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At the beginning of
the year the Federal Government announced the closure of primary and
secondary schools nationwide to enable the Independent National
Electoral Commission make use of their premises for the voters
registration exercise.

That in itself was
a dubious decision, rightly condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians. It
shows Nigeria up for what it is, one of those for which the adjective,
“Orwellian” (associated with the novel, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’),
appears to have been created. In such societies government appears to
exist primarily for the purpose of oppressing citizens and restricting
freedom – in this case the rights of children to a decent education.

None of the
protests moved the government, it went ahead to enforce its decision.
And so the schools were shut, and the students, who, like the rest of
the citizenry, are often to be found bearing the brunt of clueless
political leadership, are at home.

But that is not all there is to the story.

We have to turn to
George Orwell again, to make sense of this. This time it is his novel
‘Animal Farm’, whose very famous premise is that “all animals are
equal, but some are more equal than others.” (And nowhere is that truer
than in the Nigerian context. Petty thieves are asked to go directly to
jail, while the thieving elite are allowed to serve out their sentences
in private hospitals).

That Orwellian
‘equality’ ended up being applied to the government directive on school
closure. In a country of discretionary “waivers”, one more was not
going to be a big deal. All schools are equal, yes, but some are more
equal than others.

One of those more
equal schools is The American International School, Abuja. Last week we
reported that the school, which appears to have links to the American
Embassy in Nigeria, and “which counts among its pupils and students
children of prominent senators, ministers, governors, and even the
president – resumed on January 10 and has remained open ever since,
running a normal school programme.”

Right under the
nose of the authorities in Abuja, the American International School
decided to defy a government directive. It is hard to know what their
defence would have been – perhaps they assumed the diplomatic
affiliation earned them some immunity of sorts. Or perhaps they
concluded (rightly in this case, we must admit) that the American
system of education they run does not permit such a closure on the
basis of a voters registration process.

However, after our
exclusive story on this defiance of the government order, the situation
changed. And so, two days after our initial story, we reported that
“the school’s website [announced] the closure of the school yesterday
in a message posted by Amy Uzoewulu, the director: ‘In compliance with
the Nigerian Government’s directive, AISA will reopen for preschool
through Grade 8 on Tuesday, February 1, 2011.’

A teacher in the
school later told our reporter: “Go and read NEXT newspaper of
yesterday (Tuesday edition) and you will know why we have to close.”

So, finally, the
President’s children are at home, like all other children. That is the
proper thing. If government officials insist on permitting mindless
decisions then they should not be allowed to exempt their kin.
Hopefully in future we will find a way to prevent our leaders from
sending their children to school abroad while our universities languish
beneath the burden of strikes and empty laboratories

The successful
closure of the government-defying American International School
notwithstanding, the real tragedy still remains – that Nigeria’s
schools will remain closed for another three weeks because of an
electoral process that has in the past only succeeded in producing
politicians who have never had anything of value to contribute to the
future of these children.