Education in Latin means “to nourish”. It means “to cultivate”: “to draw out” that which already exist latently in a living being.

The benefit, importance and gains of an educated group functioning as a unit can never be in anyway understated. Without education, it is even difficult if not impossible to get individuals to organize them selves {something that we desperately need} in order to achieve a particular goal or objective. Whether the aim is for social, intellectual, economic or political purpose, the only way to attain it is by careful methodical selective preparation from the early childhood to maturity. It is the ability of a society to groom thoughtful, resourceful, responsible and enterprising individuals that guarantee its survival both immediate and for the future. Education has for its object the formation of character. The ability to discern, to understand, to comprehend is essential to the building of that. And nothing does that better than education because it produces an individual with an open mind able to entertain different opinions and thoughts As long as those that have already been trained can pass the knowledge they have acquired through access to previous accumulated knowledge and one that they have gain through experimentation.

The greatest part of the on-going and un-folding tragic-comedy in the Nigerian society today is the failure of its educational system. A failure engineered, encouraged by the successive governments and the people in general. The governments, because they sees an educated class as a threat and thus will be difficult for herding. The people, because they have failed to understand that the only thing that will ensure their survival, growth and triumph against often despotic and corrupt rulers that have been the bane of the continent is education and not religious piety or observances.

One need to visit the communities, hamlets, towns and states that made up the present non-existing entity called “Nigeria” to figure out for him/herself which of these two have taken precedence in our lives over the past 40 years. Religion often paired with ignorance and formal school education. Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind says one of the greatest minds of the last century.
We spend millions {without any reservations} building cathedrals ,churches, mosques in order to please an invisible god that we are not even sure exist nor give a damn about us while at same time paying lip-service to our educational system. We spend less than $10000 on school’s construction and takes huge pride in spending most times over $300,000 to $1,000,000,000 on religious building. Public servants from councilors to the Presidents vie for the title of who will give the biggest donation to the churches and mosque, often from the public treasury. State governors and the Federal government sponsors pilgrims to Mecca and Jerusalem, all of these from same public purse entrusted into their care to preserve the future of the people. It is exactly what you will expect from a land of unbelievable foolishness.

Every year, millions of dollars, both from donors and government budget is allocated for education, an empty exercise that has never produced the magical result envisaged by those that doles out the cake. Why? Because this money often is diverted and end up in private pockets. Corruption, mismanagement, misplaced priorities has become synonymous with our lives. Teachers many of them unfit to teach even a dog goes unpaid, school children, equipments and buildings are left to the mercy of the elements The laboratories, libraries completely bare and in utterly neglect, sanitary and medical conditions either non-existing or in shambles. Our school and educational system is treated as an after-thought by all and sundry. Yet we bemoan our present living conditions and wallows in self-pity brought about by own stupidity and greed.

Needless to say, our educational system is 80 years behind. We have not even start to grasp the rudimentary meaning of what education means. In the present world of genetic engineering, cybernetics, solar system exploration, and artificial life and intelligent, we are indeed lost. And it is this that will determine our continuous existence in this planet. We often forget that this is a predatory universe, that those ill-prepared for the next evolutionary cycle becomes prey to the strong. We keep living as we are not aware that the survival of our race and specie depends on the preparations each generations suppose to make in order adjust to an ever-changing world.

The truth is that all the generations that have preceded ours to the present day have failed in their most sacred duty. And we are doing exactly same thing. To prepare the next generation for what they will face, we need to start now to finds creative ways to bridge the huge gap that exist in all the aspects of our lives. Schools or educational institutes are not the only instrument for educational. Actually most of what we learn comes from non-formal sources especially from our families. But how can one teach what he doesn’t know?

We no longer have any excuse for failing. I keep telling most people that I met this unpleasant truth. With the availability of the Internet and the unfettered access to its huge archive of all kind of knowledge, we have no excuse whatever. There is nothing stopping the Nigerian government having spent $300m sending a satellite into orbit to harness same to educate its citizenry of all ages. Since almost everything we know about ourselves was from the eye of the Western world, we can use that as a building block until we can tell our own story.

