,643	7,715	4,332	12,047	196	125	321	1,696	302	1,998
Niger	31,505	13,812	31,505	8,683	5,779	14,462	457	210	667	1,440	2,250	3,690
Ogun	11,506	30,274	41,780	8,444	11,842	20,286	380	269	649	271	386	657
Ondo	11,666	27,101	38,767	11,498	8,356	19,854	307	171	478	317	565	882
Osun	13,764	26,561	40,325	7,280	6,230	13,510	400	181	581	725	605	1,330
Oyo	18,677	55,823	74,500	10,997	13,324	24,321	576	282	858	687	938	1,625
Plateau	18,913	15,658	34,571	6,510	5,382	11,892	397	251	648	118	103	221
Rivers	14,104	20,290	34,394	8,115	8,412	16,527	348	265	613	1,384	2,399	3,783
Sokoto	8,237	4,987	13,224	4,303	3,729	8,032	227	131	358	262	127	389
Taraba	13,686	6,668	20,354	4,319	2,816	7,135	258	123	381	85	53	138
Yobe	6,546	4,729	11,275	3,979	2,870	6,849	494	281	775	117	20	137
Zamfara	11,786	4,166	15,952	3,755	3,281	7,036	328	119	447	377	53	430
Total	557,133	732,347	1,289,480	239,293	243,857	483,150	12,491	7,714	20,205	26,544	39,468	66,012

Source: NBS

Table E1.0 2: Student Teacher Ratio in Public Primary Schools by State 2013/2014 - 2016/2017

 

Table E1.0 3: Enrolment In Senior Secondary School By State And Gender, 2013 -2017

	2013 Enrolment			2014 Enrolment			2015 Enrolment			2016 Enrolment			2017 Enrolment
State	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F	M	F	M+F
Abia	23,529	26,632	50,161	20,700	24,447	45,147	20,768	21,263	42,031	12,580	15,917	28,497	24,777	27,854	52,631
Adamawa	47,287	31,854	79,141	43,743	33,614	77,357	44,636	34,300	78,936	45,546	34,999	80,545	45,546	34,999	80,545
Akwa Ibom	140,336	140,911	281,247	147,357	147,961	295,318	154,729	155,368	310,097	130,116	79,775	209,891	58,366	60,568	118,934
Anambra	29,777	31,635	61,412	25,212	29,253	54,465	27,000	29,939	56,939	27,167	31,606	58,773	26,386	32,426	58,812
Bauchi	78,460	73,092	151,552	67,943	31,215	99,158	65,721	40,402	106,123	75,130	47,416	122,546	79,630	52,171	131,801
Bayelsa	22,399	18,149	40,548	24,325	21,140	45,465	24,259	21,597	45,856	16,986	15,462	32,448	24,594	23,215	47,809
Benue	73,385	53,756	127,141	194,801	149,323	344,124	245,468	188,753	434,221	53,788	44,421	98,209	42,678	35,292	77,970
Borno	83,661	49,786	133,447	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	39,726	28,810	68,536	39,726	28,810	68,536
Cross River	41,584	38,680	80,264	67,092	69,579	136,671	67,092	69,579	136,671	25,953	25,244	51,197	22,333	23,423	45,756
Delta	76,839	74,286	151,125	76,839	74,286	151,125	54,200	52,281	106,481	62,726	61,847	124,573	54,240	54,235	108,475
Ebonyi	82,567	73,709	156,276	23,401	25,621	49,022	31,190	34,886	66,076	35,808	40,304	76,112	31,848	36,409	68,257
Edo	134,258	133,032	267,290	63,286	64,812	128,098	48,550	48,385	96,935	59,787	62,744	122,531	44,537	48,329	92,866
Ekiti	25,416	24,806	50,222	26,185	19,373	45,558	28,283	27,891	56,174	25,179	25,006	50,185	25,179	25,006	50,185
Enugu	61,497	71,874	133,371	60,350	74,927	135,277	53,120	66,113	119,233	48,796	60,996	109,792	50,259	62,826	113,085
FCT	30,277	31,369	61,646	27,437	29,118	56,555	31,858	36,105	67,963	27,966	29,672	57,638	37,380	40,624	78,004
Gombe	46,799	29,524	76,323	51,776	38,670	90,446	38,742	24,994	63,736	38,081	27,155	65,236	44,018	30,321	74,339
Imo	281,566	245,482	527,048	207,783	217,630	425,413	232,477	245,488	477,965	179,880	205,016	384,896	174,340	185,260	359,600
Jigawa	56,482	23,070	79,552	56,818	29,405	86,223	52,722	25,864	78,586	55,006	31,371	86,377	62,661	35,429	98,090
Kaduna	51,096	44,174	95,270	89,620	68,754	158,374	74,464	61,788	136,252	89,908	76,358	166,266	95,897	80,302	176,199
Kano	17,193	18,858	36,051	149,909	87,604	237,513	177,467	120,731	298,198	161,304	111,502	272,806	150,793	110,782	261,575
Katsina	89,061	43,805	132,866	89,229	44,315	133,544	103,954	52,279	156,233	106,949	62,457	169,406	116,350	70,165	186,515
Kebbi**	125,778	84,893	210,671	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	55,369	23,125	78,494	62,436	30,844	93,280
Kogi	35,515	30,378	65,893	39,622	34,635	74,257	40,681	35,601	76,282	29,454	26,917	56,371	31,843	30,855	62,698
Kwara	49,172	43,274	92,446	44,337	38,860	83,197	52,519	47,019	99,538	54,752	48,695	103,447	56,271	50,033	106,304
Lagos	196,656	202,790	399,446	115,601	132,168	247,769	183,671	191,285	374,956	175,485	185,379	360,864	182,710	192,840	375,550
Nasarawa	79,245	59,279	138,524	NA	NA	NA	50,454	37,640	88,094	49,305	37,813	87,118	45,636	37,937	83,573
Niger	105,192	62,474	167,666	96,453	65,472	161,925	91,850	63,101	154,951	93,565	69,493	163,058	96,876	71,895	168,771
Ogun	114,299	117,991	232,290	111,192	110,174	221,366	125,064	125,979	251,043	113,185	119,309	232,494	126,639	127,451	254,090
Ondo	73,608	70,139	143,747	75,101	71,903	147,004	75,259	71,899	147,158	53,854	53,841	107,695	44,678	46,472	91,150
Osun	74,979	71,681	146,660	NA	NA	NA	70,065	68,605	138,670	44,190	40,974	85,164	42,514	41,602	84,116
Oyo	105,682	111,248	216,930	125,012	127,762	252,774	140,755	147,412	288,167	119,528	123,603	243,131	107,071	111,343	218,414
Plateau	51,167	42,055	93,222	50,245	41,449	91,694	55,501	47,524	103,025	44,582	38,930	83,512	46,924	34,454	81,378
Rivers	72,029	80,357	152,386	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	51,085	62,424	113,509	45,831	48,800	94,631
Sokoto	79,070	29,040	108,110	48,230	22,755	70,985	39,411	20,610	60,021	50,240	27,848	78,088	54,588	27,004	81,592
Taraba	38,061	25,078	63,139	NA	NA	NA	26,588	20,717	47,305	29,375	21,955	51,330	33,649	33,143	66,792
Yobe**	42,167	19,411	61,578	47,776	19,821	67,597	49,469	26,373	75,842	28,517	15,063	43,580	20,890	12,251	33,141
Zamfara	65,871	22,273	88,144	53,808	25,260	79,068	51,539	19,647	71,186	106,324	44,670	150,994	52,435	25,448	77,883
Total	2,801,960	2,350,845	5,152,805	2,321,183	1,971,306	4,292,489	2,629,526	2,281,418	4,910,944	2,417,192	2,058,117	4,475,309	1,802,529	1,920,818	3,723,347

