Nigerian Education, Brain Drain and "The Youths Of Nowadays"

Then nosotros take probably all seen the reports of UNN'southward All-time Graduating Educatee receiving the grand prize of N10,000 ($27) for her achievements, on a unduly large bank check from GTBank. We saw the outrage on Facebook, Twitter, Nairaland etc. over the paltry sum, wondering how the message of 'didactics is the fundamental to success' is supposed to fly in the face of such meagre rewards (quote from @DirectorSolomon).

Well, it turns out that the award was actually given by the Nigerian Medical Students' Clan, a non-governmental torso representing Nigerian medical students all over the country. And co-ordinate to other reports, it wasn't the only honour; she received well over N200, 000 in total from the medical school.

So that's it, folks. Problem solved. You lot can stop vexing at present. Right?

WRONG.

via GIPHY

How much does a medical pupil spend on textbooks? Tuition and accommodation for seven years of medical school? 'Sorting' school admin officers then their results aren't inexplicably lost? Of course this isn't limited to medical students. A lot of professional person courses are quite expensive; one of my law lecturers used to say you had to be rich to report law comfortably.

It isn't just navigating the financial difficulties. It is in the same UNN that a lecturer infamously stated, "A is for God. B is for me, and C is for those who try.' These lecturers prepare academic records during their ain undergraduate days, and would rather neglect students than allow those records be beaten. These same lecturers threaten students with failure unless they bought ridiculously overpriced handouts, and sexually exploit female students with the same threats of failure. Then in that location's the ever-present danger of strikes, cultism, schoolhouse losing accreditation etc. My own sis had to kickoff over at a private academy when IMSU lost accreditation final year. 4 years of medical school, gone in a flash. And what was Rochas Okorocha, governor of Imo Country doing? Spending N600 million on a Christmas tree.

After all this toiling, oppression and spending, y'all graduate only to notice you lot would have a better shot at life if yous had competed (and won) Large Brother Africa instead of reading your books. Oh well, there's ever militancy. Or Yahoo (419). But here, have N200, 000 for your troubles. Apply information technology to pay 1 month's rent in Obiagu, and keep the change (lol). Is it any wonder that UNN witnesses at to the lowest degree one suicide every yr?

The final straw comes when you hear some pompous, self-righteous fifty-something year old lamenting 'the youths of nowadays' and their lack of piece of work ethic. Or worse, when you come across someone younger say something like this:

This is where you brainstorm to understand that respecting our elders is a vastly overrated norm. What exactly is wrong with wanting a meliorate salary? And why shouldn't medical school be subsidized? How else are y'all supposed to entice people to written report medicine in a Third World country, where afterward spending hours saving your patient'southward life with no working machines, your patient brushes your hard work aside and donates his thanksgiving coin to the church building instead of the infirmary?

The generation born earlier 1975 have singlehandedly destroyed every sector in Nigeria with their greed and stupidity. The bear upon on the education sector solitary is devastating: more 10.5 million children out of school, the largest in the globe. Universities can merely suit 40% of the applicants, and 47% of Nigerian graduates are unemployed. What is the government doing about it? The 2022 upkeep merely allocates 6% to the didactics sector, and it says absolutely nothing most spending on inquiry and development. Meanwhile they keep blaming the youths for non working hard, for not being employable, for not knowing English or figurer skills, for not solving their bug past themselves. Of course. Because information technology's the youths that should provide electricity, infrastructure, affordable internet, bones amenities in schools, instruction materials and other educational facilities. Oh, await…

However you await at it, in that location is simply no motive to excel in Nigeria. There is no adequate bounty for all the stress we become through, no headhunters waiting to snap upwardly vivid students during graduation, no opportunities lined upwardly mail service-school, no funding for your nifty invention that could salve millions of lives. You hear stories of Nigerians abroad doing astounding things in their fields, but what happened to that man in Aba who created a car out of fleck metallic? Has he been contacted by the Ministry of Science of Technology, Industry or even Economical Evolution? When your work goes unappreciated or unpaid at dwelling house, isn't the adjacent step to get somewhere you can flourish?

Make no error: if subsequently all these years and all the oil money squandered laundered and looted, we still cannot set the education sector or provide an surround for young educated Nigerians to prosper, then Nigeria is already dead. No-one has any right to demand that nosotros stay behind and keep struggling in this corpse of a country. If you lot feel similar staying behind out of some misplaced patriotism, good for yous. The truth is, after providing your own light, h2o, didactics and security, you owe this state absolutely zilch. You deserve a meliorate life, all of you.

Ijeoma Ossi

Sources:  Quartz Africa, UNICEF, Premium Times Nigeria, BudgIT NG.

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Source: https://www.click042.com/features/opinion/nigerian-education-brain-drain-youths-nowadays/

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