₦airaland Forum

donroxy: U and I are not communicating in foreign language ,English Language has been widely accepted and spoken in Nigeria before we were born ....... U re the one that should choose ur words wisely so as not to confuse ur readers ...... Even,with our mother's tongue,if u don't choose words correctly,u re bound to be misinterpreted!!!


Now,I understand you very well,
U re viewing it from Engineering Maths perspective .....

Bros, this is a social issue ... Engineering Maths can only hold Ground when applied social scientifically !!!


Therefore, U re wrong in your definition of opportunity .....


When U say Opportunity ..... It is reffered as a ''FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES'' which can help provide solution to a Threat/problem ....

U need SWOT analysis= ''Strength,Weakness,Opportunity and threat'' in providing solution to ever existing social problems !!!


Hunger in ur description above is the problem and whatever social tool u re deploying in providing solution to Hunger must be ''SWOTTED''


So, bros, If u re ''planting food to solve Hunger '' ..... That is a ''solution'' ...... Now what is the ''SWOT'' of planting food instead of ''Importing Food'' ....... And which one is viable and feasible than the other ..... SWOT Analysis will provide ur answer !!!


Here it goes .....

''Strenght in planting'',

''Weakness in planting''

''Opportunity inherent in planting''

''Threat therein''

Compared the above with ''SWOT of Importation'' .......

Then U shall know how best to provide solution to Hunger as a problem !!!


In essence, many ''Opportunities'' may be available in providing best solution to the problem of hunger in Africa but if we fail to tap them ..... We still keep battling with hunger !!!




''By planting food, I am tapping into an existing opportunity. Where are ever human needs exist, there lies opportunities naturally. ''
CORRECT


educated class.
That was what I told U ......
There is difference between Education and School .... U may attend school without getting educated ..... Just grap the certificate and go !!!

Whereas, we have some peeps that really studied and read beyond just for passing sake ..... And this is where majority of Nigerians fall ..... And our Semi-educated class. that constitute leaders of today could not even see any Opportunity in Nigerians talkless of Nigeria(an Environment) !!!

At the end of the day, it is all about semantics, proper definition of words and the use of phrases.

Opportunity is "favorable circumstances" right?
Well, hunger is a "favorable circumstance" for planting seeds and producing food. You can score me "zero", it does not matter!

You have brought in "SWOT" to answer the hunger question, right? Please, pardon my ignorance but I did not employ any SWOT analysis (or maybe i did it unconsciously) before I started producing plantain in my house. I simply know that if I plant plantain, it will grow and produce food. I planted and it grew and produced and is still producing.

Now these men have this to say about opportunity:

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchill

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas A. Edison

When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
John F. Kennedy

Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.
Kobe Bryant

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.
Kyle Chandler


These are words of wisdom from experienced and matured men:
And you know what my friend? I believe them!

When I see hunger, I see nothing else but opportunity!
I am an Electronics Engr by training, I also have an MSc in Software Technology, I have an outfit of my own,as an IT and business consultant. But you know what? I have come to realize that we are not producing enough food. We have left food production for 'illiterate' farmers. My experience with plantain has thought me a lot.

Come next planting season, I will send some money home, to hire labour to plant corn and cassava and any other seed I can plant. You too should do the same.

donroxy: It saddens me whenever u say ''The education we are having in Africa doesn't solve our problems !!!


Can't U differentiate between the Holder of certificate and the curriculum that brought that certificate !!!


Is it the modules(Sylabus/Curriculum/mode of delivery) that led to the certificate that is problematic or the man carrying the certificate !!!


No matter how little, if we have an enabling environment to apply what we actually learnt in school,our STATE wouldn't have been like this !!!


If u have been working dude, some of your boss woulda tell u ''What u learnt in school, keep it ahome, U re gonna learn a new deal here, open ur eyes,Watch and Learn for School is Theory''


Do u think, that man that graduated with B.sc Agric Engine doesn't wanto apply what he learnt in creating value, but what value is inherent in Agric Engine as a discipline in Africa, what is the value attached to agric science !!


Ur mate in Banking/companies are millionaires while as agric scientist U can't even boast of few hundreds .....simply cuz some unreasonable dude somewhere has been importing agric products without attaching value to products of agric sector thus No Job for Agric Engine nor Agric Science .....

Ok, U ask Agric Scientist to go into Farm and started producing his own goods with what He has Learnt in school, then what are the yardsticks present that will make him succesful in his products, How will his effort not be frustrated outa business when Importation of his farm products were never frowned at


Getting into business is very easy but without the support of the environment,atleast,patronising your products and some kinda motivations and encouragements from the authority, frustration is near even If U failed to get all the necessary encouragements and u really decide to still surge forward, by the time the authority started Importing your Goods and splash market for you which thus make it difficult for you not to cover cost of production talkless of adding profit margin ..... Then no body will ask U before u join the ''One day, e go better team'' of labour market !!!


What do u expect Op, Normal human instinct will ask U to pursue where u will also maximise ur purse not potentials !!! Or keep dealing with hunger/poverty !!!


What we should actually be asking is ''how do we create Opportunity for all regardless of discipline'' ?

So school is theory?
Then our position is that the theory in school must be synchronized with the real life situations we face! If the theories we are learning have no resemblance of our challenges, then it is a FRAUD! It is a waste of time and resources. Schooling should make us better problem solvers.

