The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. The goal of education is Intelligence plus character. There is also no contention that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. A situation where this powerful weapon is challenged or the education sector of a country is facing challenges, it is not out of place to say every reasonable person in such country should contribute in proffering solutions to these challenges. The government of such country must also be in the fore front to make sure that education is given the right attention and treatment. Nigeria education is facing lots of challenges and several policies have been put in place to make education in Nigeria run smoothly and compete favourably with that of other nations. It is also the dream of leaders both at the federal and state levels to see that education thrives and that the citizens have good education in a conducive environment with well equipped teachers on ground to teach. With this in mind, we cannot say all is well with the education sector of our dear nation; meaning there is more work to be done.
Education in Nigeria has always been in the concurrent list and this gives the federal and the state to legislate on education. Some people are of the opinion that instead of embarking on something that will lead to unnecessary legal battle between the federal and states government in Nigeria due to our type of government which is ‘federalism’, the lawmakers should make law that will change and put education in the exclusive list of the federal government as against the concurrent list as we have it presently. The proponents of education in the exclusive list want education to be given the status of other matters such as defense, currency, immigration, international trade, census etc. Some Nigerians are of the opinion that this will lead to some arbitrary decisions by the federal government without any consideration for the state governments and the peculiarities of the states. Others are even asking what the federal government has done with the unity schools, Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education under its control. Another school of thought is saying it is a welcome idea because education is very important and should be given an exclusive treatment like the other matters in the exclusive list. What is your take in this as we fashion a way forward for our education sector in Nigeria.
