Nigerian elite bury their public schools

A classroom at BBHS, Abeokuta

Discrimination against public schools puts many ‘unfortunate’ children at the mercy of low-quality education:

The Golden Jubilee Library in Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State has the wear and tear of several seasons. Books have largely left the shelves of the 31-year-old library while its glass doors and windows, broken in several places, tell a vivid story of a conquered facility.

During a visit to the school by our correspondent on Monday, three bags of cement sitting on a table in the front of the dusty main hall mocked the concept of true civilisation. In another part of the white building – the conference room was a rickety table.

But the state of the library only epitomised the state of disrepair in which the larger BBHS has fallen. Despite the smell of fresh coat of paint on its structures, many classes had broken roofs and missing doors, leaving pupils at the mercy of the elements.

Like the library, many blocks of classrooms and other key facilities in the school have gone through episodes of renovation and remodelling. But even that effort has fallen flat.

This, however, is no ordinary school. Long before he bestrode the highest political office in the land, former President Olusegun Obasanjo sucked from the chest of his teachers at the BBHS between 1952 and 1956. But except for painting projects done by various club sets of the Old Students Association, there is no imprimatur of the two-time Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces there.

A pupil of the school, who had come to play with his friend on Monday, remarked that BBHS had a long list of needs which include a better-equipped library. The boy who claimed to know that Obasanjo attended the school however said that was just as far as the narrative goes.

“We still go there to read but there are no books to borrow. Our toilet is an eyesore and many of the classrooms have no windows. I have neither seen Obasanjo in this school nor felt his impact,’’ he said.

Irony all the way

In Otuoke, Bayelsa State, St. Stephen’s Primary School (now State School) has for long been a shadow of itself. Despite the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan is one of its former pupils, the school lacks modern blocks of classrooms and basic amenities.

The decrepit buildings in which pupils receive lectures are caving and urgently need the services of bricklayers for renovation works. Well, after some yelling here and there, there are indications that the Presidency and the state government want to give it some attention.

For instance, Governor Seriake Dickson has directed that the school be pulled down and a new one be built.

Too sad. Nigeria is a country that often has the cause to use the past tense to speak about excellence. Foremost scholar and writer, Prof. Niyi Osundare, once noted this in an interview. As a result, the phrase, ‘In the good old days’ has more or less become a cliché.

In those good old days, public schools in Nigeria had the capacity to produce excellent results. Most of the people in high and low places today attended such. But things have so much gone bad with many of them that only the poor and stark illiterate send their kids to public institutions.

Indeed, the way neglect, corruption and other vices have blown life out of many public institutions – the Nigerian Airways, NITEL, hospitals etc – many of the schools have practically been run down. It is only a matter of grace that they are still standing. As a result, even many of the teachers in the schools prefer to send their children to private schools – a way of saying that they know it is bitter pills that go down the bellies of those still attending the institutions.

Unfortunately, governments have not intervened in genuinely fundamental ways in many places. For instance, stakeholders say apart from Rivers State and probably a few more places, no president or governor has made radical moves that can turn things around for the education sector.

Between MAPOLY and African Church Grammar School

The BBHS is not alone in the club of neglected schools attended by political office holders. Students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, are miffed that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has not done enough for the institution. The governor graduated from the then Ogun State Polytechnic, now MAPOLY, with a Higher National Diploma in 1983.

Aside from the terrible state of Iyana-Oloke road leading up to the school – which the governor has promised to fix – students said Amosun had also dangled the carrot of a reduced school fees.

While the promises are yet to crystallise, the polytechnic grapples with the telltale signs of aging and dilapidation – as it is with most state-owned tertiary institutions in the country. At the School of Business and Management Studies, the lecture hall used by the Department of Business Administration has lost the protection of all its windows. On Monday, students could be seen sitting away from the rays of the sun.

It is a story replicated all over the Ojere campus. The expansive Otunba Gbenga Daniel Hall, located close to the Harmony Garden, has also become too small for the over 1,500 full time Mass Communication students who daily receive lecture at the venue. The ceiling is broken in many places while none of the 22 wall fans, hoisted high above the sea of army green seats, has a sign of life. The searing heat in the hall, according to sources, caused two students to faint last Saturday.

But the influence of the governor might have worked wonders at the African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta, where he was a pupil between 1971 and 1975. Since about three years ago, when Amosun became the governor, a number of structures have come up with many others renovated. Standing out of the pack is a mega structure of 12 classrooms, built by the Old Student Association and commissioned in 2013.

