The Opportunity Cost of Child Street Begging (“Almajirci”)

Have you ever wondered why we are yet to have our versions of Einstein, Rutherford, or Kant of modern Physics, Chemistry and Philosophy respectively; or our versions of Keynes, Sabin or Watson of modern Economics, Medical or Molecular Biological fame and breakthroughs respectively or even the Soyinkas of literary fame despite our close to a century of contact with western education? The reason –apart from the lack of the proper investment in education and other ‘third world peculiarities’- may not be unconnected with fact that millions of our young kids full of potentials over the past decades have been out of school, far away from the care their parents, out in the streets, begging, all in the quest for Qur’anic Education.

Hold a few minutes’ interaction/conversation with most of these kids and you will realise the great number of potential geniuses we are losing to this archaic and obsolete societal menace called “Almajirci”. Most of these kids are geniuses in every meaning of the word ‘genius’. The mathematical prowess of some of them is just so marvelous, so also their understanding of concepts far beyond the allowance of their situation. ‘Given the right opportunity’, I usually mutter to myself; ‘some among these kids may eventually come up with theories far complex than John Nash’s contributions to Game Theory, solve the most difficult unsolved mathematical problems, or answer the most difficult questions in theoretical physics or philosophy that defied the likes of Stephen Hawkins or Bertrand Russell respectively or even more importantly develop economic models that may forever change the fortunes of our still far backward region’.

Just mentally imagine what would have become of theoretical physics had social circumstances similar to the ones presented our “Almajiris” prevented Albert Einstein from enrolling into school, it certainly would have taken years for the Theory of Relativity to have developed which would have meant that even the atomic bomb would not have been developed as early as it was –and perhaps the historical ramifications of the creation of the first atomic bomb-. The same allegory can apply to all the major breakthroughs of our time both those in the Sciences and the Social Sciences.

Take the comparative advantage our Southern counterparts have over us in terms of indices of education, health and development for example. It is also related to this problem among others. While over the years, the goal of the average remote villager in the South is to enroll his child in school whenever the opportunity avails him and never send that child away however dire their circumstances, that cannot be said of the average remote villager in the North, whose main goal is to send as many sons of his as possible to the cities for “Almajirci” deceitfully coated as Islamic education. And as a result, despite the humongous problems of the country called Nigeria, most children born to remote villagers in the South tend to have better hope and aspirations than their Northern counterparts whose major hope and aspiration is not to go to school to unlock their God given potentials (most of whom don’t even know what that means!) but to be the ‘house boy’ in one of the houses in the cities while most actually end up being nuisances to the cities they live in.

For every kid that falls victim of this archaic system, we lose a potential Doctor; for every kid sent to the city for “Almajirci”, we lose a potentially great Engineer; and for every “Almajiri” roaming around the street for alms or otherwise, we are losing a lot of potentially great Lawyers or Economists or Scientists whose contributions to our progress and development may be revolutionary given the chance. Such is the opportunity cost of this system to our collective progress and development.

Every time I come in contact with these potentially intelligent yet hopeless kids roaming in the streets, or meandering from one house to another in search of what to eat and sustain themselves for the next few hours, I just marvel at the countless opportunities that our society constantly lose in terms of the potential inputs of such kids towards our collective development as a people. And the sad reality is that over the years, we have not yet had any thoroughbred Islamic intellectual emanating from this system in this era either. This buttresses the across-the-board failure of the entire system.

In conclusion, the main aim of this write up is not to proffer solutions to the problem, rather, it is meant to encourage a shift in the way we generally perceive the menace of child street begging in Northern Nigeria from the simplistic perception of the problem as merely contributing to such societal problems as theft, thuggery, drug abuse, rape and so on; to a more holistic one in terms of the countless opportunities that our society constantly lose as regards the potential inputs of such kids towards our collective economic, social and intellectual development as a people. This I believe may prompt us all as a society to act fast to challenge this problem head-on and to act in every way possible to see to the end of it for the betterment of our society. The “Almajirci” problem is bigger than just the contributions of the “Almajiri” to our societal problems (of Thuggery, theft, drug abuse etc) as most commentators put it. It certainly goes beyond that to encompass the great losses our society endure year in, year out due to the loss of the potential contributions of these kids to our economy, education, health and technology. This is the opportunity cost of child street begging in Northern Nigeria (Almajirci).

Abdulkareem Kabir Masokano
June 17, 2017

Nigeria’s 4th Republic at 20: Sober Reflections on the State of The Nation

I wrote this a little more than a year ago on the occasion of Nigeria’s 20 years celebration of uninterrupted civilian rule since 1999 and still think the content is still relevant as Nigeria turns 60 today.

AK Masokano's Blog

As our nation marks the 20th anniversary of nonstop civilian rule and return of the country to democracy, it’s only fair to reflect on the journey so far and how the country has fared over the past 20 years. A lot of progress has been made so far, I believe. For example, our elections are improving, we enjoy relative freedom of speech and expression, and we are almost at par with other countries in the global world in terms of access to information (Internet of Things and the likes). All that being said however, and quite unfortunately, on a much broader scale, the country is ever more retrogressing and is becoming increasingly difficult for the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians. Hopelessness is at all time low, unemployment dangerously high, infrastructure abysmal, National security in shambles, education and healthcare at very deplorable states and justice very difficult to come by -all…

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Covid19 & The Imperative to Set our Affairs Right.

