Strategy and Collaboration in Building a

Sustainable Framework for Education in

Nigeria

A presentation delivered by
Mr Wilson Erumebor1
At the
Basic Education Africa in Partnership with the
Jackson Family Foundation- Make That Change
Seminar 2015

August 29, 2015

Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos
1 Wilson Rume E. is an Economist with years of experience in research, finance and advocacy.
Wilson has made several television appearances discussing issues on the Nigerian Economy,
Education and Youth Development. He has also delivered keynote speeches at
conferences/seminars and has participated in a number of high-profile engagements including
the World Bank Stakeholders Session on Governance and Accountability Framework in Basic
Education in Nigeria; World Bank Stakeholders Workshop on Skills Development among others.
In May 2015, He was selected to be among the first cohort of the Global Colleagues Program of
Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).
Wilson currently works for the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) as a research analyst,
with interest and expertise in monetary policy, fiscal policy, industry analysis, macroeconomic
management, education, youth development and poverty studies.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Good day Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests.
It is a great honour to be here today to give this presentation on Strategy and
Collaboration in Building a Sustainable Framework for Education in Nigeria.
I would begin this presentation by stating the importance of Education and why the
government needs to prioritize investments in education.
Education is central to human development. No country can achieve sustainable
economic development without substantial investment in human capital.
Evidences from different parts of the world have revealed the positive impacts of huge
investments in education on the human capital, individual earnings and economic
development. The most successful countries in the world- measured by different indices
such as GDP, Human Development Index, GDP Per Capita - all have a common feature,
which involves constant and aggressive investments in education to deliver a highly
skilled workforce and enhance innovation and economic development. Countries such as
the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Finland and Singapore among others have
expressed commitments in allocating more resources to the education sector and
therefore increasing education expenditure as a share of GDP. In China for instance, the
Education budget of 2014 totalled 2.3 trillion Yuan (US$357 billion) and represented
17.3% of its annual budget (US$2.2 trillion). The Education sector also had the highest
sectorial allocation in the budget.
In addition to having a skilled workforce that is globally competitive in the 21st century,
investments in education have enormous benefits on the economy through labour
productivity, income generation and economic growth. In reviewing the benefits of
investments in education, Accenture & Brookings Institute in 2013 revealed that:

At an individual level, each $1 spent on education yields $10 to $15 in economic

growth over a persons lifetime in the form of higher earnings and wages.
Countries that are able to attain literacy scores of 1 percentage point above the
international average will achieve 2.5% higher labour productivity rates and 1.5%
higher GDP per capita than countries with average literacy scores.

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A total of 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all students in poor

countries had basic reading skills.

The educational achievement of a nations youth also has a direct impact on GDP.
Each additional year of schooling has been found to increase the average 40-year
growth rate by 0.37 percentage point. For Nigeria, the World Bank estimates that
each additional year of schooling is associated with 9% increase in labour
income.

On the corporate side, investment in education also has enormous positive impact on the
long-term growth and revenue generating capacity of a company. According to the
report on Investment in Global Education by the Brookings Institute, using data from
a typical Indian company, it was revealed that $1 investment in education today
returns $53 in value to the employer at the start of a persons working years.
In view of these benefits on the individuals, businesses and the economy at large, it
becomes imperative for any country that is willing to become relevant in the global
economy to place a higher priority on education.
As a country, if we devote the current energy and resources given to oil and gas by this
administration to education, much more progress would be achieved in the medium to
long term in terms of skills development, learning outcomes and contribution of young
people to the economy.
2.0 THE CHALLENGES FACING EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
I would briefly highlight some of the challenges facing the sector and the
recommendations of the 20th Nigerian Economic Summit, which held in March 2014 and
is one of the largest gatherings of Education stakeholders in Nigeria.
Despite the importance of education to the development of the Nigerian economy, the
sector has for decades received less attention from both the government and non-state
entities and as a result, critical challenges in the sector have persisted.
At the primary level, access, equity and inclusion are pressing issues that demand
urgent attention if Nigeria is to become a prosperous country in the near future.
Currently, 10.5 million Nigerian children are out-of-school, the highest in the world.
Statistics from the World Bank show that even children that are within the school system