Take a look at the recipient list of the most reputable award called Nobel Prize. There are only perhaps 2 or 3 black recipients and even these individuals received either Literature or Peace prize. Though these does not in anyway pale in comparison to other ones , it however cannot be compare to ones of physics, chemistry, biology or other disciplines that calls for the most brilliant minds that prevailed at the face of odds that will discourage men of lesser Will. I don’t know what we have actually contributed to the growth of the human race. Funny enough, one the 1962 recipients made a very controversial remark couple of months back when he said that blacks are less intelligent than our white cousins. Now, we can jump up and scream racism. We can call him all sorts of name and declare him a senile old man. But is there anything that we can produce as a proof of that he is way out of the line and time? I really don’t think so.

The earlier priority is given to education above everything else, the better it is for all of us. Not only for “Nigerian” but for all the black people in the world no matter where they are. And this challenge lies squarely on the 10 million of us living in the Diaspora.

Horus-Ra:

Education in Latin means “to nourish”. It means “to cultivate”: “to draw out” that which already exist latently in a living being.

The benefit, importance and gains of an educated group functioning as a unit can never be in anyway understated. Without education, it is even difficult if not impossible to get individuals to organize them selves {something that we desperately need} in order to achieve a particular goal or objective.

Education has for its object the formation of character. The ability to discern, to understand, to comprehend is essential to the building of that. And nothing does that better than education because it produces an individual with an open mind able to entertain different opinions and thoughts.

The greatest part of the on-going and un-folding tragic-comedy in the Nigerian society today is the failure of its educational system.

A failure engineered, encouraged by the successive governments and the people in general.

Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind says one of the greatest minds of the last century.[/b]


We spend millions {without any reservations} building cathedrals ,churches, mosques in order to please an invisible god that we are not even sure exist nor give a damn about us while at same time paying lip-service to our educational system. State governors and the Federal government sponsors pilgrims to Mecca and Jerusalem, all of these from same public purse entrusted into their care to preserve the future of the people. It is exactly what you will expect from a land of unbelievable foolishness.

Every year, millions of dollars, both from donors and government budget is allocated for education, an empty exercise that has never produced the magical result envisaged by those that doles out the cake. Why? Because this money often is diverted and end up in private pockets. Corruption, mismanagement, misplaced priorities has become synonymous with our lives. Teachers many of them unfit to teach even a dog goes unpaid, school children, equipments and buildings are left to the mercy of the elements The laboratories, libraries completely bare and in utterly neglect, sanitary and medical conditions either non-existing or in shambles. Our school and educational system is treated as an after-thought by all and sundry. Yet we bemoan our present living conditions and wallows in self-pity brought about by own stupidity and greed.


Needless to say, our educational system is 80 years behind.


We no longer have any excuse for failing.



The earlier priority is given to education above everything else, the better it is for all of us. Not only for “Nigerian” but for all the black people in the world no matter where they are. And this challenge lies squarely on the 10 million of us living in the Diaspora.

I see!

Looks good on paper!

I need you as a friend and I have already contated you on your hotmail you can add me to your hotmail.

@ poster
You may want to read these:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmscientists1.html#inventors
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Pioneers-Science-Invention-Louis/dp/0152085661
http://www.nbufront.org/html/MastersMuseums/DocBen/ScienceTechnology.html

Yes I agree with you that education is very important
Blacks have contributed to development of science and technology
The systemic failure in the Nigerian system cannot be solely blamed on the educational system
Failure is more to do with our value system, corruption and failure to punish the guilty.
There other reasons though

Of what use is Education as a priority if the people are not empowered to achieve what their dreams are.

Of what use is Education as a priority if the people are not empowered to achieve what their dreams are

.

So, because of this education should be ignored?

Absolutely rubbish.
Today, Indian as a nation has nothing, but their solid education standard.
United States will hire an accountant and IT programmer from Indian at any time any day before turning to Africa; and I wonder why.

Just because opportunities are not currently available doesn't mean we should send everyone to farm to become farmers. Education remains the most important asset any nation should invest and capitalize on, regardless of the economy status.

mrpataki:

Of what use is Education as a priority if the people are not empowered to achieve what their dreams are.