Our proposed Education Model is this:

Identify our challenges, difficulties and needs, then our schools should be places of couching the younger generation the theories of these problems and the theories of the solutions. When the student comes out, he sees the problems and then apply the knowledge that he has acquired. This is what I call education.

Now, let me tell you this:

I read Electrical/Electronics Engineering and I am into IT and Biz consultancy.
I like plantain but I have not bought plantain in the market for the past 2 years!

Do you know why? I planted plantain in the little compound that I have. I have harvested plantains, enough to eat and even to give out. How much did it cost me to plant? Nothing. I simply got it from a neighbor.


I am ready to practice what I preach. So come next year, i am going home during the farming season, I will get labour o clear the little farm land I have in the villa. I am going to plant corn and cassava! I am going to eat some and also sell some! The output is usually higher than the input.

Now, this is my theory!
If the illiterates can produce food, the educated can produce more.

If a non agric graduate like me can produce plantain, then the agric graduate can produce much more.

donroxy: Dude, U re absolutely funny .... and I think , the fault might not have all been Nigerian Educational system but Nigerian Laziness towards internal development !!!


Can you hear yourself bros, We don't need to ''create'' Opportunity simply because it is all around us ..... Just get up and tap it !!! Ahahahaha , AfricanChild, na wah !!!


The problem with an African-man is never the problem itself but the solution he always offer/proffer to the problem keeps compounding the already compounded problem !!!


Dude, see your answer to ur own question on food : we either ''Just plant it or Buy it ''


By planting food, what are u doing ........ In your own word ''Not creating Opportunity but planting food'' !!!


What was the value of ''Crude-Oil'' to an Ijaw before Oyinbo were here ,Urhobo/itshekiri can not even creat lantern that can make use of their Oil to lit talkless of Heavy Machines using Oil/petroleum across the globe .....!!!



If U failed to use your resources to create opportunities,then ,they are bound to just be there untapped !!!


Only God knows how many other crucial resources to humanity that were known by an African-man because, he has been urinating and pooing on it ...... But He lacks the knowhow to create opportunity nor value through it !!!


Oh Mai God !!!!

At the end of the day, we are only circling round semantics!
We are communicating in a foreign language and often the choice and use of words impair communication skill.

Now, what is opportunity?
This is my view, maybe I am wrong.

there is hunger caused by lack of food! That is what I call opportunity! The existence of hunger is an opportunity.

By planting food, I am tapping into an existing opportunity. Where are ever human needs exist, there lies opportunities naturally.

The summary is here:
1. Identify needs around us: that is opportunity
2. Work hard to solve those needs: that is tapping into opportunity.

Now, I am simply saying that education should be a process of squiring the know how in solving problems that has to do with with our needs.

On the issue of laziness:
how did this laziness come about?
The ugly truth is that the bulk of those who are the burden to our economy are from the educated class.

The are waiting for "opportunity" to come, waiting for "fortune" to shine luck on them.

The illiterates are busy, they can at least fend for themselves to some extent.
They are the farmers, the bricklayers, the taxi drivers, the mechanics, the repairers, the market men/women. they are not waiting for "opportunity", they see needs and fill the gaps. They might not build mansions and ride jeeps but to some extent, they are not a burden.

So what is the cause of the laziness of the educated?
we are told to go to school, get certificate and come out and get a job!

We obeyed and went to school, got the certificate and then there are no jobs!
So, we are waiting for jobs that are not there! then we become nothing but a burden. We cannot think outside the box, we are not trained to think so.

So, am i saying that we should not be educated? No sir.
Am I saying that education is bad? Not at all sir.

What I am saying is this: there is a need to synchronism between what we are learning in the class room and the needs of our environment. If what we are learning is not is not applicable in our environment, then it is a waste.
Like i said earlier, imagine posting a veterinary doctor to a town that do not have animals.

There is no synchronism between the existence of hunger and the study of Agriculture in our schools.
Our call is that the agric education should be geared towards solving the problem of hunger! that I think should be the main reason for education!

Arosa: @Op, I see where you coming from, the Nigerian University system should be reformed. I have never meet an electronics engineering student that can't repair a simple electronic device like radio. most of them here spend their free time building complex robotic designs.

It is not just the university education.
Something is fundamentally wrong with our understanding of what education really is.

While education should be the process of learning how to solve problems and improve on our way of life, the education we have right now, has nothing to with solving problems and challenges we face in our lives.

that is why Agricultural scientists, agricultural engineers, those who studied animal science, crop production, etc are all moving around with their certificates, looking for jobs that do not exist.

But we have the hunger challenge, yet the studies in agriculture cannot help us to improve in our food production.
And food production is the only solution to hunger. then what is the benefit of education?
Education must be geared toward creativity, productivity and problem solving.

this is the [b]African Education Model [/b]we are proposing.

You guys outside can assist us in this campaign
It is not only Nigeria but Africa in general.

You can send us mail: info2.arm@gmail.com

enigma_otr: A nation that can not feed itself will always remain subservient to others.

that is exactly the point we are raising.
And we are saying that if education cannot help us to improve on our food production, then something is wrong somewhere. So many people here took it out of contest.

We are pursuing "certificates" in place of some productive knowledge that will help us to develop our socio-economic system. It is a shame.

donroxy: U see, The problem is Opportunity which has thus led to ''Brain-Drain''!!!



The question is ;

how do we create Opportunity for African man to Excel ?


What is hindering an African man to progress ?