I just hope and pray that our politicians will take the most important lesson out of this Covid19 crisis; they have no where to go when a medical emergency befalls them or their family members. We’re now all left at the mercy of the mess of a health sector they created, together.

We have tertiary hospitals with ICUs that can barely boast of 2-3 ventilators, absence of basic treatment and diagnostic equipments, overburdened and grossly understaffed hospitals, virtually useless health insurance that doesn’t cover basic medical implants, overworked and unmotivated health workers.

The private hospitals they might consider have nothing special to offer in terms of critical health needs other than false sense of comfort.

At this point, should any of our leaders suffer from acute coronary syndrome that is amenable to treatment, there’s no functioning angiographic equipment outside of lagos to determine the extent of heart damage, no facilities for bypass procedures even with though we have the skilled personnel.

An acute hemorrhagic stroke at this point in time even for the President (Allah ya kiyaye) is a death sentence with unavailability of endovascular neurosurgical equipments anywhere in the country despite having highly skilled capable neurosurgeons.

This, if anything, should make us all realize the importance of setting our affairs right, even for our own selfish interests -the so called egoistic altruism.

Pray, fellow countrymen, pray!

I read with very much trepidation the scary report published two days ago by the Imperial College London on the impact of Non Pharmacological Interventions -in the obvious absence of drugs and vaccine- to reduce Covid19 spread and mortality. Having read their major simulation-based projections on the trajectory of the virus in the UK and US with or without the two major available strategies; suppression of transmission of the virus via drastic restrictions in public movement and social interactions or containment of its transmission using the mitigation approach which focuses on limiting it’s spread within the society, I couldn’t but dread at the thought of the virus spreading to developing countries especially Nigeria where I know with a high degree of certainty that we have nothing in place to contain it if/when it comes.

To start with, the report projected that, if let unhindered, about 80% of Britons and Americans will get infected out of which 0.9% will eventually die within the first three months of the epidemic. This putting in consideration the level of advancement of their healthcare systems and availability of ICUs with ventilator support (medical equipment used to take over a patient’s breathing when seriously ill) in most of their healthcare facilities.

The projection that got me worried was their submission that even with the most effective NPIs, the only strategy that might be effective is the implementation of maximum suppression of the transmission of the virus by enforcing wide ranging social distancing strategies including total closure of schools and other public institutions, closure of markets and banning of mass gatherings including religious activities etc for at least the next 5 months assuming no drug or vaccine against the virus will be developed within the time frame.

Remember, the report based its projections on the existing healthcare capabilities of the UK and the US. This means that, for countries like ours with already overwhelming health facilities with very few hospitals that have functioning ICUs with ventilation support, we just can’t deal with a disease of its magnitude. Just remember how stretched to the brim our hospitals get during waves of malaria epidemics around July to September, and then you can understand the scale of our unpreparedness to contain a disease that countries with well structured health systems like Italy and Spain, are struggling, with very little success, to battle with.

The only available options for us it seems are; first and foremost, keeping the disease off our shores by whatever government policy possible, and then turning back to God to pray for his protection and divine intervention, for at this rate, Allah’s merciful intervention is the only thing that can prevent us from sliding into a disaster far too devastating to even fathom.

Saudi Arabian Monarchy: Custodian of Islam or Custodian of House of Saud’s Hagemony Over Islam?

The Saudi Arabian Monarchy’s (please note, not the Saudi people!) unconcern and in some instances, support towards the increasing oppression by the Chinese government of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province [please read Prince MBS’s comments a few months ago here:https://bit.ly/2E4fJbo], and as well, the well documented ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people of Myanmar [read here also: https://bit.ly/2LUuCjW], despite the enormous diplomatic influence it wields over China and quite possibly Myanmar should go to serve as a lesson to other Muslim communities all over the world.

The evidence continues to show that if Nigerian Muslims -that so much hold the Saudi nation state in very high regards and with so much reverence, or any other Muslim community for that matter were to suffer from similar calamity that befell on the Rohingya or the Uighur people, chances are that it wouldn’t matter at all to the Saudi monarchy (again, not the people!) and they will continue their most important business of doing all they can to hold tight grip on power, as usual, while dancing to the tunes of their Western protectors.

Much as you would want to associate anything Saudi (The Nation state) as a standard of Islam, the reality on ground continues to show otherwise. The earlier we separate Saudi Arabia the Monarchical nation state, from being the sole custodian of all things Islam, the better for our collective senses of pride in being Muslims and as well, our sensitivities as you’ll not be disappointed when the Monarchy continue doing senseless things that go contrary to the teachings of Islam such as their direct contributions to humanitarian crisis in Yemen, their role in the Iraqi and Syrian wars, their roles in the Egyptian counterrevolution that toppled the first democratically elected ‘Islamist’ government of Egypt led by Morsi, their looming abandonment of the Palestinian cause, and as well as their most recent promotion of unislamic activities in the kingdom to mention but a few.

We should also understand that much as the Saudi Monarchy loves to associate itself (and wants all Muslims to) with the two Holy mosques and cities, Makkah and Madina, criticism of the government and its rulers does not in anyway approximate to disregard in any form to the sanctity and sacredness of the two Holy Mosques and cities.