To reply you in our local parlance
Try ignorance!

And how can they be empowered if they are not educated?

Education is not really the issue, it is what you make of it. Education is empowerment and nothing can replace that!
We only have to tailor our educational system towards self reliance and financial independence.
Rather than the present docile system that encourages over dependence on government for job provision.
Thereby helping to entrench the poverty cycle, which in turn helps to fan the embers of ignorance, injustice, unemployment etc.

oldie:

To reply you in our local parlance
Try ignorance!

And how can they be empowered if they are not educated?

Even the educated ones are ignorant. How much more ignorance can we afford to buy? I will ask you what exactly is education? Having a university degree?

I have to agree with the other side here @Poster. Education is not now Nigeria's priority. We do not need to educate our people so that they can be hired by countries in the USA. That is not even going to help solve the problem in Nigeria at all. I believe we have so many other basic problems to solve before we move to tackle Education full on. Even the uneducated in Nigeria, if given access to the basics will help lift that country more now than our educated population put together have in the last 20 years.

I believe I have posted this in other threads on educaction, let us not forget that the majority of the criminals we have in that country and those who work outside of Nigeria to bring shame to the country are well educated individuals. Education( school) will not bring an end to or curb corruption since some of our most corrupt leaders were educated in some of our top schools. Education can only take us so far today.

Give the local unschooled farmer, access to water, electricity and good roads and you will see him help the economy simply by pushing more products out to the market at reduced cost. Education has it's place and is definitely important but corruption happens to be our biggest issue and no amount of schooling will help battle that. What we need is society to deal with it from the inside. A better legal system to make sure to prosecute each and every corrupt leader or person would go a long way to helping deal with Nigeria's problem today than education would.

mrpataki:

Even the educated ones are ignorant. How much more ignorance can we afford to buy? I will ask you what exactly is education? Having a university degree?

Definitely education is not only having a university degree
But having a university degree helps!
Would you have preferred us to remain uneducated?
Whats your point?

oldie:

Definitely education is not only having a university degree
But having a university degree helps!
Would you have preferred us to remain uneducated?
Whats your point?

But we are not uneducated in the first place. The literacy rate in Nigeria alone is one of the highest in Africa.

No Siree! I am not in anyway down-playing the role of formal education in the making of a complete individual. But I know that you will agree with me that what eventually becomes the totality of that person, the behavioural pattern, taste, manner of speech, action and thought, his relationship with the world and beyond is mold by his immediate environment,empirical or intutive. It is also a known scientific fact that a kid imbibes all that will define him subsequently before the age of 6.
What I am pointing it is that for you to have an individual who can make a difference in the world, those that plays the most critical part in his lifelong education should also be aware of who they are, their role in the individual's life and the effect of what they will impart into him. Thus it is imporatnt that they should be enlightened at least in the basics of what constitute a "true human being". Though the definition of that varies, there is at least a broad consensus that it means a spiritual, physical,mental and emotional productive ,well-balanced individual.

Education is power but I hope there would be jobs after finishing school. Remember unemployment is very much in our faces.

Education in countries where opportunity for growth is available is definitely power but education in a place where growth is continually stymied by one issue or another, like Nigeria; the educated are majorly rendered powerless by the situation. I read in the programming forum about how developers are hindered to a great deal by the continued power problems in the country. Not all persons can from the beginning afford to purchase a personal machine and a generator, as well as internet connection, so not being able to actually put to practise the information you are fed in school hinders the abilities of the programmers to a great deal. Education is needed but until we deal with the basic simple solutions, we will find ourselves right where we are today 10 years from now.

@post

Kobojunkie has made clear what is needed in Nigeria at the moment. ERADICATION OF CORRUPTION, then, STABLE POWER SUPPLY.

@Horus-ra

I admire your taste and will for change, though it was just on paper. Believe me, we have loads of suggestions on papers like this on the tables of these politicians.
Most of these greedy politicians had the best education abroad. With your suggestions, one would think that these guys would have been outstanding in their duties, but unfortunately they have turned out to be disasters .
YOU MAY NOW WANT TO AGREE WITH KOBOJUNKIE ON WHAT SHOULD COME FIRST.