Does an African wants to progress or remain stagnant ?


Is African dude ready to explore his world ?


Does the Value system of Africa as well as the environment he operates enables progress ......



Brother, my own resolution is the ''Value System'' , The society, the environment is so poor and unprogreesive as well as counter productive infact from the Basic root !!!


The few people who are at the centre of Affairs GOVERNMENT are those who can genuinely evolve an advanced new set of ''value System'' for an African !!!


See, An average African is just like Reuben Abati ..... If u understand what I mean ........ Unless such African should operate outside(Advanced nation) the shore of Africa , where the Value system doesn't promote mediocrity !!!


The root is the problem and until it is fixed ...... We will still be parambulating !!!

We don't need to "create" opportunity, because opportunities abound with us.
What is opportunity? Opportunity is found where ever there people with with needs.

For example, there is hunger in Africa!
What is the solution to hunger?
FOOD!

How do we get food?

Some people will say, "we don't have food because we don't have money"
But we are saying that, that is half the truth.

There are two ways to get food:

1. We buy it
2. we grow it.

Now, everybody is interested in buying food, but no body is interested in growing food.

The 3 basic things in life are:

1. Food
2. Shelter
3. clothing.

If our brains are thinking of how to tackled these effectively, not in terms of buying but in terms producing them, then are on our way to progress and prosperity.

Why must we import rice? And we are busy crying there is no opportunity!

We have opportunities all around us, we only chose to close our eyes from seeing them.

abes: In those days before civilization, in Yoruba villages, each family is known for a particular occupation known from family names, we had the hunter families (ode-names), the entertainers-drummers (ayan-names), iron-gold-bronze-smith (ogun-names), royal families (ade-names) etc. Things were working fine then because a boy from a family knows from a young age his role in the community and he has abundant education (mentors and supports) from his family. Education based on the curiosity of boy, education of purpose, That is what is lacking in today's education system.

Now, the purpose of education was to help us improve in all these, but we rather abandoned them because we have acquired "education".

It is like this, a man was sent on an errand to a far place. He did not have a means of traveling to the place. He had to start recking. But someone saw him, had pity on him and gave him a car to help make his journey faster, he took the car, started driving it around and abandoned the journey!

this is the massage we are passing across. We have to stand up for our generation, for the sake of our children
Please, we need volunteers! join us.

ypeace: .... Right! Likewise every tribe in nig is knwn for somtin...... Its not necessary we go back to huntin and so so...... Since we avnt used the acquired westernized edu to improve our den current status, lets start using som of d ideas that wrkd then to improve our edctnal system dat currently nt wrkin to full capacity.........

You all should keep it up. Keep it coming!
This is another way to put it.

I like your approach to it!
The system we have today is like putting the cart before the horse: we should identify our problems, and then use education to solve them! Our problem includes, hunger, housing, transportation, etc. We should then use education as a tool in solving all these and many others.

Your contribution is so brilliant!
Thanks.

Please, we need contributions of people like you.
Join us in this movement.

donroxy: am so sorry for my outburst, couldn't decipher your sarcasm !!!


Education never made that mechanic worse off but was the one that failed to consolidate what he has learnt in mechanical engineering into developing his/her workshop !!!


The problem is African itself, our mentality and mindset and Value System ....... and Government is the only institution capable of eradicating such through genuine investment in standard education !!!

Tis our value system, Average African man what more than what he ever can produce !!! .....


We failed to embrace values inherent in education in our practical endeavors and only our Government can change that mindset by setting thing straight !!!

The bolded is the irony!
Here is another analogy:
A man was dreaming of climbing to the mountain top and he started climbing from the mountain base, little by little. Yet, as he was climbing, he was acquiring education believing that education will help him to get to the top faster! Soon, he completed his education, but instead of using what he had learnt to change the way he was climbing the mountain, he simply came down from the heights he had attained, stayed at the base of the mountain and complaining to everyone who listens to him that he has got the education to climb the mountain, but their is no opportunity for him!

Now, his mates who did not acquire education, are still climbing the mountain in the crude way to they know! And when you discuss with them, they will tell you that they are just "managing" this climbing because they are not educated.

yet, the purpose of education is to help the climber to climb better!

Our mission in ARM: African Revolutionary Movement, is to "Cause a Mental Revolution that will lead to Industrial Revolution in Africa".

We are dreaming of African made vehicles, electronics, shoes, cloths and most important food.
Who said we cant make our beverages including the best of wines?
We keep importing everything and yet wonder why we remain poor.

The buyer will always have less, while the seller will always have more.

We are looking for like minded individuals who will labour with us.

redsun: That is why you have the bini man that speaks jaggons in the house of rep talking rubbish just because he said he's been to school and he can irrelevant english.Thinking of how much he has been paid doing that is just mind blowing.

He was a typical example of what we mean by "The fraud called Education".
The phrase at a phase value actually looked like we are condemning education, but that is not so!
We are considering the fact that men like this loose their ability to be creative, productive and solve problems, while thinking "I am educated".

This is the lot of many "educated" African! It is time we rise up and utilise the education we have acquired into our efforts to solve our problems. Unfortunately, it seems we are not even interested in solving our problems.

donroxy: Education willl not automatically improve our value system, we have to implement various recommendations in Book in order to achieve effective system .....!!!


And I think we aint ready to do that yet, abi are we ?

The bolded is another way of phrasing the issues I raised.