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do not possess the required learning outcomes due to the poor quality of education. The
Bank estimates that 60% of children after completing grade 4 cannot read a complete
sentence. About 10% of pupils cannot add numbers at the end of primary school.
Furthermore, there is a huge variation in statistics between the North and the South.
Female children statistics is not the best across states in Nigeria, particularly in the North
as girl child account for a significant number of out-of-school children. Cultural, social,
economic and religious issues are reasons for limited access, equity and inclusion across
states in the country.
These mind-blowing statistics have negative implication for the future of Nigeria. It is
important to note that children, when not exposed to early education are prone to
developmental deficits which can result in impaired school readiness, poorer school
achievement and outcomes, reduced productivity, and lower lifetime earnings. This has
the consequence of increasing the level of illiteracy and widespread poverty and could
further exacerbate social tensions in the country especially when the affected individuals
feel marginalized.
At the secondary level, the 2014 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination
(WASSCE) results further reinforce the notion of poor but slightly improving learning
outcomes in our education system. Of the 1.69 million candidates that took part in the
exams, only 31.3% scored 5 credits and above including Maths and English. While this
represents an improvement from the 24.9% in the previous year, it also reveals that
secondary school education requires improvement in delivering the curriculum and
ensuring that graduates have the basic competence and knowledge required of them to
be globally competitive. There is need to address the challenges of continuous
underfunding of education in some states, and ensure a proper accountability
framework and monitoring mechanism to ensure that relevant stakeholders are held
accountable for the outcome of education or performance of students in their respective
states.
On curriculum development, the major challenge is adapting the curriculum to the
demands of the industrial sector or aspiration of the country. The current curriculum is
adjudged to be rich in content with subjects like Mathematics and English language
having depth and breath. However, the curriculum is grossly out of touch with global
trends and is theoretical in many aspects. As a result, the curriculum should be reviewed
frequently to accommodate recent developments in different sectors of the economy and
encourage critical thinking among students. At post secondary level, the curriculum still

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necessitates some courses that are no less relevant in todays economy. To improve
accessibility and quality, it is necessary for the curriculum to be available online and
incorporate the views of the private sector. The NESG HCDPC plans to pay an advocacy
visit to the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)- in
charge of curriculum development in Nigeria- to kick-start discussions on the review of
the curriculum.
On skills development, there is little appreciation for TVET in Nigeria. The perceived
superiority of Universities over technical colleges ensures tertiary institutions are better
funded and better equipped than the colleges of education. In addition, Nigerian
universities and other tertiary institutions produce graduates that lack the basic skills
and technical competencies needed to make them employable and to compete in the
global

economy.

Furthermore,

uncompetitive

remuneration

of

lecturers,

poor

motivation, absence of an industry-wide skills assessment survey as well as the huge

disconnect between industry, academia and TVE policy makers are some of the
challenges experienced in the skills segment in Nigeria.
In terms of resources committed to education, public expenditure on education in
Nigeria remains less than 1% of GDP, far below our peers in the MINT countries such as
Mexico (5.2%), Indonesia (3.3%) and Turkey (4.1%). In addition, tracking existing
expenditure and establishing a robust accountability system for funding the different
aspects of education would go a long way to aid proper planning and implementation.
On the other hand, private sector participation in funding education initiatives is
necessary in promoting public private partnerships in education and ensuring each
stakeholder contributes towards the development process. This can happen through a
coordinated approach to funding such as establishing a private equity fund that invests
in education. The private sector can also adopt a school and contribute to the funding
needs of the adopted school. The HCDPC believes that the establishment of the Private
Sector Education Alliance would address funding challenges and enhance a coordinated
private sector intervention approach in the sector.
Lastly, I would move on to the aspect of teacher development, which is central to
improving education across all levels. Despite their important role, teachers in Nigeria
are poorly trained and not constantly engaged in capacity development programs that
are necessary to upgrade their teaching skills. A large percentage of teachers lack
motivation, innovative mind-set and are not properly monitored, evaluated and held
accountable as practised in advanced countries. To reverse this trend, initiatives such as

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Teach for Nigeria should be instituted to cater for the training needs of teachers to be
able to deliver the curriculum. The teaching profession should be competitive and the
best minds should be attracted and retained in the profession.
3.0 BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FRAMEWORK FOR EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Sustainable framework for Education can be discussed under three main aspects:
1. Institutional structures and management of Federal, State and Local Government
systems;
2. Funding Vehicles; and
3. Legal framework affecting education policies, standards and management systems.
While all three aspects remain very important to the development of the sector, I would
highlight priority reforms that cover all three areas as agreed at the 20 th Nigerian
Economic Summit. They are as follows:

We need to collate and review all laws impacting education management,

standards and policy in Nigeria and ensure thorough enforcement.

We need to evaluate UBEC, review UBEC Law and UBE intervention fund
guidelines to ensure the agency is able to achieve its goals and also ensure UBEC
funds are accessible to state governments. NB: (State governments failed to access
over 40 per cent of the federal governments matching grant allocated for the
implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in various

states- about N39 billion since 2010)

Improve data management process in order to facilitate education policy based
on reliable, accurate and informed data in order to make education policy

achieve its intended purpose.