According to the President, African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta Old Student Association, Mr. Mutiu Adebowale, the building, constructed with direct labour, gulped N40million. In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, Adebowale also commended the governor for taking active interest in the affairs of the school.

“He is a member of my club set, Club 715. He has been making input at the club level. One of the buildings in the administrative block was donated by him when he was a senator. Presently, the state is constructing a couple of buildings through the SUBEB (State Universal Basic Education Board). We have plans to construct the inner roads and the governor has promised to build a Sports Complex for the school,’’ he said.

Argument in Warri

In Warri, Delta State, the management of the Federal Government College has lamented the neglect of the institution by top political officers from the area. The Principal of the school, Mr. Abiodun Fabiyi, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Warri on Tuesday, said top political officers remembered the school only when they were seeking privileged admission for their children or children of their constituents.

The principal, who was attending to people sent by some politicians to consider their children for admission when our correspondent called, said there were many areas the school needed assistance. But he added that it was unfortunate that the school that had produced many prominent Nigerians and was serving the people of the area well had been so neglected by its significant stakeholders.

He said several letters the school sent to Senator James Manager for assistance had not even been acknowledged. Fabiyi also revealed that Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel. Uduaghan, a former student of the school, had not even acknowledged letters he wrote to him for assistance.

“I have written four to five letters to him. He has not acknowledged one. That’s the truth,” the principal said.

But the Chief Press Secretary to the   Governor, Mr. Sunny Ogefere, rebutted the principal’s claims.

“It’s not true,” Ogefere said. “From their bus, to the ICT centre to renovation of classrooms etc, His Excellency, the Governor, has done a lot for FGC, Warri. David, one of his classmates, can attest to these facts,” he added.

Beyond Igbobi College

Like Amosun, our correspondent learnt that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has also tarred the premises of the Igbobi College, his alma mater in Lagos. During a visit to the school on Tuesday, the Principal, Very Reverend Oludare Adeboyejo, said Fashola attended the school when it was owned by missionaries.

“The school was later returned to the government but in 2011 it was returned to the Methodist and Anglican Church. The old boys association has been working tremendously. We have a modern sick bay that can rival any hospital. It was built by the 1974/1976 set. The library built in 1938 has also been renovated by the Igbobi College Old Boys Association. I came here two years ago but I learnt Fashola tarred the roads. That was the only thing he did but we want to reach him to do more,’’ he said.

Adebowale urged Fashola to assist the school in constructing a modern staff quarters for teachers. He added that plans were on to convert the school to a full boarding school, hence the need to have the teachers closer to the school.

Things may be relatively rosy at the Igbobi College, but it is a different experience for many of the 2,000 schools belonging to the state. Despite claims of giving millions of naira directly to 620 junior and secondary schools for developmental projects, the neglect is still visible in leaking roofs and dilapidated classrooms across many schools.

Three schools inside Abesan Estate, Ipaja, the biggest estate in the state, are groaning under the yoke of neglect. Abesan Primary School, Estate Primary School and Housing Primary School are what many would refer to a study in the failure of governance.

During a recent visit by our correspondent, teachers who spoke on the condition of anonymity complained of theft and indecent environment. The schools, which do not have signposts, however, have a small gate and an uncompleted fence in many sections of the large compound. One of the structures, which used to be a classroom, has caved in; while another block of classrooms looks ready to collapse.

Beside the building, a pupil stepped out and stooped to urinate. Though a toilet facility is under construction, it was gathered that the three schools currently share a single latrine. In all the classrooms, large portions of the ceilings are missing, a factor that exposes the pupils to scorching heat.

Whenever it rains, teaching stops automatically, even as the gust blows the heavy rain into the classrooms.

Shining examples from India, UK

Stakeholders have expressed diverse opinions on apparent apathy exhibited by political leaders to their former schools. According to them, the development is not just targeted to their former schools but all public schools in particular. They further described it as a failure of the society and the political leaders who know where the shoe pinches the schools, but may have refused to attract infrastructural development. They pointed to an established code of social responsibility many political leaders and business giants around the world subscribe to in developing their constituencies.

They may be right. On the occasion of its 800th anniversary in 2009, the former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Sigh, and the rest of the Cambridge University, England, alumni donated £800m for the development of the varsity. In 2010, the Chairman of the Mahidnra Group, Mr. Anand Mahindra, donated $10million to Havard University, United States, his alma mater just as American businessman, Mr Vinod Khosla and Avi Nash, two former students of the Indian Institute of Technology, donated $5m and $1m to the Institute also in 2010.