If you go back to the very first post, you will discover that the Agricultural Analogy I made is actually picking at the African who thinks that once he got "Education", then he has arrived.

So, instead of using the acquired education for improve on agriculture (which he was practicing earlier on), he dumbed all practices expecting an "automatic" improvement simply because he has got "education".

We are calling on Africans to stop living in delusion of "automatic" improvement. Nothing will work except we work it out. this is our submission.

ypeace: Now that dere is less disagreement, i ll say dis... The educatinal system on ground is lik dis, pple first learn about varieties of tinz b4 dey are expected to implement. Dat, i bilivd, is not how d whites started. Let the eductn be lik this we shud start wrkin at our early stage, den wen we encounter difficulties, sch shud be inplace to solve dos difficulties........ At d attempt of solvin it, we learn, den we develop. I will agree, only our leaders can mak d 'mega-change' buh we as individuals shud not stop implemntin dis ideas and try also to influence d few we cud........

Now we are getting somewhere.
You have put it in another way.
Maybe I was too sarcastic!

Our education today is the pursuit of certificates instead of enhancing and developing our knowledge for creativity, productivity and problem solving.

I mentioned the white man the way I did, because our people think that speaking the language of the whiteman is some great feat. Our people think that speaking the Language of the white is the same thing as "Education".

Your summary is on point.
Thanks

cogitoErgo: The OP is non-Islamic Boko Haram
The whites enhanced our knowledge base, but we seriously lack WISDOM to implement the knowledge we have!
Nobody can teach you wisdom.

Hahahahaha!

Non - Islamic BH is rib cracking.

If you had taken your time to go through this thread then you will know that your position is exactly my postion.
So, if I am non Islamic BH, then we are comrades!

the summary of my position is this:

We have wisdom but throw it away because we are "educated".
Instead of using education to enhance our wisdom, we stopped thinking because we have "arrived" with our certificates.

Now, did I say education is evil?
No sir!

donroxy: U know bros, In Nigeria today, many do not know the difference between Monotechnics,Polytechnics,NCE and University .......

University is strictly a research institutions ...... U keep reviewing and developing knowledge base of sectors in the economy ...... Thats why University/other closely related institution is the only institution u can be conferred masters,Ph.d and thus conferred Professor !!!


Polytechnic is a multiTechnical school[b] which is meant to carry-out Knowledge-based and resolutions of research carried out @ University level !!!

Therefore,Polytechnic (HND) are trained to be Operational while University (B.sc) are trained to be Strategic !!!


NCE also have their functions (In our classrooms !!

Trust Nigerian system to mixed every thing together by coming up with ..... This is superior, no na dis one superior,........ !!!


See,Nigerian system is poor and has corrupted every blessed system that has proven effective elsewhere !!!


No knowledge is a waste ....... Application is our problem !!!

And do you know why?
Our educational system is not in synchronism with our daily lives.

Normally, electrical engineering should sync with our electricity consumption. But our electrical engineers (I am one of them) are "working" hard to buy imported generators designed and built by electrical engineers from other places.

There is no sync between our need for food and the agricultural sciences we study.
If wines or shoes are made in Aba, go and check, they are made by "illiterates".
it beats my imagination why some people are finding it hard to understand the issues being raised.

Thanks for you contribution.

ypeace: @DONROXY. What the OP has contributed? I tink opening this thrend for us to share idea is a token contribution frm d op. I av actually learnt and reason anoda way frm ur post, wc is anoda contribution to education frm u, even if its just a token.
You asked y we find implementation of goals so difficult. Wat i tink (wc u may eventually prov wrong) is dat, there is somtin wrong in d steps in achievn dos goals. Either we lack adequate knwlg or we av inadequate knwleg to mak dos dreams reality..... Now it all boils down to eductn wc d op is talkin abt. Edctn is suppose to mak us better. Now if in ur veiw, its makin us beta, den there is absltly notin wrong wt our form of edctn. But i bilv nig and africa as a whole is not gettin btter wt our form of eduction.
Blaming as i blv won solve our prob. Pple lik u rightly said shud stop blamin the whites but rather channel their energy in improvn our status. And one suggetn i saw in wat d op wrote for exmpl is restructrn our system so dat we wud stop plantin on papers, we wud start plantin on land.
Wc of the courses is harmful? I say none....... But dont u tink somtin is wrong wen keep buildin useless engineers, doctors and co...... I wud disagree wt the op if he had said we shud stop breedin drs, lawys and co. But i blv wat he is sayin is dat we shud revisit our system of education, we shud mak is natural and ONLY employ frm d whites wat wud mak it better.
School is ONE of the best place we can recieve the best educatn, you are right. But its still not the only way out of the best....... We can tink can explore oda ways

I cant but say:
THANKS A MILLION TIMES.

I'm so glad for your understanding of my heart bit.
If anybody did not understand my sarcastic approach to issues I raised, I don't know how to apologise for that.
As a graduate of Electrical/Electronics Engineering, I have gone hungry because there was no food, there was no food because there was no job. Yet, my mates in the villa who are not as educated as I was, never lacked the basic food at home.

I picked on Agriculture because food is the very first basics of mans survival. Now this is my pain:

Those who did not go to school, are fending for themselves, they are the farmers, the mechanics, the drivers, the barbers, etc. While those who went to school are carrying their certificates and have become a great burden to the society.