It will interest most people to know that the two Holy Mosques were at several points in history under different empires and political dynasties, from the Ayyubids, Mamluks to the Ottomans though mostly as vassal entities to such empires through the Sharrifs. And most of those empires all served the two cities with the respect and dignity they rightfully deserve. The House of Saud is no different. This should be very clear to all Muslims.

The kingdom, like any other, is much more interested in perpetuating its power than serving Islam or protecting the interests of Muslims like most Muslims tend to believe. It just conveniently uses the ‘Islam card’ and the ‘Custodianship of the Two Holy Mosques’ only to protect its interests of staying in power by all means necessary and are very much ready to dump the ‘Islam card’ when it directly conflicts with the interests of the House of As-Saud as we have seen time and again.

Nigeria’s 4th Republic at 20: Sober Reflections on the State of The Nation

As our nation marks the 20th anniversary of nonstop civilian rule and return of the country to democracy, it’s only fair to reflect on the journey so far and how the country has fared over the past 20 years. A lot of progress has been made so far, I believe. For example, our elections are improving, we enjoy relative freedom of speech and expression, and we are almost at par with other countries in the global world in terms of access to information (Internet of Things and the likes). All that being said however, and quite unfortunately, on a much broader scale, the country is ever more retrogressing and is becoming increasingly difficult for the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians. Hopelessness is at all time low, unemployment dangerously high, infrastructure abysmal, National security in shambles, education and healthcare at very deplorable states and justice very difficult to come by -all potent recipes for failure of a state. It is my opinion that this has a lot to do with how the system was structured in 1999 and therefore calls for serious reflections and possible revisiting in order for our country to make headway.

Prior to 2015, I, like many other young Nigerians, was so naive as to think that Nigeria as structured in 1999 will have any meaningful change with just a change of government. From PDP to APC, from looters to people of integrity, with just the flick of a wand. How simplistic, crudely reductionist and naive? Thankfully, now most of us know better!

So many events and happenings, actions and inactions that occurred post 2015 Nigeria have led me to some deep reflections on so many fundamental issues and problems bedeviling Nigeria as a system so much so that it is now crystal clear to me, that regardless of whoever becomes president, as long as we maintain the current system of government, patronize the same set of politicians, have the same structure and mentality, Nigeria will change no more than the name of ‘swallow’ changes from “Tuwo” to “Amala” depending on the ingredient used. “swallow na swallow na!”. True to that, the Hausa man says; “Ba a chanza wa tuwo suna”, which loosely translates to; ‘The name of “tuwo” can never be changed no matter how well prepared it is’. I believe you’ll get the metaphor.

We’d only be wasting our time and energy campaigning for one individual or the other, this party or the other when in reality, they are all products of the same system, birds of the same feather making the same promises over and over again with very little to no understanding of the fundamental problems of Nigeria and the possible ways forward. Even if they have this realization, the system as structured in 1999 makes it very difficult for any radical change for the better.

At the price of sounding overly pessimistic, I believe that Nigeria’s problems are so pervasive and deeply rooted that mere recycling of old politicians or even new ones (they are almost all the same!) by way of the ballot will not change anything. This is not to discourage anyone who thinks otherwise as I am simply stating my opinion from the angle from which I analyze Nigeria and its problems.

I may sound a bit radical in the next few lines, but truth be told, insofar as we aspire to join our rightful position among the great countries of this world, we need, I dare say, to make radical changes in the political structure, constitution as well as the system of government in the country. In other words, more than ever before, this country needs complete restructuring in the full meaning of the word not just the political meaning accorded to it by many of its proponents currently where every region or ethnic nationality has its interpretation of restructuring from their various reductionist perspectives of regionalism, ethnicity or tribalism.

Depressingly enough, the only people with the power to influence the needed change are so much dependent on the inefficiency of the system that they are sure to forestall any meaningful overhaul. This is besides the fact that the system was by design very impervious to reform with no room for tweaking it to reflect changing and evolving problems facing the country. Whether this was done intentionally by the designers of 4th republic Nigeria remains to be explored by deeper analysis of the country’s history especially around 1998-1999. Be that as it may, this writeup serves to -however little- offer some insights into some of our most fundamental problems from my humble vantage point.

First of all, I have come to the fundamental conclusion that we will never reach the promised land so long as we continue the presidential system specifically and the model of governance we operate generally; the so called three tier system that the founding fathers of this current dispensation so ignorantly copied and pasted from other climes without regards for our complexity as a nation. It is too simple for our complexity as a nation, too expensive for our resources and too centralized for our real needs as a people.

It is very outrageous when you look critically at how the President, his aides, his ministers and theirs on one hand then the Senators and Members of House of Assembly on the other hand consume such a huge fortune of our collective wealth for their upkeep and welfare when, a single government as obtained in the parliamentary system for example could certainly do better, or at worse do same with less cost to our common wealth. This has made governance so expensive, laws and legislations – that should be very flexible with regards to time and prevailing circumstances- so rigid, policy and decision making so slow and laced with vested interests at every step of the way, and government so centralized among very few individuals at the expense of general public interest.

Credit: Mike Asukwo

I can’t help but mention at this point that the period of transition between 1998-1999 was a great missed opportunity for our country for setting the course of our development. Sadly, those saddled with that responsibility just copied and pasted everything from countries whose systems of governments have gradually evolved after years of modifications to suit their realities and whose histories and demographics are very dissimilar to ours. This is the main cause of our snail paced development compared to our peers when compared at the turn of the millennium.

