SHORT STORY: The State of Education in Nigeria (Musings on Life and Current Events)

Education is hard, but in Nigeria, it’s even harder. As a university student, I’ve experienced the struggles firsthand. From the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to the universities themselves, the educational system is frustrating and stressful. Students face numerous challenges, including insecurity, poverty, and inadequate infrastructure.

“The JAMB experience is particularly grueling. Students are often sent to remote locations, far from their families, to write exams. This exposes them to risks like kidnapping and insecurity, which are rampant in Nigeria. The anxiety and stress parents face are equally overwhelming, contributing to the country’s low life expectancy.

“Securing admission is only the beginning. The real struggle lies in navigating the admission process, which is often marred by inefficiencies and corruption. Once in university, students face inadequate facilities, poor teaching standards, and a curriculum that doesn’t prepare them for the modern workforce.

“Governors give attestation of bringing water to communities, electricity, and building good roads, things that should be basic amenities.”

Chinonso

“The root of these problems lies in Nigeria’s leadership. Our leaders are shameless and disconnected from the people’s reality. They prioritize personal gain over the citizens’ well-being, leaving many to live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet. People are desperate, and it shows in their anger, frustration, and desperation. Go to social media, there you’ll see stories of people saying after graduation they couldn’t find employment, or go to the streets, look at bus drivers, conductors, KeKe drivers, some are graduates, with degrees, but the government failed to give them a helping hand, so they created their own. You’ll see graduates selling on the streets, struggling to survive.

“Even the attestation letter, which is meant to be a symbol of achievement, has become a mere formality. Governors give attestation of bringing water to communities, electricity, and building good roads, things that should be basic amenities. Sometimes when it is said that Africa is backward or when the Westerners say demeaning things about Africa, one can’t help but sometimes cheer on. After all, with all the problems and all, how do you want to defend your country?

“Poverty has worsened in Africa so significantly that poverty is not strong enough word to express people’s living condition.”

Chinonso

“If there was a good sector, maybe like electricity, maybe one may lay hands on that and defend, but where do we start from? The unfortunate part is that our leaders are shameless, and as the saying goes, “you can’t shame the shameless“. If they had shame, they would see the unfortunate places that people live in. The living conditions of many are uninhabitable, yet people are living there. Poverty has worsened in Africa so significantly that poverty is not strong enough word to express people’s living condition. If our leaders had shame, they would hear the anger in our voices, see the poison behind the smile, the ache behind our laughs, and the hunger in our eyes.

“Now money in hand is hardly enough. The way people hold money so tight yet watch it vanish in just a twinkle of an eye is really appalling. Sometimes I wonder if our leaders have seen or heard about the masses, because all they see are polished citizens. If they could see poor citizens in their true neighborhoods, their hospitals, lack of potable water to drink, their kitchen, houses, clothes, food, schools, roads, working places, just one look at the real citizens in their misery in this country, maybe their hearts made of iron may melt. Maybe, just maybe, a change would occur.

“Politics, as defined by Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan, is the authoritative allocation of values, of who gets what, when, and how. Agree or disagree, this is what we see now with some of our leaders. They fight over who gets to take what and who doesn’t, then giving us, the citizens, the ones who put them into power, little to nothing other than promises that are never fulfilled. Then any wonder we have political apathy.

“Politics is the authoritative allocation of values, of who gets what, when, and how.”

Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan

“In conclusion, education in Nigeria is a hard, stressful, and often frustrating experience. Our leaders must acknowledge the struggles of the citizens and work towards creating a better future. Until then, we’ll continue to face these challenges and wonder what to do with our lives after graduation.”

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From the table of the "Friendly Poet", Chinonso Achugbu