I was one of the burdens, until one day, I decided to take my destiny into my own hands. I stopped looking for jobs but rather started looking for solutions to the problems around me. It was so hard to think outside the box, because my mind set was this: the "purpose" of going to school is get a "job"!

This is the view I want changed.

Education is good and the purpose is for us to add value to creativity and productivity. Education should help us to solve our problems, education should help us to improve.

If anybody is understanding anything different from the above stated, such a person is on his own.
Once more I say, THANKS A MILLION TIMES!

prof.femi:
@OP, I refrained from replying your last post to me because I didn't quite know how to address the errors I note in your stance in a few words. However, I notice the vigor with which you are defending your stance, and so I feel I need to chip in again.

This is my view of your posts:
a) Underneath, there is a good message (our current educational system is not producing results)

BUT

b) Even though you deny it, there is an undertone of accusing the "white man" for this and other ills. This, for many of us, is a red flag, as it hints at the fact that you are a conspiracy theorist. Sure, the "white man" introduced many ills, but that should have nothing to do with the argument in (a), if indeed that is what you are doing.

c) I have not seen anything concrete you are advocating, rather than saying our education is not productive. You should note that you are not the first to realize this. In fact, most of us do. So, your saying it is not constructive. What would have been constructive is if you had specific proposals or ideas that you felt would take us forward.

Someone joked earlier that this is how Boko Haram started. Actually, he wasn't far off the mark. When you
a) identify an ill in a system
b) whip up strong passion against perceived ills
c) half-identify a nebulous entity to blame
d) but you do not suggest a way forward

the passion you whipped up in (b) becomes an explosive force that can be manipulated by evil people to do great harm. In other words, your intentions are noble, but my friend, be careful where you take this. My last words:

Talk is cheap. Either start stating SPECIFIC solutions or go back and do your homework.

hahaha!

i get your drift, but you turned it upside down.
The undertone is not a "conspiracy" theory against the whiteman.
The undertone is a "stupidity" theory against the Blackman.

I used Agriculture as an example:
My "stupidity" theory is this, the whiteman did not bring agriculture to us, he rather brought education that would have helped us to improve on what we have already. now, we acquired education only to abandoned what we already have and nothing else remained except the paper called certificate!

I have stated the way forward:

We have been hoodwinked into the fallacy of these great four parts to wealthy living:

1. go to school and get a certificate
2. get a great job that can pay well
3. earn money, the good money
4. buy luxurious things
and live happily ever after.

While these steps can work in the advanced nations like the US because they are properly industrialized, they cannot work in Africa because Africa does not have industries. The only viable "industry" in Africa is politics.

We in Africa need to change numbers 1 and 2 above:

1. go to school to develop your talent and acquire great skills
2. Become creative, productive and solve problems around you.

I wish you well.

donroxy: School is one of the best place u can receive the best education !!!


Education has stages ..... Go and read on agent of socialization ...... Thats why what U were thought in basic,Secondary and tertiary institutions differ !!!


There is basic education and advanced education .... From Economics to Agric, Accounting-Phyiscs and chemistry , Microbiology,Medicine and biochemistry .... Business management,Sociology,Political science,Engineering,computer science, even Mathmatics,Yoruba ,french,Hausa,Igbo , downward to sport and Performing Arts etc,

Which among these great courses is harmful to we man ? !!! Are we not the one that have been applying wrongly !!! .......


Why do we blame whites for teaching us what is effective for them, why do we blame them for exposing us to advanced civilisation,why do we blame them for enabling us to have better understanding of the world !!!


Should they also come here to implement our economic policies for us ,...... Why do we find Implementation of goals so difficult !!!


Myopia !!!

Op, should come here and tell me what U have contributed to knowledge

Bros, we are on the same side.
I am not blaming the whiteman for giving us education, I am blaming us for not understanding the real purpose of education.

This is the average mentality of the average educated African:
Wear suit and tie, speak grammar, work in an office and earn big salary.

Please, is this the real purpose of education?

As for what I have contributed to knowledge? I am contributing now.

ypeace: I dont tink the ops is not saying we shud bcom cavemen. Both sides of the arguemnt has some points.. But only few people reason in a similar way with the OP. But sides are a little extreme with their points. Education, reading and writing in itself is not the problem. But the kind of knowledge passed to us through this education is kind of silly. Its taking us away from our natural self. @Op, the prob is not education but western education. Its lik afta aquiring d eductn, our pple bcom liers, more lazy and more corrupt. Its only a foolish man dat wud continue to do dsam tin and expect a diff result. Its tym we retink our strategies and steps and note dat a sch is not the only place we can get an education.

I am not in extreme.
I am not saying we should not have education.
I am saying our education must take another look at what education really is.
Is it getting certificate or improving on our value system?

I was sarcastic in my post, if people pick it at face value, too bad.
Like I said earlier, am I saying we must farm with hoe?
No and never, I am saying that we should untilise the things we have learnt into improving our socio-economic systems.

ypeace: I dont tink the ops is not saying we shud bcom cavemen. Both sides of the arguemnt has some points.. But only few people reason in a similar way with the OP. But sides are a little extreme with their points. Education, reading and writing in itself is not the problem. But the kind of knowledge passed to us through this education is kind of silly. Its taking us away from our natural self. @Op, the prob is not education but western education. Its lik afta aquiring d eductn, our pple bcom liers, more lazy and more corrupt. Its only a foolish man dat wud continue to do dsam tin and expect a diff result. Its tym we retink our strategies and steps and note dat a sch is not the only place we can get an education.