It is this same reason that regardless of who gets elected, PDP or APC or whatever party this system may produce, however good their intentions or desire to bring real and meaningful change, they still have a very recalcitrant system of inflexible legislation protected by ineffectual and self-serving collection of visionless politicians as members of the Senate or House of Representatives that will always make sure to block whatever policy that will deprive them of the perks of being our representatives. This is the same reason why no meaningful, people oriented constitutional review has taken place since 1999. One eventually loses count of the number of committees set up for constitutional review by each successive legislative cohort.

A leaner system, say a parliamentary one, though quite Herculean of a task owing to the tight grip with which the ruling elites hold us all hostage solely for their personal interests, will ensure better representation, lesser cost of governance and or more people -rather than politicians- oriented public policy.

The entire geo-political structure of the country also needs serious revisiting with all options on table as regards the future of the corporate entities of the country even if it means renegotiating the terms of the union or more radically, separation. This may sound a bit radical, but if we are to be truthful to ourselves, we all know that Nigerian nation as a project is not working. And this has a lot to do with our complexities though very much surmountable if we would create our own peculiar solutions to our complex problems.

Sadly, the politicians, with the willing help of some of our hypocritical clergymen have over the years succeeded in brainwashing ordinary Nigerians to always see and analyze things through the simplistic prism of the politics of us vs them; Muslims vs Christians, Northerner vs Southerners etc in order for them to continue exploiting our differences to their advantage while in actual sense, ethnicity, tribalism or religion of the ‘others’ aren’t our major problems but the system itself that is rigged to, by design, favor the elites and the ruling class at the expense of the majority.

If you’ve been analyzing the Nigerian public sector critically for long, you will agree with me also that it is almost impossible for any leader elected on the existing system to help us achieve any meaningful leap forward with the entire civil service in shambles. Please don’t mistake this to be in anyway a subtle way to create excuses for the current administration’s colossal ineptitude, cluelessness and ‘focuslessness’, far from it! the administration at its inception had all the public goodwill and support to make some difference even with the imperfect system but unfortunately made terrible and costly mistakes from the word go largely due to their unpreparedness.

No public system in Nigeria is currently viable. A vast majority of our agencies are completely dysfunctional to say the least, with little or no value added to the country and/economy. Most were simply created to make vacancies available for well-connected Nigerians to work for government and get paid for doing nothing and to also make public funds available for siphoning by the ruling elites in the form of inflated contracts, corrupt outsourcing of services, and outright graft.

This has a lot to do with how over the years, we lack the leaders with the right understanding of what job and opportunity creation is all about. Most of them think that Nigerian unemployment problems can be solved by creating more government agencies hence their only idea to job creation over the years has been the unending creation of one institute after the next commission or one board after the other agency with sometimes conflicting and overlapping functions. It is not an uncommon finding to see our legislators sponsoring bills for the creation of such new government agencies and marking such as their achievements when in fact they are just contributing to further deepening Nigeria’s fiscal problems and by extension making the system more complex for reform.

Nigeria needs now, more than at any other period in the past, a sober refection on its journey so far. Especially as it is one of the fastest growing countries in the world in terms of population at a time when it currently is the country with the highest proportion of people living in extreme poverty. The ruling class/elites must realize that Nigeria’s problems are systemic and require system approach to adequately solve not just their current knee jerk approach.

This may entail a complete hard reset in its public service system, complete redefinition of the purpose, mission and operational philosophy of every aspect of its huge, big-for-nothing civil service, leaner and decentralized systems of governance, long term focused and oriented and public policies, and more importantly, sincere and visionary leadership to enable it to retrace its steps and find the right path to meaningful development. Though hopeless a wish, given the apparent cluelessness of our leaders, anything short of that is just akin to treating symptoms rather than addressing the main infirmity and will only complicate matters more when the country eventually and inevitably completes its trajectory of failure.

 

“A Stitch in Time..”: Salvaging Nigeria’s Future

Photo Credit: http://safecity.in/education-a-powerful-tool-for-development/

“An investment in knowledge [education] pays the best interest”

“…Nigeria will thrive when every Nigerian is able to thrive”

The quotes above, the first made by one of the American founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin; and the second made by Bill Gates in his recent visit to Nigeria profoundly capture and summarize a nagging thought that I have, for quite a long time now, been mulling over, yet what most, if not all those at the helms of affairs in this country fail –or quite possibly don’t want- to understand. This is nothing more than the realization that Nigeria and by extension any other developing country will never, ever achieve any meaningful progress and development without a solid educational system as the bedrock for its citizen’s development.

It is my firm belief that the more truly educated (in the true essence of education) our people are, the more creative and innovative they are going to be and the less dependent they will be on the government and by extension, the more prosperous the country’s future, which automatically translates to the increase in our ability to pull our country out of the fold of underdevelopment and misery. This will ensure that every citizen would be able to thrive, the direct result of which is the thriving of the country for everyone’s good.