An educationist, Dr. Segun Omisore, however, pointed out that politicians had responsibility to all schools in the country. He also narrated a distasteful experience which, he said, might be the reason why some politically exposed people may not have paid any attention to the schools that produced them.

“When I came back from America I went back to my former school, Salvation Army School, Ebute Meta, Lagos and it was in a terrible condition. I spoke with the principal and asked him what I could do. He probably wanted me to give him money to do it himself – which is something I would not do.

“I don’t know what steps other stakeholders have taken but if they had the same experience, you probably would not blame them. However, I don’t think any principal in his right senses would expect Fashola to give him money. I am of the opinion that it is also about the politicians not knowing where they are going and having the political will to correct these setbacks in the education sector. It is their responsibility to support the aspiration of every school under their watch,’’ he said.

On his part, a human rights lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje, puts the blame on the doorstep of the larger society. He also wants old student sssociations to serve as the conscience of the society by shaming errant members to discourage bad behaviour.

“How many of us, including me, in positions of authority today, actually hold steadfast to the philosophy our primary and secondary schools represent? Do we reflect on our lives? We don’t. Immediately we leave, we forget all the values. I finished secondary school in the seventies. None of us was taught how to steal public money to the extent that some of us should be impeached for financial recklessness.

“Why are we not being guided by the philosophy of our former schools? It is the society that does not ask questions. People become millionaires overnight and nobody asks questions. That ethical value is no longer there. How many old students associations have castigated their members in positions of authority? A governor-elect sent thugs to attack judges. Did he not attend a secondary school? What is the old student union doing in terms of castigating irresponsible behaviour of members? It calls to question the ethical value in the society,’’ he said.

My private school is bigger than yours

While the proliferation of private universities has helped to manage the challenge of access to education, industry watchers said it had further alienated public schools and entrenched the problems. According to the National Universities Commission, there are 50 private universities in Nigeria. Aside from religious bodies which own the biggest chunk, individual politicians are next.

For instance, Obasanjo founded The Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, in 2004. Its philosophy, according to the university, is to ensure that “science-based programmes must enjoy very high priority in the order of things. But most importantly, there is an urgent need to expose states as well as students, irrespective of their disciplines, to the tools of Information Communication Technology through exposure to computer usage, access to the internet and information super highway.’’

That the 77-year-old former president, who just enrolled for his Doctor of Philosophy programme, has a bias for education is not in doubt. The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, a state of the art complex patterned after the US Presidential Library, sits on 76 acres of land in Abeokuta. It is a luxurious mix of an amphitheatre, main library, shopping centre, recreation and leisure services as well as housing facilities. However, the Golden Jubilee Library of his former school does not come close.

Well, some people may want to acknowledge the fact that the Obasanjo administration, after much pressure from university lecturers, considerably improved on their welfare. Besides, he re-inactivated the Universal Basic Education project, which, has however, failed to sanitise foundation education system in the country. For one, the majority of Nigerian elite don’t contemplate sending their children to these schools, as they know it is the private ones that will adequately cater for their future.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar also belongs to the league of politicians with a strong interest in education. Atiku, who had his primary and post-primary education at Jada Primary School and Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, both in Yola, respectively, facilitated the establishment of the American University of Nigeria, Yola, in 2005. He had earlier founded a primary and secondary school. The AUN, which is in partnership with the American University, Washington DC, United States, is reputed to have the highest number of foreign professors from Europe and America. Now, the question may well arise: How come that public universities do not have such a capacity?

Other private universities owned by individuals include the Adeleke University, Ede, Osun, State; the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State; and Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

The National President, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Michael Alogba, identified challenges of underfunding and overpopulation, among others, in the education sector.

“Education is capital-intensive. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation recommends that 26 per cent of the budget should be dedicated to education but Nigeria votes less than 10 per cent of the budget to the sector. Another challenge is the politicisation of the education industry. This has to do with government providing free education and the population of pupils escalating, thereby overstretching the resources available. At the end of the day the quality of education will drop.

There is also infrastructural deficit. Some schools have not got a touch of renovation in the past 25 years. The UNESCO also recommends between 24 and 26 pupils to a teacher. I cannot recollect when last teachers were recruited in some states of the Federation. You find a teacher with 200 pupils; the minimum is 80. There is no way the quality of education will not drop in that situation,’’ he said.