Nigeria Content Online

Two presidential candidates, Muhammadu
Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and Nuhu Ribadu,
of the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday outlined their plans
to tackle Nigeria’s educational challenges.

The candidates spoke at the second
national Joint Education Stakeholders Action Coalition (JESAC)
conference held at the women development centre in Abuja.

Mr. Ribadu, the former chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was represented by
an Anambra-born politician Sunny Ugochukwu, outlined “seven broad
areas” his administration would address for a revamping of the
education sector.

The seven areas according to Mr. Ribadu
are funding, access to qualitative education, quality
assurance/regulation, infrastructure, staff training and welfare,
research, and student discipline and related matters.

The CPC aspirant and former military
ruler, Muhammadu Buhari outlined seven problems facing the Nigerian
education system and proffered five solutions to them.

The five solutions to the nation’s
educational challenges according to Mr. Buhari are improved quality of
education, expansion of higher education, sustainable mechanism of
funding, utilizing the gains of research for rapid national
development, and restoring an effective Inspectorate Service to cater
for all levels of our educational system.

The candidates identified poor funding
as a problem facing education in Nigeria. However, while Mr. Ribadu
stated that he would “implement to the full the 26 percent UNESCO
recommendation on taking office,” Mr. Buhari stated that he would
“suggest a minimum of 26% of the national budget in consonance with
UNESCO’s well grounded recommendation.”

Both candidates, who are both
recognized for their stance against corruption, also identified
corruption as one of the challenges facing the educational sector.

“We shall not be handing out sacks of
Naira to actors in the education sector like sailors out on a binge. We
shall ensure that every Naira disbursed will be carefully monitored to
eliminate waste, corruption, and inefficiency. We shall not only give
education funding the highest priority, we shall also prioritize a new
culture of accountability and transparency,” the former EFCC boss
stated.

They also promised to address issues of
teacher and staff welfare, dilapidated infrastructure, and education of
the physically challenged.

Free education for all

Mr. Ribadu, however, promised to
implement free education in pre- secondary schools saying “we shall
make education free in all primary and secondary schools in this
country on assuming office. We have estimated the cost for this
programme, and we know it is achievable.”

On higher education, both candidates promised to make available loans and scholarship for deserving students.

“The scholarship system which will
cater in the main for indigent students will be resuscitated and funded
adequately with the only proviso being accountability. We might even be
willing to experiment with the setting up of a loans board to give
loans to students,” Mr. Buhari stated.

While both candidates also spoke on research, they differed in their modalities for it.

While the CPC aspirant stated that “the private sector will be
encouraged with specific incentives in order to finance research and
development,” Mr. Ribadu the ACN aspirant stated that his government
would “establish a National Research fund, that will be manned by
experts and from which research grants would be accessed by researchers
in our various institutes.” </