I know a lot has been written/discussed about the cause(s) of our underdevelopment in this country and especially, the Northern part of the country, but in my opinion, at the root of it all is how successive governments have paid so little an interest in public education – a sector where by far the greatest majority of Nigerians patronize!- at the primary and secondary levels to such an extent that today, one can confidently declare that public education system -with very few exceptions- has completely collapsed. Most public schools are avenues where children go to wane off time and come back with little or no transfer of knowledge in whatsoever way. We fail to see the obvious link between the hopelessness, lack of creativity and over dependence of our youth on government at this period in our history and quality (if any) of education they receive at our public schools. With this sad reality, when one puts into consideration the millions of children that are out of school, coupled with the very little effort our governments at all levels are employing to reverse that trend, then, I am afraid, the future appears all too bleak for our country.

To become fully abreast with the problem at hand, one needs only to pay a visit to a public Primary or Secondary school nearby and interact with a student or two from such schools as well as the school environment to fully comprehend the gravity of this problem especially in the northern part of the country (and I believe it is so down south). Most, and indeed all teachers in some places are grossly incompetent, the infrastructure abysmal and the student motivation almost nonexistent. Pupils practically go to school just to wane off time and comeback home without learning anything. These are just some of the realities in most public schools in Nigeria. I put more emphasis on public education not because the private sector is free from all these problems like anything characteristic of this country, but because by far, the vast majority of Nigerians do patronize public schools and therefore I believe that future progress or otherwise of the country depends on the premium we pay to this all important sector. And the earlier we realize this, the better for us all.

A Glimpse into a class in one of the public schools in Nigeria.

Before I go about proffering what I think are some of the ways forward, I think it is only right to highlight some of the problems that brought us here as I believe in the maxim “the first step to solving any problem is acknowledging the problem in the first place”.

At the root of all these problems is the fact that we generally don’t know the full essence and purpose of education. This is fundamental. Right from the start, we tend to inculcate in the minds of our children the wrong notion that they need to have certificates (not education) in order to secure descent white collar jobs. And so the main aim and focus of virtually most of our children and youth is to finally get that certificate or the other, through whatever means possible in order to get a share of the National cake. That is why even at the very top level of our educational system, we have hundreds of thousands of graduates that have certificates but by all standards aren’t educated, lack creativity as well as innovation, and are hopelessly idle, waiting for one ‘connection’ or the other, coupled with our deeply entrenched culture of nepotism and favoritism to secure government jobs. The concept of education as a liberating force is almost nonexistent in our national culture. This mentality I think is at the root of all our current woes on education.

Photo Credit: https://learningrenaissance.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/thought-for-the-day-the-true-purpose-of-education/

Then comes the serial neglect of the educational sector over the years by successive governments largely due to the proliferation of private schools into which the elites and middle class Nigerians do enroll their children as a result of which they show less or even no concern to the quality of the public schools and public education. This has led to the current nonchalant attitude by those at the helm of our affairs towards public education in Nigeria largely due to the false belief that they have nothing to lose since their children are all enrolled into private schools. This is at best delusional in my opinion. Also, like many things in this country, our politicians over the years pay more premium to quantity of schools built or teachers employed than quality of education accessed at such schools.

Another factor is the serial disregard for due process over the years as regards employment of teachers that paved way for the entrenchment of the culture of nepotism and favoritism when appointing teachers to teach in public schools. This, I believe, is the main cause of the current glut of grossly incompetent teachers in our public schools. Many at times, offers of appointment to public primary and secondary schools are used by politicians and other public servants to appease/reward their followers and relatives while trumping competence and merit. It is not uncommon to see politicians especially in the Northern part of the country disturbing our radio airwaves with various jingles celebrating their success in securing ‘oppa’ to mostly undeserving individuals from their family and friends.

In this regard, I think no sector of the Nigerian system has been negatively affected by such abuse of privilege than the public education sector. In fact, in some areas, some people, having secured such offers of employment as public school teachers, subsequently sell such documents to the highest bidder. One can only imagine the impact this has on the system as a whole. This has a lot to do with the fact that we tend to have poor attitude towards teaching generally. We tend to look down on teaching as a profession, mostly due to the poor remuneration of teachers especially in public schools which has a lot to do with the fact that we don’t accord much value to education. And that is why even those that are competent enough are mostly on transit, looking for better opportunities. This is the cause of loss of motivation exhibited by most teachers in public schools.

Another reason may not be unconnected with, in my opinion, lowering of the minimum qualification for teaching in Nigeria through the introduction of such certificates as the NCE (apologies to NCE holders out there). The truth is, the creation of such programs has seriously contributed to the stereotyping of teaching as a profession as such colleges of education are by design meant to admit those who fail to secure admissions into universities and polytechnics, as such they are, for the most part, dumping grounds into which graduates of secondary schools who have some academic deficiencies are compensated in order to at least earn a certificate. The result of which is deteriorating quality and competence level of those teaching “the future” of our country. What you give is what you take!

Now how do we salvage such a pervasive and deeply rooted problem?

First, I think we must admit and acknowledge that we have a serious problem that portends a gloomy and almost doomed future for our country, the consequence of which all of us -regardless of socioeconomic class- will most certainly suffer from if we don’t take the necessary amends as soon as possible -including taking some bitter but necessary pills. We thereafter need to have a complete redefinition of the purpose of education. And this starts right from the family level. Our children should be made to understand that education is meant for their self-emancipation and self-liberation rather than a means of merely earning a certificate to just secure a ‘white collar’ job. This is also fundamental. The earlier we realize this simple fact that we need truly educated individuals not just people with certificates, the better for our future as a country.

