Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win the Academy Award
for Best Actor, wrote a book he titled The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual
Autobiography. In an interview, Oprah Winfrey asked Sidney Poitier: “On page
100, you wrote about one of the greatest lessons your father gave you on the
measure of a man. What is the measure of a man?”
“My father’s point of view was that the measure of a man is
how well he cares for his children. And that stayed with me,” Sidney Poitier
answered. Today, if we, Nigerians, collectively measure ourselves based on the
scale of Sidney Poitier and his father, we would be complete failures in life
on account of the wicked ways we have treated our own children. Lest we forget,
there is an internationally recommended benchmark that countries spend 15-20
per cent of their national budgets on education.
But in the 2021 budget, only a paltry 5.7 per cent was
allocated to education by the Federal Government. In 2022, the allocation was
marginally increased to 7.2 per cent. For the 2023 budget, 8.8 per cent was
given to education.
Sadly, majority of us, especially our leaders, are hardly
worried about these conditions we put our children. Instead, it is the
international agencies and foreigners like Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative
in Nigeria, who are drinking the proverbial medicines for our own headaches.
Hawkins said in 2021: “As we celebrate the International Day
of Education today, we must take a close look at what is happening to our
children in Nigeria, and the opportunities they are missing out on when they
lack education.
“We need to look towards communities – leaders, parents,
teachers and caregivers – and together, find the best strategies to ensure that
all children enroll into school, have access to continuous learning and ensure
they emerge with quality skills that equip them for a prosperous future.” Down
the line, up to 2023, the situation has even worsened.
And yet, Hawkins has another set of worries about us and our
children: “We also need to ensure that children are safe when they are in
school – no child should be afraid to enter a classroom – afraid their school
might be attacked or that they will be kidnapped. And no parent should fear
sending their children to school.”
In 2021 alone, there were 25 terrorist attacks on schools. A
total of 1,440 children were abducted, while 16 children were killed. In March
2021, about 618 schools were shut down in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Niger
and Yobe states, over the fear of attack and abduction of pupils and members of
staff.
UNICEF and all of us agree that Nigeria’s education system
can be transformed through adequate funding. We also believe that Nigerians
have an opportunity in 2023 to elect leaders who care for the education of our
children.
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