On the other hand, i want to know your major position on why education is needed now? Is it for the sake of a black man inventing stuffs and being seen as equal to his white cousins or basically for the faster development of Nigeria? Whichever one you choose is great, but I'm just curious.

I will say that providing people access to information and encouraging them to research ideas will go along way to helping the country and the political situation in the country too. Many of us go to vote without even knowing important information about those we intend to vote for other than what THEY tell us and what information THEY feed us. That, in my opinion, is reason why we seem to continue to repeat the mistakes of our past over and over in that country. People seem to continue to vote for NAMES, for the man who is able to spend money here and there and for people who are painted in the media to look good for us but many Nigerians do not know much about how these people got where they are today and why they may not be a good fit for the people.

@ kobojunkie,

you have said it all _{I never knew you could reason like this}

Kobojunkie:

I will say that providing people access to information and encouraging them to research ideas will go along way to helping the country and the political situation in the country too. Many of us go to vote without even knowing important information about those we intend to vote for other than what THEY tell us and what information THEY feed us. That, in my opinion, is reason why we seem to continue to repeat the mistakes of our past over and over in that country. People seem to continue to vote for NAMES, for the man who is able to spend money here and there and for people who are painted in the media to look good for us but many Nigerians do not know much about how these people got where they are today and why they may not be a good fit for the people.

Most times pple know the background of the guys they are voting. we've had cases of reknown 419 kingpins given cheiftaincy titles!! Its not really a question of not knowing who they really are, i guess its just a realization that the system is corrupt and geting what the idiot is promising them is better than nothing! and also accepting the fact that change is still far away irrespective of what they do. either you collect the money and vote now or you dont, the election results has been decided!

sub consciously, nigerians seem to have accepted defeat!

kaycrystal:

Most times people know the background of the guys they are voting. we've had cases of reknown 419 kingpins given cheiftaincy titles!! Its not really a question of not knowing who they really are, i guess its just a realization that the system is corrupt and geting what the idiot is promising them is better than nothing! and also accepting the fact that change is still far away irrespective of what they do. either you collect the money and vote now or you don't, the election results has been decided!

sub consciously, nigerians seem to have accepted defeat! 

You are right. I just want to on some level believe that many of them do not know the truth is why they continue to vote these criminals into office over and over. I mean just cause someone gives scholarships to a couple of people or gives Naira 1000 to some does not make him a good person for office. I would think adults would know that but I guess you are right, many may have accepted defeat. I see no reason why we continue to vote in people with shady pasts into leadership roles. In many countries around the world, a person with a past as a thief or even as a child molestor has greatly reduced chances of becoming an elected leader in the future. Infact, most countries have laws against who can run and who cannot and persons with shady pasts need not even try. But in Nigeria, these people continue to live as they want and when they decide they want to lead, we do not give them a hard time about there criminal past at all. Why do we continue to accept such We now have democracy and many still do not understand what it means. This is our chance to take back power from these criminals and make sure that we get justice but for some reason, we do not seem to be moving forward at all at the pace that was expected. It baffles me when I see this happening over and over.

@kobojunkie.
We dont have democracy yet! a process that produces (s)elected pple that has no bearing with the votin pattern of the populace cannot be described as democracy!!!

its our chance to take back what rightly belongs to us, time to act! are the people ready?

we expect that for some reasons these thieves will some day get tired and say, alright we've had enough!!!! that wont happen. the people will have to fight and fight hard for this.

lastly there is just too much power at the center!

Like the poster said, lets focus on education! thats what the thread is about!

kaycrystal:

@kobojunkie.
We don't have democracy yet! a process that produces (s)elected people that has no bearing with the votin pattern of the populace cannot be described as democracy!!!

its our chance to take back what rightly belongs to us, time to act! are the people ready?

we expect that for some reasons these thieves will some day get tired and say, alright we've had enough!!!! that wont happen. the people will have to fight and fight hard for this.

lastly there is just too much power at the center!

Like the poster said, lets focus on education! thats what the thread is about!

You are right, we stick to the main topic.