Photo Credit: QouteHD.com

Secondly, we need a total overhaul of our entire education structure and system. A state of emergency of some sort is needed to reassess everything about education right from the roles of the various levels of government in managing the various levels of education, funding mechanisms, minimum level of qualification for teaching, teachers’ remuneration system, curriculum as well as development of a robust national development plan to address other areas of the economy that have direct or indirect influence on education. In this regard, Local Government Authorities should be striped of the management of any public school. All public schools should be managed be either state or federal governments.

For a start, funding could be potentiated via introduction of a tax regime in addition to the ETF to cover funding for basic infrastructure as well as teacher’s remuneration including teachers’ welfare for public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. This may be done under a centralized commission just like the National Universities Commission but with inputs from all state governments.

It is also pertinent to understand that this problem if not salvaged in time has the potential of making this country ungovernable and will only worsen our current woes to unimaginable proportions, hence the need to nip it in the bud. In that case, potential remedies to such a pervasive and deeply rooted problem may need some ‘necessary but awful pills’ for long term salvage of the system. This will include a forensic assessment of the competence of our public school teachers and subsequently retraining the trainable ones and replacing those not trainable. This has proven quite unpopular as exemplified by the recent sacking of incompetent teachers by Kaduna State Government, but truth be told, and removing all sentiments and wont for political correctness, this is one of the long term solutions to salvage education in Nigeria.

All efforts must also be taken to further toughen the minimum qualification for teaching in all schools, both public and private. In that regard, I seriously opine that we must look beyond the NCE as a qualification for teaching in our primary and secondary schools. The minimum requirement for teaching should be at the very least a bachelor’s degree. This may however be very difficult in a complex country like ours where people hardly see beyond their immediate field of vision.

Teacher’s welfare and remuneration must as a matter of urgency be improved in order to make teaching more attractive and dignified. Minimum wage for teachers should therefore be far above the national benchmark in order to improve their morale. This will help greatly in making teaching more enticing for those with genuine interest in teaching. But this could hardly be achieved without the support and advocacy of the public, as such we must realize that how much we value teaching as a profession determines our seriousness and readiness, if any, for long term prosperity and development. We therefore need to use all avenues available to us to support and advocate for the improvement in teachers’ welfare both in public and private schools.

The educational sector should also be the last place where this highly reductionist indigene-settler dichotomy should come into play when it comes to recruitment. Each applicant should be selected based on what (S)he has to contribute rather than his/her tribe, religion or region of origin. We must understand that there are certain things that shouldn’t be allowed to fall into the cold hands of identity politics. Educational sector is one such area. This will ensure that the most capable people are responsible for carrying such important duty as educating our future leaders.

In conclusion, insofar as we hope to achieve any meaningful development and secure a prosperous future for our children, then radical changes are seriously needed in how we appreciate the importance of education in our quest for national development. We must also demand and advocate for more from our leaders in terms of creation of people-oriented, long term based as against populist policies on education. We must also see it as a collective, rather than an individual problem and contribute in however little ways that we can to redeem our country from its current path to obvious destruction. A stitch in time, may save a country!

Professor Usman Yusuf of NHIS Vs The HMO Cartel:

I like the way this time around, Nigerians are beginning to understand why the embattled NHIS ES is facing the challenges he is currently battling with. From all indications, his recent sack by the NHIS Board has backfired. More people are beginning to understand the issues and interests at stake as well as the humongous and deeply rooted corruption bedeviling the NHIS since its establishment during the Obasanjo’s administration than ever before. It has always been a hidden lacuna for effortless corruption and ripoff of public funds protected by a powerful cartel of HMOs (Health Management Organizations) backed by top politicians and bureaucrats in the Ministry of Health and the National Assembly.

Professor Yusuf’s “unNigerian” persistent courage and determination to challenge and fix the rot he found at the scheme is very much commendable, impressive and deserving of our support and encouragement. PMB must also take decisive steps (though I doubt if will, given his past antecedents in such matters) to support such a rare gem and if necessary sack the obvious impediments whose vested interests are targeted by this gentleman’s reforms, top among which is the Honorable Minister of Health who appears to favor a reversion to the status quo ante in the scheme for reasons best known to him.

If possible, an independent commission of inquiry should be set up to review the operations of the HMOs, how they use the money payed to them and how they keep on shortchanging Nigerians their hard earned money.

Professor Yusuf on the other hand must improve his communication of the issues at stake through better media engagements and public enlightenment of the reforms he is carrying out to rally the public around him and to change the negative narrative that the HMO cartel has successfully set against him.

This is indeed a Herculean task he has embarked upon. Fighting corruption at such a scale where powerful forces of evil are deprived of the hitherto effortlessness with which they are able to siphon public funds is a very dangerous and challenging one. He therefore needs our prayers as well as support, the minimum of which we can do is to raise public awareness on the issue via social media and other channels for this is a fight that affects us all.