Source: NBS

Table E1.0 4: Enrolment In Public And Private Primary School By Geo-Political Zones And Gender, 2016 -2017

Zone	Gender	North Central	North East	North West	South East	South- South	South West
2014	M	1,974,424	1,779,663	4,278,398	1,402,330	1,358,057	2,462,917
	F	1,800,983	2,017,900	3,394,375	1,436,034	1,379,996	2,516,120
	M+F	3,775,407	3,797,563	7,672,773	2,838,364	2,738,053	4,979,037
2015	M	2,119,662	1,520,669	4,367,327	1,356,954	1,366,422	2,662,276
	F	1,942,136	1,216,060	3,504,059	1,330,603	1,379,819	2,676,548
	M+F	4,061,798	2,736,729	7,871,386	2,687,557	2,746,241	5,338,824
2016	M	2,081,582	2,016,459	4,482,199	1,334,443	1,053,644	2,467,613
	F	1,886,684	1,663,805	3,721,406	1,326,035	1,058,092	2,499,219
	M+F	3,968,266	3,680,264	8,203,605	2,660,478	2,111,736	4,966,832
2017	M	1,556,473	1,935,630	4,818,622	1,124,822	1,052,198	2,398,582
	F	1,398,515	1,585,209	4,068,035	1,082,946	1,081,263	2,441,427
	M+F	2,954,988	3,520,839	8,886,657	2,207,768	2,133,461	4,840,009

Source: NBS

 

 

Table E1.0 5: Senior Secondary Schools Enrolment By Geo-Political Zones And Gender 2013/2014 - 2014/2015

Zone	Gender	North Central	North East	North West	South East	South- South	South West
2013/2014	M	452,895	211,238	487,614	337,446	378,899	453,091
	F	358,857	123,320	278,093	371,878	377,778	461,380
	M+F	811,752	334,558	765,707	709,324	756,677	914,471
2014/2015	M	579,140	225,156	499,557	364,555	348,830	623,097
	F	469,729	146,786	300,919	397,689	347,210	633,071
	M+F	1,048,869	371,942	800,476	762,244	696,040	1,256,168

Source: NBS         See Also Appendix 13: Education Higher Institution Figures, for more detailed information on the education sector.