Put in place an efficient Education Management Information System (EMIS)
across all layers of government, which will ensure that education interventions

are fully implemented.

The Local Governments should be empowered for effective delivery of basic

education, which is one of their constitutional responsibilities.

Establish a robust accountability system for basic education at the Local
Government down to school level and heads of schools and School- Based
Management Committees (SBMCs) should be trained on management like CEOs
in the corporate world. This would ensure results-based financing.

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A Public Expenditure Tracking System for education outputs and outcomes

(similar to World Bank system in education and health programs globally)

should be implemented.
National EMIS and State EMIS should be put in place to ensure accurate and

reliable data for effective planning.

A Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) framework for education should be
established to increase quantum of private investment in education.

4.0 PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATION

To ensure the implementation of key reforms and projects, partnerships and
collaboration among relevant stakeholders are instrumental in spearheading the
necessary reforms in the sector. I would briefly highlight the role of each stakeholder in
Education:

Government - Policy development and enforcement, Funding, political will and

education
Students Disciplined and willingness to learn.
Employers Funding budgetary allocations.
Private sector - Involvement in curriculum development; investment in ECCDE,

Engage in advocacy
Parents Discipline and moulding correct values.
Religious organisations Moral values
Donors Sustain adequate funding; technical support for the implementation of

projects.
Labor unions Maintain conducive teaching and learning environments
Old student associations - School development.
Professional Associations Quality Control
NGOs Accountability.
Community Security of students, structure and environment.
PTA Strength collaborations between teachers and parents. Provision of
instructional facilities.

In essence, public private partnerships model such as adopting a school should be

reinvigorated as it provides a platform for the private sector to contribute to the funding
needs of the school. Organizations such as Etisalat, Oando, Stanbic IBTC, GTB among
others have proven in recent years that this model is crucial in the development of the
sector.

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Also and as earlier mentioned, developing a private equity fund that invests in
Education, similar to what we have in the health sector would be a remarkable
improvement in executing education projects in Nigeria. This has been done in countries
like Brazil and China where the private sector actively, and in a coordinated manner,
execute large education projects and initiatives, bringing in private sector expertise in the
management of the sector.
In addition, international development partners could provide technical and financial
support; monitoring and evaluation frameworks and capacity development in the sector.
Other key initiatives that would foster development include:

Partnering to make available educational research data accessible to stakeholders

Reformation of teacher training colleges
Co-sharing of school development projects
Capacity development for projects like the SBMC for schools

5.0 CONCLUSION
It is no doubt that no nation can make sustainable economic and social progress without
making the right investments in education. One key recommendation that would drive
the effective implementation of other reforms in the education sector is the appointment
of an experienced and competent Federal Minister (Commissioner of Education at State
level) with demonstrated expertise in large-scale education reform. This individual must
understand the essence of partnerships in moving the sector forward and must also
understand that our education sector must be vision-driven, linked to the countrys
aspiration and made to be fit-for-purpose. Institutional bottlenecks must be removed.
Our curriculum must be reviewed frequently to ensure that graduates are equipped with
the relevant knowledge and skills to contribute positively to the economy.
At the centre of it all, we must make teaching an attractive profession, creating a friendly
and conducive environment for our teachers, train and equip them with the necessary
skills so as to attract and retain the best minds in the teaching profession. Our teachers
hold the key to building a generation of successful, creative and resourceful citizenry.
They must be empowered to take up this huge task.
Lastly, the government, working with the private sector must build a national awareness
on the significant education challenges in the country and the important role of

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education in national development. As responsible citizens, we must begin to call for

robust structural and institutional reform in education and advocate for specific
intervention programs to improve access, quality and equity in education in Nigeria.

6.0 REFERENCES
Brookings Institute, Accenture (2013, September). INVESTMENT IN GLOBAL
EDUCATION: A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE FOR BUSINESS. Retrieved from
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2013/09/investment%20in
%20global%20education/investment%20in%20global%20education%20final
%20%20web.pdf
Brookings Institute, Accenture (2013, September). INVESTMENT IN GLOBAL
EDUCATION: A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE FOR BUSINESS. Retrieved from
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2013/09/investment%20in
%20global%20education/investment%20in%20global%20education%20final
%20%20web.pdf
Nigerian Economic Summit Group (2014). Report of the 20 th Nigerian Economic
Summit: Transforming Education through Partnerships for Global Competitiveness.
OECD (2014), Education at a Glance 2014: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2014-en
World Bank Education Policy and Skills Note (2013)
West African Examination Council (2014). WASSCE 2014 May/June Results
World Economic Forum (2014). Global Competitiveness Ranking Report. Retrieved
from
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_201415.pdf

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