AK Masokano

23rd October, 2018

Extreme Poverty; Nigeria’s Ticking Time Bomb

““Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.” – Kofi Annan

It is no longer news that The World Poverty Clock, has declared Nigeria as the Country with the highest number of extremely poor people by proportion; with an estimated 87 million people living in extreme poverty and with a staggeringly high rate of the population ever more descending into the extreme poverty pit at approximately six people per minute. Though I haven’t studied their methodology, –which most likely used figures and estimates provided by Nigerian government- I am more inclined to reasonably concur with such findings, as I believe every reasonable Nigerian would, owing to the fact that the alarming and increasing level of poverty in areas of Nigeria especially in Northern Nigeria is very much self-evident.

It is easy to dismiss and deny this report as swiftly done by the present Nigerian government and its apologists for pure political reasons. However, in my opinion, denying such a glaringly clear problem is at best counterproductive and at worse amounting to great disservice to national progress.

Inequality in Nigeria is by the day rising at such an astronomical level that calls for all well-meaning Nigerians to be really worried about what the future will birth. The gap between the rich and poor is increasing at such a frighteningly high rate that its increasingly becoming impossible for ordinary Nigerians to even dream of living at least, a comfortable life.

The middle class –which in any sane, stable, promising and prosperous clime should be swelling- is fast vanishing with thousands of previously stable and modestly well-to-do families becoming poorer by the day. Our various neighborhoods especially Northern Nigeria are replete with heartbreaking stories of entire families who out of extreme poverty and lack of other alternatives go around towns with their children begging for alms just to be able to feed and survive.

Others yet turn to other desperate and dishonorable means such as parents-sanctioned prostitution to be able to make ends meet (believe it or not, this was informed by a real story). And this trend is increasing at an unprecedented level. Hundreds of Nigerians die daily simply because they cannot afford even the most basic of medical services. More can’t even afford the luxury of visiting even a Primary Health Care Centre due to extreme poverty.

Hopelessness among millions of Nigerian youths has never been so low, the thousands of young Nigerians battling with drug addiction as well as the thousands that put their lives in harm’s way attempting to cross the Mediterranean are good pointers to such hopelessness. Unfortunately, it is not only those with no promising prospects that are increasingly becoming hopeless, even some of the most intelligent and brilliant Nigerians who should have been the drivers of future economic and technological growth are becoming increasingly hopeless.

We live in a time when –out of sheer hopelessness- hundreds of young Nigerian professionals (most notably medical doctors) are, as I am writing this, currently either processing their documents or have already settled to practice their professions legally abroad due to insufficient professional opportunities in the country. This massive exodus of highly skilled professionals from Nigeria portends a real challenge to Nigeria’s economic development yet the government, unfortunately seem unperturbed.

It is also the same country where hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of university graduates -the greatest resources for nation building- are idling away at their homes with neither prospects of securing descent public or private sector jobs nor the opportunity to apply themselves to become the ‘engine room’ of prosperity for the country. Nepotism and favoritism are at an all-time high, further deepening the gap between the rich and the poor.

The very fact that the most enticing job prospects for even the most ‘connected’ Nigerians are public institutions at this period, in this global world of the Internet of Things that we live in, is in itself very much worrying. Yet those at the helms of affairs in Nigeria appear and behave very comfortable with the status quo since they can readily secure good public jobs for their children and their close family and friends, apparently oblivious of the link between the hopelessness of those ‘unconnected’ Nigerians and the future comfort and stability that they so much want to secure for their kinsmen. Such thought process – so typical of Nigerian elites- is very much delusional as I intend to explain in a moment.

Photo credit; Bussinesspost.ng

The geometrically progressive rate at which poverty is increasing is no doubt a ‘ticking time bomb’ that would soon explode if left unchecked and would very soon consume us all. It doesn’t matter how stable your financial status is or how secured you think your children’s future seem once the inevitable breakdown of law and order as well as sharp increases in such crimes as kidnapping, armed robbery ‘yahoo-yahoo’, and all other forms of dubious crimes take full shape as we have started witnessing.

I am afraid the future appears all too gloomy when one considers, apart from the aforementioned, the unchecked level of population growth in the country especially in the North coupled with the near zero presence of real economic activities in most of such areas that heavily rely on the federal government’s monthly allocations. The product of the dangerous trio of hopelessness, high and unproductive population, and lack of opportunities I believe, are self-evident.

It is important for all Nigerians to know that it is in the best interest of every Nigerian regardless of political or social class for all Nigerians to be economically stable and prosperous. Only when each and every one is better off could true stability come to all Nigerians; for it is in such a situation as we have seen with the Chinese success story that every individual will have something to contribute to the overall growth of the economy. Also, there will be less and less dependents even on those who currently are at the top of the social strata. This is the concept of Egoistic Altruism; the selfish argument to make the world a better place. [check out https://youtu.be/rvskMHn0sqQ for a very nice video on this].

The very fact that our political/ruling elites –with very few exceptions- are indifferent about the ticking time bomb that perfectly describes our current reality still remains a mystery to me. But this is not surprising when one considers that over the years, systemic nepotism and favoritism -the greatest contributors to inequality in Nigeria in my opinion- has so much degraded public administration and policy making that those that eventually rise through the ranks to become top bureaucrats and policymakers; the very set of people that ideally should set and guide public policymaking for politicians are very much lacking in original thought and ideas, and are actually there at their positions through years of favoritism at the detriment of merit and good track record.