 

Contributors (Causes)

1.    Education deprivation

In northern Nigeria various factors contribute to the deprivation of, some of its population from education, from economic barriers to socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage attendance in formal education, especially for girls. In north-eastern Nigeria, millions of children are in need of education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected States (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa). In these States, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged but repairable. [53 ]

 

2.    Government policies

Figure 5: Operating and Capital Expenditure(Dataphyte)

Government policies contribute to the falling standards of education. Government change policies concerning education frequently, leaving both teachers and students in confusion. For example, the school feeding programme launched in 2005 by the Obasanjo regime was stopped at the pilot stage by next regime due to the funds meant for the school feeding programme, was better needed for the provision of more needed infrastructure in the school systemThe lack of proper equipment for classrooms, laboratories and workshops also contributes to enable effective learning.  Add misuse of institutions’ funds, exam malpractices, which is one of the major causes of falling standard of education, has not been tackled by government.

 

3.    Poor Infrastructure

As above, teachers cannot perform miracles without the necessary teaching tools. Most levels of education in Nigeria (mostly public institutions) lack the necessary facilities for teaching and learning. Seats, desks, library, books, laboratories, workshops and even in some cases the building are not fit for purpose.

 

4.    Accessibility to Schools

The Nigerian school age children have outnumbered existing schools. This is the result for over admission seen in all levels of the school system in Nigeria. The benchmark in all aspects of the school system towards optimum utilisation of the school facilities that enhances attainment of students in the school is no longer feasible. For example, teacher/student ratio of 1: 25 is no longer the case in classes; students/ books/journal ratio of 1; 10 is no longer the case; admission targets to conform to existing facilities are often abused. At the university level, the recent clamp down by the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council (NMDC) on universities that have over-admitted students into the programmes in Medicine, brought confusion into the colleges of medicine is a case in point.

5.    Sector Neglect

The problem of education emerged from the neglect which the sector suffered from in the 1980’s leading to the gradual erosion of the system. Inadequacy of funding, lack of teaching tools and modern classrooms, poor numerations and the acute shortage of qualified teachers, have all contributed to the fall in the standard of education in Nigeria. See figures allocated to education in budget above.

 

6.    Shortage of Teachers:

The is an acute shortage of qualified teachers in all subject areas in schools, every indicies or statistics re-enforce the need for recruitment of quality teachers in the education sector, but will also need to address other issues , such as:

a.     Teachers’ Welfare

Various Governments have handled teachers’ welfare with carefree attitude. Until university teachers go on strike to demand for increased welfare packages, federal government would not listen to them. Until teachers in both primary and secondary schools went on strike to make demands for the Teachers’ Salary Scale (TSS) (enhanced package), their employers and the state governments did not listen to them. Even when the parties reached agreement for a 27% increase in salary, many of the state governments who were part of negotiations took many months to implement the TSS.

Dataphyte

b.    Dedication of Teachers:

 Lack of dedication and punctuality to duty by teachers contribute to the falling standard of education. Teachers show divided loyalty to teaching. Most teachers pay lip-service to their jobs, spending more time and energy in other businesses and less time in the classroom.

7.    Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice has pervaded all the levels of education in Nigeria. Students are the centre of examination malpractice; they have masterminded various techniques of examination malpractice, with the aid of some teachers and parents.

8.    Subsiding Parents Involvement

Disinterestedness of Parents in their Children’s Education: Parents are not left out in the blame on the falling standard of education in Nigeria. Most of them do not pay the required attention to their children’s education. Due to the state of the economy, they put all their attention into revenue generation, neglecting the children’s guidance and educational motivation oft-times.

Some Recommendations

This section should be conducted in a series of workshops with stakeholders for thorough and appropriate recommendations and solutions to the issues.

·         

An audit of existing infrastructure and requirements to upgrade to meet required standards.

·         Performance should be regarded and respected more than just paper qualification. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain should be used for assessment of students.

·         School audit performed at state and federal levels on existing schools and their fitness for purpose, upgraded where necessary and complemented with increasing capacity by building more schools for the traffic.

·         Educational facilities should be upgraded to modern standards while teaching facilities should be adequately provided.

·         More qualified teachers should be employed to curb the present shortage of teachers in our schools.

·         Teachers’ welfare should be given priority by government to avoid unnecessary strikes in our educational sector.

·         Teachers should be trained to meet with new the challenges in the educational sector.

·         The need to improve higher education should begin with giving greater attention to preschool, elementary secondary and vocational schools. These are the building blocks of the society’s educational foundation, as not everybody needs a university education. The Nigerian society must make meaningful use of the benefits of the UPE programme which provides free education between the ages of six and fourteen.

·         Federal and State Governments should device ways and means of helping financially handicapped students in higher institutions by making available affordable financial loans to enable needy students to complete their education. Adequate arrangements must be in place to collect loans from students as soon as they are employed. [54 ]

·         Strategies for mass education to slow the rate of population growth urgently required otherwise infrastructure may continue to play catch-up.

Lekan Thomas

Is a Business Analyst and Electronic Engineer (with extensive expertise in assisting both public and private organisations  accomplish their goals), writes from Lagos.

 

      Twitter: @LekanThomas_Esq

      Insta: @lekanthomaz

 

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