I am not in extreme.
I am not saying we should not have education.
I am saying our education must take another look at what education really is.
Is it getting certificate or improving on our value system?

I was sarcastic in my post, if people pick it at face value, too bad.
Like I said earlier, am I saying we must farm with hoe?
No and never, I am saying that we should untilise the things we have learnt into improving our socio-economic systems.

ypeace: I dont tink the ops is not saying we shud bcom cavemen. Both sides of the arguemnt has some points.. But only few people reason in a similar way with the OP. But sides are a little extreme with their points. Education, reading and writing in itself is not the problem. But the kind of knowledge passed to us through this education is kind of silly. Its taking us away from our natural self. @Op, the prob is not education but western education. Its lik afta aquiring d eductn, our pple bcom liers, more lazy and more corrupt. Its only a foolish man dat wud continue to do dsam tin and expect a diff result. Its tym we retink our strategies and steps and note dat a sch is not the only place we can get an education.

I am not in extreme.
I am not saying we should not have education.
I am saying our education must take another look at what education really is.
Is it getting certificate or improving on our value system?

I was sarcastic in my post, if people pick it at face value, too bad.
Like I said earlier, am I saying we must farm with hoe?
No and never, I am saying that we should untilise the things we have learnt into improving our socio-economic systems.

donroxy: And has white education on Agriculture never make our agric system better !!!


U are backward Op, U want an agriculture system where u will bend down with archaic hoe and cutlasses to cultivate 500 hectares of land .....


An Agriculture system where u will be expecting rain to fal after plantation ....


An agriculture system where Jazz is used in plantation instead of fertilizer !??


White education never ask African man to dumb his value system, But most are just too dumb to consolidate the two !!!


If u blame white,na who dem go blame .....


Foolishness!!!

No sir! I am not saying that we should go back to the way we use to things!
I am saying that education should help us to improve we are doing and not to stop entirely.

I am not saying the white man asked us to dump our value system, I am saying that it is stupid of us to dump pour value system just because we got education. Education should help us to improve.

donroxy: This is capital balderdash,Myopia and folishness @ the zenith !!!


God,I hate the Topic and the write-up !!


Op, U are one of the problem of Africa ..... Lack of education,crude way of life and lack of exposure has always been the problem of Africa !!!



Education is more than School, so many European(oyinbo) were dropped outa school yet, their system enabled them to be succesful outside formal education !!!


One can never appreciate the value of life without Education cuz Only education both formal and informal @ basic/advanced level is the only means via which u can appreciate and understand ur environment and nature !!!



Lack of education is the problem of Africa continent as a whole ....... Dumbness,crude existence, wickedness and foolishness .....!!


Why should we blame Oyinbo for our woes, Oyinbo has conquered the surge of Atlantic ocean since 16/17th century sailing the sea ..... Expanding their territory what were African leaders of then doing .... These are leaders who think the world begins and end in their village !!!




The worst of all through lack of education by some of our forefathers was to povide a colonialist with the strongest of men/women in the community as slave in exchange for Gun powder,Mirror, Rifle and Wine !!!What is more disgracing than that !!!


Look at Nigerian Leaders, no be all of them go school, simply because they were unable to consolidate what they have learnt is the reason why we keep having problem till today !!!




Education is an avenue to gain KNOWLEDGE of how best to understand your immediate environment and world at large !!!



Education never seek to enslave you but liberate you from slavery and Ignorance, Education never ask you to work for somebody after receiving the knowledge but use knowledged gained to provide solutions to problems and get liberated from Ignorance and shortsightedness .....It is within your violition to determined where best to apply your knowledge which u have gained !!!


African/Nigerian leaders of 40s,50s and 60s were able to Liberate the nation after close to century of slavery,colonialism and direct intervention from the white supremacist through
education acquired from the
White supremacist themselves
peacefully without bloodshed !!!

Education is the only means by which u can be liberated from slavery!!!


It is not the white Education that is bad , it is our system that is poor and how much we really wanto understand life and the entire cosmos ...... !!!


It is wickedness and lack of appreciation of values by Africans that make the continent backward and not Colonialist Education!!



Education is a two sword Either Use it for evil or Good, I think we Africans should start blaming ourselves !!!



And If Not for English/French/Arab ..... Do u know how many languages we woulda had in Nigeria alone talkless africa ? ...... Are u aware Language Barrier is one of the problem of the world !!!



OP, Go and Consolidate on little education u had and stop being BokoHARAM (Education,a sin) !!!

I can see your passion, but I can also see that you did not take time to go through the thread!
My original post was sarcasm. I presented a drama to depict our state.
Sure, on the face value, it might appear as if there is undertone of sentiment against those that brought eduction. yet,take a critical look at it, read in between the lines, then you see that the the heart of the matter is this:

To majority of us here with narrow minds, education is nothing else but certificates.
My position is not a conspiracy theory against the the developed nation but rather the stupidity of Africans who got carried away with the certificates and lost interest in creativity and productivity.

take this scenario,

A young man wanted to train to go to school (university education)
but there was no money to train him, so he went to learn how to repair vehicles.
He keeps telling himself that one day he must go to school.
He started repairing vehicles, got some money, got admission and to study mechanical engineering.
While in school, he maintained his workshop so he could get the funds he needed to complete his education.
Finally, he graduates, he closes down his workshop and puts on the applicant badge.
He waits for years for job and gets none because there are no jobs.

