After its independence in 1960, Nigeria has been struggling in political turbulence and economic problems. There are many historical and new issues that the Nigerian government has to face, such as the reforming of the petroleum-based economy, dealing with the ethnic and religious tensions, and developing democracy (CIA). However, from the people’s perspective, among the many challenges Nigeria is currently facing, the most important to furthering its national development is to improve the education system, since education is the fundamental determinant of how the young/future generation, in general, will perform in society when they are older, and therefore is the most direct investment that a country can make for its future, with serious consequences in all realms of the society.
The most fundamental issue facing the Nigerian education system is the low enrollment rate of children in primary schools. In Nigeria, 40% of children aged six to eleven do not attend primary school, and this proportion can be considerably higher in the impoverished inland north. 30% of students have not completed their primary school education, and only 54% of them successfully matriculate into the country’s middle schools (UNICEF). This low rate of education among the youth dramatically reduces the job options for the younger generation, resulting in low utilization rate of human capital and limiting the overall development of Nigeria.
A major concern of the children attending schools is the gender gap. Compared to the boys, Nigerian girls are less likely to attend school. The causes are complex but roughly include four aspects: cultural barriers, family financial difficulties, child labor market, and early marriage. Cultural and religious norms have limited the role of women in Nigeria. Most parents of girls are more willing to only send their children to Quranic schools that are in considerably poor conditions (UNICEF). Even for those who managed to enroll in secular schools, 30% of them might end up dropping out. Early marriage is another issue that keeps the girls from being educated, and poverty is another reason. The cost of education is a heavy burden for some poor families because they cannot afford the tuition, books, materials, transportation, and other costs of educating their children; and the state provides very limited assistance. The cost of indirect education for girls is also seen as higher than boys, which is linked to the issue of child labor. In Nigeria, child labor is a necessary income stream for poor households (UNICEF). Girls working as child laborers not only save on the cost of direct education, but they could also help with housework, take care of siblings, and provide cheap, productive labor source and make additional income for the family.
Besides, early marriage is more of a problem for girls than boys. Once the girls get married, they inevitably have children, and the chance for them to continue their education drops to a much lower level than before. The low education level of the country’s women deeply affects Nigeria’s national prosperity. As these women become poorly educated laborers for life, they can only pursue entry-level jobs. And the worse thing is that the fertility rate remains high in poor households, continuing the low-income developmental trap (Sachs, 2005). Having six or seven children leaves the women no choice but to play the role of homemakers and exclusively focus on parenting; plus, their lack of education makes them less competitive in the job market. Education will bring many social achievements and economic benefits, but the lack of female education in Nigeria deprived them of the opportunity to participate in the future economic development of the country. This situation forms a negative cycle for the women in Nigeria and is leaving half of the population with an inability to contribute to the development of the country, or of themselves.
Another factor that decreases the number of children attending schools is that the Nigerian labor market soaks up a large number of school age children (of both genders) to work as they are not supposed to. In Nigeria, there are approximately 15 million children under 14 years old who have become laborers, doing unwanted jobs that could potentially harm their physical and mental health. Although Nigeria passed a Child’s Rights Law in 2003, not all 36 states had accepted it. The process of taking the law in each state is still ongoing; meanwhile, child labor is still very common in the North (Kure, 2013). This situation is difficult to be change, or at least to be seriously improved, and poverty is the most obvious reason for the short-term because the child laborers' incomes have become necessary for their families. Without that portion of money, the chance of the children to get future education would be even lower because of poverty. Lack of education is also a primary cause of child labor in Nigeria. “Where between 60% – 70% of child labor is prevalent, do not posses adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable, or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it.” (Nwazuoke & Igwe, 2016). Other reasons for non-attendance include such reasons as broken homes, and parental absence should also be taken into consideration.
The consequences could be easily foretold. If the children continue to become laborers instead of learning knowledge in school, this poverty trap will be inescapable for the entire nation, since the future generation is not receiving enough education which can improve their society and lives in the future. In addition, child labor would also increase the risk of injuries, disabilities, and even death of workers. Also, due to lack of management, education, and boundaries, some children might become sex workers, street criminals or join political movements to reform society, which may also have additional effects in destabilizing the country. The increasing political participation might lead to violence (Huntington, 1971). All of the above pose risks to the future development of the entire country.
Not only should we be concerned about whether the children, and how many of them, are attending school in Nigeria, but we should also pay attention to the quality of education in the country, which sorely needs to be improved as well. The Nigerian government has launched policies to improve the education quality, such as the Universal Basic Education Scheme in 1999, and has emphasized the improvement of teaching quality, assessment, and teacher training as the priorities (Majo, 2000). However, as the current statistics show, improvements have been quite limited. The number of schools in Nigeria, as well as the number of facilities and employees/teachers of these institutions, is not proportionally equivalent to the number of school age children. This makes it hard to improve the quality and efficiency of the education system. Statistics show that, on average, 600 of primary school students in Nigeria have to share a single toilet. Most schools in rural areas lack water, electricity, and other basic resources. As for the number of schools, there were about 54,000 public primary schools in 2009 (Abuja). From a numeric perspective, this seems sufficient, but disparities in quality are extreme and highly unsatisfactory.
Another big challenge facing education in Nigeria is financial support / funding, which is the base of almost everything that keeps a country run. The education system could be largely improved by securing an amount of funding that is decent enough to support the educational institutions. While many governments have policies for free and compulsory education, however, most developing countries are unable to maintain comprehensive free education, such as Nigeria. And non-free education will cause the problem of poor households being unable to afford the children education. As a recession economy, it is difficult for Nigeria to guarantee free education for the people. Moreover, experience around the world show that free education is only a slogan unless parents, people, or governments have economic capacity. Nigeria could therefore consider the establishment of a program that directly or indirectly raises funds for its national education system (Adeyemi, 2011). However, in the implementation of the program, it is necessary to pay attention to corruption. The gap between rich and poor in many poor countries is relatively large, and given the lack of government regulation, corruption continues to breed. It is important to pay attention to the future of the country through the education program.
Nigeria has a strong capacity for potential development, with its massive resources and large population, but a number of extensive and long-term problems have thwarted its development and becoming a major power and strong civil society. Nigeria’s extensive poverty, political instability, large child labor markets, cultural reasons and high levels of sexism and gender inequality and other reasons have kept enrollment rates very low and are harming the future development prospects of the nation. Increasing this enrollment rate, and improving the quality of education that the students receive, is vital to securing Nigeria’s future and to securing the welfare of its citizens. Attempts have been made to focus on these issues and they are widely recognized, but little progress has been made in recent years. It will be necessary to secure a stable political and security environment as a basis for this, after which revenue streams will need to be developed that can eliminate the child labor market, increase student enrollment, and begin to channel funds towards improving school quality while cleaning up corruption and rolling back some of the sexism that has been harming the future of women and of the country as a whole.