This explains the vicious cycle that perfectly describes the abhorrent state of Nigerian public policy making, hence the lack of necessary intellectual framework to build any reasonable platform that will attempt to address so many fundamental causes of poverty in the country. Moreover, this is the reason for the perpetual nature of Nepotism and favoritism, all the more increasing inequality in the land.

To curtail this scary problem, we must first of all acknowledge the problem at hand and its looming eventuality if left unhindered. This is fundamental. We must also realize how extreme poverty among most of us affect the general prosperity of all of us regardless of our current circumstances and realities. This is also fundamental. The more each and every one of us is able to thrive, the better for us all and the more prosperous we would all individually be. This is what I believe most developed nations have understood yet what we fail to realize as a people. The earlier we all come to this realization, the better.

That said, our governments, especially at the very top level, must take full responsibility, and stop living in denial in order to take the necessary and difficult steps in reversing such a pervasive problem. They must realize that it took well thought out deliberate development plans for most of the countries that we are currently envying to lift the greatest proportion of their populations out of poverty, let alone extreme poverty. They used -and still use- statistics such as the report by the World Poverty Clock that our government is so eager to deny as reasons for introspection to look closely at what and where they got it wrong and make genuine efforts to make right.

We must then need to seriously reflect on the unsustainable population growth rate especially in Northern Nigeria. I know this is a very sensitive and potentially controversial matter, but truth be told the current population trajectory in the North is very scary, unrealistic and very much part of the problem which we must find realistic and amicable ways to address in order to halt the progression of extreme poverty in Northern Nigeria. When reflecting on the arguments raised by those of us strongly opposed to any form of meaningful deliberate population control, I keep wondering about the utility of a high population that is very unproductive. It is nothing but a recipe for disaster and the earlier we understand this, the better. Efforts must therefore be taken to intellectually address the ‘bones of contention’ regarding the population debate in Northern Nigeria with less emphasis on birth prevention and more on the importance of having a very productive population.

To address the issue of hopelessness in the country, we must have a paradigm shift from our current perception of what jobs and employment are all about. We must create opportunities for our teeming young populace beyond the public sector and at the same time actively encourage individual and private enterprises. Our governments must realize that maintaining the status quo where the government is by far the greatest employer of labor is both counterproductive and unsustainable in the long run.

It must therefore, create policies that will encourage the thriving of both local and foreign entrepreneurs with emphasis of protecting local employments. It is my belief that; with a thriving private sector, no hardworking Nigerian youth will even dream of working in the public sector. Thence limiting the need for nepotism and favoritism in our societies.

Though I am not an expert in developmental economics (permit my intrusion therefore), I think that our governments must encourage and regulate the proliferation of locally driven venture capitals and investment banks with specific emphasis to providing the necessary seed capital that millions of young enterprising Nigerians are in desperate need of. This is because, as I have come to understand, lack of access to capital is the most important factor limiting private enterprises and start-ups in Nigeria. our banks a so wired to be completely out of sync with the basic needs of our small and medium enterprises and are by design more interested in serving the needs of the very rich than protecting the growth of our economy.

Sadly, even government agencies saddled with the responsibility of regulating them are merely agents of protecting the interests of the top 1% – Case study; the recent declaration by the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) that only 350 Nigerians are responsible for 80% N5.4trillion debt. The very fact that no one really cares about such a revelation proves my point. Accordingly, all our financial services must be streamlined to serve the needs of our economic growth in order to help lift millions of Nigerians out of extreme poverty.

Nigeria and its policy makers must go back to the drawing board and rise up to the challenge to acknowledge the scary rising level of poverty in the country. Our leaders must use such report/projections from world bank and others as wake up calls that beseech deep introspection, retracing of steps and making necessary amends in order to forestall the looming crisis presented by the ‘ticking time bomb’ that is Extreme poverty in the country. As citizens, we must all approach it as a common shared problem that we need to unitedly solve for the alternative is that we would all be consumed in ways we least expect by the grave consequences social in equality.

Abdulkareem Kabir Masokano

Beyond “Not Too Young To Run; what the Nigerian Youth Really Need

The presiidential assent to the “Not Too Young To Run” bill earlier today makes this post ever more relevant. Imagine the collective victory for the youth if the Nigerian youth had used the same vigor to press for legislations to protect and promote their direct economic interests as highlighted in the post. But like many things in this country, we pay more premium to delusional causes and overvalued ideas that have little or no influence on our collective well being.

AK Masokano's Blog

In my humble opinion, rather than the too much focus on the mirage of a legislation tagged; “Not Too Young to Run” -a mirage for obvious reasons-, we should channel all that energy towards ensuring legislations that would protect the interests of the youth when it comes to employment by our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) partners among other youth empowering and emancipating alternatives.

While we should welcome all FDIs as significant partners of progress and agents of socio-economic development, we should not forget to protect the interests of our compatriots, where possible, while signing MOUs and making concessions with our foreign partners especially those from the emerging economies; the “Arab-Sino-Indian” complex of ruthless opportunists/neo-colonialists.

We can do so by advocating for a legislation or an executive order that would mandate all foreign construction firms to provide compulsory paid internship posts to our engineering graduates as well as graduates of other…

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Rediscovery

I was reminiscing on such a period in my life when I was so good an artist before treading the tortous journey that is medical school. So, I decided to see if I could rediscover the artist in me. Lo and behold! This came up;