Yet, all needed to do was, change the way things are done in the workshop and some bring innovation into vehicle repairs.

here is the irony, " education instead of making him better, had made him worse".

Now, tell me, am I against education and the whiteman?
My answer is no sir! Education is so good and I am grateful that the whiteman brought it

Did i say we should go and farm with hoe?
No sir! We have learnt mechanized farming, my pain is why cant we use it?

Now, did you say lack of education is the problem of Africa?
then give me your right hand of fellowship because these are exactly my thoughts!
What we have today is mere paper exercise, which is not education!

thoth: I have always tried to explain this to other people in other threads but they always have this western capitalistic definition of wealth which is probably used to misinform thrid world countries and to force their neo liberal polices down their throat.

I once asked, how did clearing living quarters of middle class citizens made up of many 4 stories and building houses that the middles class themselves cannot afford show development ? this is witnessed in Abuja and Lagos and the result is pushing house prices high and even lack of houses. skyscrapers does not show wealth, wealth is when the quality of life of the constituting citizens are good.

I once asked them how does painting up and old school and then increase the tuition fee threefold becomes wealth when 80% percent cannot afford it ?
well..there are many kinds of education...with time when Africans can no longer take it anymore, when hunger and war had done them quite good, when they have to live from hand to mouth because the cost of survival(not even living) is so high then they will open up to real education.

They would tell you a city has the highest number of billionaires but they will never tell how how many million poor people lives in the same country. yet our people believe this as wealth. a country that has 50 billionaires and 158 million people that are poor is not rich, it is only a country of thieves.

We have been hoodwinked into the fallacy of these great four parts to wealthy living:

1. go to school and get a certificate
2. get a great job that can pay well
3. earn money the good money
4. buy luxurious things
and live happily ever after.

While these steps can work in the advanced nations like the US because they are properly industrialized, they cannot work in Africa because Africa does not have industries. The only viable "industry" in Africa is politics.

We in Africa need to change numbers 1 and 2 above:

1. go to school to develop your talent and acquire great skills
2. Become creative, productive and solve problems.

The above stated is our mind set on the type of education we need.
Our mentality need to change. The sooner we do this, the better. Or we can relax like you said till hunger come to ravage us.

juman: Ok nah, you mean nigeria education has K-leg.

The present arrangement of one nigeria is not working because obviously nigeria is a country that belong to nobody.

Hence the solution as I stated before is to break up the senseless country and let the individual countries formed determine their faith. That would bring out best of out of those countries.

unfortunately, it is not just Nigeria, it is an African thing! Africa in general is not productive, our education does not apply to our real life challenges. It is a shame!

stillwater: You are correct. I will honestly say I'm a lazy thinker. But I'm gradually coming into my own now. And the fact that Nigeria made it look as if you had to become a doctor, pharmacist or engineer if you studied sciences did not help matters. I didn't want to do those so I felt restricted. When I establish myself in whatever field I decide to go to especially in research and development, I would definitely sponsor brilliant secondary school kids from Nigeria to abroad so they won't fall into the category of cram and pass your exams to become a doctor or engineer. God willing!!!

Please, dont feel bad.
That is the way we were trained.
There is no challenge whatsoever, We were told to got school, graduate and get a job.
If they had told us to go to school to get developed so we can be creative, productive and solve problems, if they had challenged us with problems like asking our Electrical Engineers to build transformers, our mechanical engineers to build cars, things would had been different.

Our computer Engineers instead of building computers are busy competing with secondary school level folks who learnt computer repairs.
Our agricultural Engineers are rather in banks instead of building locally made machines suitable for our kind of agricultural productions.

My brother, our pharmacists are selling and dispensing imported drugs instead of manufacturing drugs.
Our doctors are "book" doctors, if a case is not the same as what they were taught, that is the end.

Send a mail to info2.arm@gmail.com
Let us discuss in private.

juman: The thread is funny. Education is not a fraud.

T[b]he problem is nigeria fail as a nation because the country fail to make use of education to improve and progress our standard of living.
[/b]
Bad governance from bad leaders fail us.

Bros, read between the lines!
We are not really saying that "Education is a Fraud!.
We are saying that our kind of education is a fraud.

We are not making use of education. We are only interested in certificates so that we can get "handouts" from whosoever. WE are saying that such education which does not lead us into creativity, productivity and problem solving is a fraud. Yes, our kind of education is a fraud! yet, but education is beautiful!

is it confusing?:

AjanleKoko: What about those Nigerians/Africans, many of whom are on NL, who have studied abroad, and even lived there, but are still unable to innovate or even relate their learning to anything useful or productive? Just like the fortunate Nigerians back home, they are also working 9-5 jobs. Some others, like many home-based Nigerians, are not so fortunate and have have had to resort to other means to survive.

Education isn't significantly different anywhere else. We definitely have inferior quality of education in Nigeria on all levels, yes. But the quality is really in terms of learning environment, teaching staff, academic content, and maybe competition. Not that there is any radical difference in the purpose of education, or course methodology. They don't implant theories in people's heads in other climes, something drives them to innovate over there. What is that 'something', and why don't we have it here in Nigeria?

I mean, Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to Stanford. Some Nigerians also went to Stanford, why did they not also start companies like Google?

