Much can be said about the Education sector in the year 2018 but little can be said about the positive achievement of the sector throughout the year.

The year was business as usual as no new grounds were made or no tangible achievement was recorded aside few policies that were implemented which has had little or no effect on the growth of the sector.

The president continue to show little knowlege on how to improve the education sectors and that was reflected when the government of President Muhammadu Buhari allocated only 7.04% of the 8.6 trillion 2018 budget to education. One would have assumed that having a professor as the vice president will create succor.

Some of the areas where the Government have score high and low include:

SCHOOL FEEDING
Nevertheless, the government have maintained the school feeding program but the effect of the program is not seen in most part of the country as Nigeria now have more out of school children than it had in previous years.

JAMB REMITTANCE
Jamb continues to remit huge abount of money to the government, a lot of people will like to view this as an achievement solely because the exam body has never had remittances to government coffer like it is currently doing. Though i still do not believe in the mothod of mopping up cash from the system in the name of examination, similar examination body like JAMB in other countries makes profit from international students, so, not until government is ready to deliver qualitative education to its people the process of remitting 7.8 billion naira will continue to affect the economy of the masses.

REDUCTION IN EXAMINATION FEE (JAMB,NECO,BCE,NABTEB)
About a month ago, the government announced reduction in price for all its exams, though the reduction are not what most of us expected but its still a welcome development. I will have expect a reduction of about 50% on all the examinations. I mean a Nation like ours should gift exams instead of making it a burden to the society.
I would have advice those in authority to look into JAMB charges, i mean the charges are bocoming more burdensome than paying for the exam. The process see candidate path way with lots of money in the name of change of course/institution, regularisation , data correction, admission letter, result slip, etc. students now gets two admission letters, one from JAMB and the other from the school.

ACCEPTANCE FEE MENANCE
Payment of acceptance fee has become another way schools extort money from parents. One can only imagine why a federal university will charge thirty thousand naira 30,00 in the name of acceptance fee while their counterpart at the state level charge well over fifty thousand naira 50,000. Government should please look into these process as it is currently discouraging prospective students in their pursuit of higher education.

INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS
All unions in our tertiary institution have had one reason or the other to engage the government on issues bodering on welfare and academic funding. Currently the academic union of both Universities and Polytechnics have left the class room to engange in a battle that only has one looser, the students. Academic callender have constantly been distrupted on several occassion this year alone. The question is, would Nigeria ever have a government that will be ready to fufil all its funding obligations to the academic community?

WHERE IS OUR MINISTER FOR EDUCATION?
Most people will beg for this question to be answered. The minister has been quiet and one can hardly point out to any policy direction from his office. No wonder his ministry has been getting peanut from annual budgetary allocation. The minister is one of those people who should have never had any dealings with that office. The ineffectiveness of the man has made his minister of state for education more redundant as nothing is coming from the oga himself. I think it is high time Nigeria got herself a vibrant and young person in that ministry if the government is serious about improving the sector.

LEAH SHARIBU STILL IN CAPTIVE
The attack on Dapchi is still fresh on our minds and we continue to wonder who the script writer of the whole scene was. Nonetheless, we are gratefull for the release of the girls and we will continue to demand the release of LEAH. Such a scene should never repeat itself again because education cannot thrive where students and people feel insecure. We want to implore the government to step up negotiation for the release of LEAH SHARIBU. Never again should our schools and students come under any form of attack.

IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT THE EDUCATION SECTOR TO HOPE FOR COME 2019?
I hope government will continue to sustain the school feeding program and hopefully the program will start in the remaining states of the federation. Government should Improve on security as the nation heads for the polls and students would be resuming back to school in a matter of days. On whether there will be any significant improvement to the whole process, i will say one can only hope. I don’t see what a 5.71% 2019 budgetary allocation to education can achieve if the 7.01% allocation for 2018 had no significant achievement. Academic Unions should brace up for more industrial actions, because i don’t see government meeting their demand if the only amount that goes to the sector is used to service recurrent expenditure.
Irrespetive of dwindling resources, government can still achieve a lot if they focus more on implementing workable policies just as the school governing board of the Oyo state government is helping to change the face of public schools across the state.

In the year 2019 all hands must be on deck in making sure we have a more fruitful outing. Everyone must get involved and contribute positively for a more prosperous 2019.

https://www.eduwheel.com.ng/2018-nigeria-education-sector-ends-the-year-with-no-visible-direction/

well I agree with you.
but how do u expect them to talk where the government doesn't encourage democracy