Or if we go back to the OP's premise. Yes, we discarded our traditional beliefs for Oyinbo customs and education. But Oyinbos actually came to Africa and showed us things we had never seen before. If we were so smart before they came, how come we couldn't save ourselves from them?

More than 400 years ago, Newton sat under a tree, an apple fell, and somehow the ma = mg connection was made. Apples, oranges, guavas, etc., have been falling in Africa, and still continue to fall. Yet nobody takes any special notice.

Whatever it is that ails us, de-emphasizing education is not the cure.

You have fallen back to our position!
That Africans have abandoned ingenuity because we are "educated".
That education should enhance ingenuity.

We have a slave mentality! Education ought to make us to think, but in our own case, education has made us to become dull. We cant think outside the box.

It is time to rise up Africans! We can make our own cars!!!!!

Judas2013: This is some deep thoughts. They gave us he bible and took our knowledge. I probably will not join your movement but i like to applaud you for bringing this up.

Please, don't take me out of context.

My position is not that the white man came. No
It is that we had ingenuity before he came.
Now, he gave us education which is not bad at all.

Problem is that instead of we using the education to enhance our ingenuity, we abandoned our our ingenuity for the certificates.

As for the Bible, I am convinced that Christianity when practiced in truth is far better than the religion of our forefathers.

Forgiveness as is taught in the bible have no equal any where.
Forgiveness is one of the best thing that can happen to a family, community, state or even a nation.
Love as taught in the Bible is beyond human comprehension.

Even in some churches today, I see paganism being practiced, when people curse their acquiescences to die in the name of praying against enemies! The Bible is clear that we should bless those who curse us.

In Africa, we will rather kill who caused a problem than look for solution to that problem.
When the whiteman has a problem, he calls for a meeting to look for solution, but when the black man has a problem, he calls for a meeting to find out what to do to who caused the problem.

Bible should have helped us, but we took the book without the content within the context, just like we took the ABCD letters in our education without the content within context.

AjanleKoko: You could have gone ahead to set up an electrolysis experiment yourself, if you had bothered.
salt, water, empty plastic container, stripped leads from old batteries, and the regular NEPA power source. That's all you need to demonstrate electrolysis.

I would rather say you (and most other youths studying science in Nigeria) have suffered through incompetent teachers that don't also understand science themselves. So, what you should have done (although I will not judge you for that, but charge you going forward) is to find the motivation yourself. The world's greatest scientists in history also did not have the luxury of 24 hours electricity, or government-equipped state of the art labs, or even money for their research. They had to find the motivation themselves.

But we need education. We don't even have enough of it, in the right quality. That's why we are suffering.

When someone posts in this thread and say, "we need education", if feel so scandalised.
We are not saying that we don't need education, we are simply saying that something is wrong with the type of education we have here.

You are right about our teachers! Our teachers are reading out what they saw in books and ask us to copy.
Then they ask us questions based on what we read (and crammed), then they say "congratulations", but there is no correlation between what we read and the challenges we have in our societies.

We are blaming government for power supply, right?
Well, normally, the problem of power supply would be have been the challenge to our Electrical Engineers!
but we don't have any ingenuity. We are importing everything we need to generate power. The smallest generator is imported. We are selling our power plants to foreign companies because we don't have the capacity to handle them.

We are so serious about churning out "graduates", but what did we prepare theses graduates to do?
If there is any value our graduates have, it is the value of reading and writing English!
Even now, that value is going down! some cant even read and write.
We must take a critical look at our type of education.

stillwater: I think a better approach and solution would be to introduce more practicals and research in our educational curriculum.
It is in Nigeria I heard a student of computer science has never used a computer before, that's our problem. We need instrumentation in our labs and they should be readily available to students. Enough of theory.
Till date I never understood electrolysis, anode, cathode crap and most of my physics class because I needed to see it to understand it.

It is not just practicals, but practicals that relate to our peculiarity here in Africa.
Our challenges are not the same with America and Europe.
We should ask questions of what our challenges are and then fine ways to solve those problems. That is what education should be.

Education should enhance food production,
education should motivate us to produce cars, etc
education should should improve our socio-economic values.

We had carpenters before education came, why didn't education help our carpentry endeavors?
today, the "best" furnitures are imported!

What is wrong with Africans? We need to change our mentality and this is the time.

Join us in this campaign.

www.facebook.com/arm4good
info2.arm@gmail.com

redsun: Farming has gone scientific and science is education.The kind of education africans have took away their common sense and gave them the ability to read and write in foreign languages.It failed to teach them the basics of how to fend for themselves by being intuitive,instinctive,rational,mathematical and creative.

This is exactly the point!
I am only commenting for the sake of emphasis.

You summarised the the first post!
We were producing food before education came, we should have used education to enhance our food production.
But what did we do? We stopped food production because we are educated!

It is very hilarious!

tpia@:
@ thread title:


you need education to build this:


https://www.dotwnews.com/uploads/posts/sheratononelarge.jpg

And what exactly do you mean?
How many of these have you seen in Africa, and if you see any thing that looks like a serious Engineering structure, it must have a some touch of the "Whiteman" in one way or the other.

The good roads in Nigeria are done by foreign companies.
Roads done by our Engineers do not last,
Our two and three storey buildings collapse and you are talking about skyscrapers?

Yet, let me make it abundantly clear, that we are not opposing education, rather we saying that

the purpose of education should be to enhance our capacity in creativity, productivity and problem solving and not just to read and write while flaunting papers called certificates!