Inclusive education in Nigeria - SPED
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TheeffectofpovertyoneducationinNigeria.problemsandsolutions.pdf
Abstract: This paper embarks on a long journey deep into the history of a country that is supposed or predicted generally to be economically one the leading countries in the world or at least in Africa. Nigeria has been blessed tremendously and generously with remarkable economic resources such as oil, cocoa, rubber and plantations. Despite all these natural resources and blessed assets, it is really lamentable to see an increasing number of Nigerians still living in absolute poverty in recent times. In the rural areas, poverty seems to be higher compared to urban areas. The effects of poverty in the country, the instability of the government and the country’s leadership have seriously damaged the educational system as well as its quality. The graduate unemployment rate is high and frightening as well as that of adults, and the number of children dropping out from schools, joining the street traders and snatch-thieves is alarming. Adequate planning, resources and materials are not invested and technological intervention is not incorporated. In this regard, this paper is a qualitative research by nature based on interviews with some Nigerian experts, educationists and scholars about what the Nigerian government should do to reduce poverty that is tearing our educational standards and quality apart. Besides, the paper proposes some solutions and makes recommendations through interviews which perhaps the Nigerian government will consider to raise the standard and quality of education in Nigeria.
Keywords: Poverty, Education, Qualitative research, Human Capital
I. INTRODUCTION
o qualms, education is an absolute human right that should be given to all human beings. In every nation, education should be accessible for every single citizen regardless of their status or social
classes. And it is the core responsibility of governments to ensure this access. Education is linked and related to nation development. According to EFC (2002), “education is a key index of development. It has been documented that schooling improves productivity, health and reduces negative features of life such as child labour as well as bringing about empowerment” (Otive, 2006, p.1).
In Nigeria, the accessibility of education is at stake. We get
to see more and more people getting access to poverty
rather than education. The Nigerian government has
launched various Poverty Alleviation Programmes starting
from 80s and every new government seems to have their
own Poverty Eradication or Alleviation Programmes.
Eventually, all these programmes become an avenue for
corruption and paving ways for embezzlement. For
education to take place in Nigeria, poverty must be
seriously addressed. Education has the capability of
reducing poverty because once the majority of the people in
the country are educated, they are likely to get jobs, earn
living and the ability to provide the basic needs for their
families. This is the strength and uniqueness of education
in producing an excellent Human Capital for nation
development and economy.
II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
It is really lamentable to see a country that was given the title the “giant of Africa” becoming an “ant of Africa”. Besides, it is sorrowful to see a country such as Nigeria with abundant natural resources and copious human capital, but with 70 percent of its people living below the
THE EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA:
OBSTACLES AND SOLUTIONS
Ismail Hussein Amzat a
a Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Management,
Planning & Policy, University of Malaya, Malaysia. a Corresponding author: [email protected]
© Ontario International Development Agency. ISSN 1923-6654 (print) ISSN 1923-6662 (online). Available at http://www.ssrn.com/link/OIDA-Intl-Journal-Sustainable-Dev.html
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poverty line and surviving on less than $1 a day. Poverty has ripped the process of education apart and deprived people from getting proper access to education. Poverty has become the ‘boss’ with the help of corruption determining who should go to school and who should not. Poverty determines children’s faith. Huge numbers of boys are dropping out of school, loaded with evil intention and sophisticated weapons--declaring a war of robbery while girls fail to complete their studies and end up with early pregnancy. Some of them are so victimized by poverty that they have to sell their bodies on campus as a mean of survival.
The impact of poverty on education is of great significance and it is tormenting to see students struggling and battling the hardship to study without any support from the government or their parents. It is depressing to see our graduates unemployed after all the hardships of studies and poverty. This has led to the development greater population of poor people in the country.
The Nigerian government has turned a deaf ear to the people’s agony and blinded their eyes to the flood of poverty eroding our integrity and existence. Some programmes were launched which were supposed to alleviate poverty in the country but the efforts were in vain due to self-interest and corruption.
The Nigerian government has failed to realize perhaps realized but ignored the power of education on country development and providing an excellent human capital for the society.
It is high time that the Nigerian government took on board” the importance of education since it has been accepted worldwide that education plays a huge role in a country’s development and economy. The Nigerian government should rid their bodies of the virus of corruption and download the latest software of development and anti-poverty programmes to combat the poverty to allow every citizen to have access to education.
The Nigerian government has failed to provide a good infrastructure, there is a lack of teaching and learning material while you could see some lecturers at the universities continue using their 10 year-old teaching materials while 10-20 year-old equipment/instruments still survive in our labs.
III . OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of poverty on education in
Nigeria To investigate how education process and
accessibility could alleviate poverty in Nigeria
IV. RESEARCH QUESTION
1. How does the poverty affect education in
Nigeria?
2. What are the programmes that should be
introduced; suggestions and solutions in
alleviating poverty in Nigeria?
3. How can these suggestions and programmes
revamp the process of education in Nigeria?
Figure 1
THEORITICAL & CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Source: Human Capital Theory
Figure 1 above shows the theoretical and conceptual framework of the study. Theoretically, education was found to have a relationship with Human Capital. Thus, once people have access to education in a country and proper facilities, resources and materials are provided for teaching and learning, the outcomes will be great and the country will be blessed with strong Human Capital.
Moreover, once Human Capital is achieved, it leads to the country’s development and economic growth due to the huge numbers of educated and knowledgeable people in the country as well as helping poverty alleviation.
According to Becker (1964), education or training increases workers’ productivity by equipping them with useful knowledge and skills while other theorists provide different explanations for how education is related to worker productivity. One such argument is based on the statement that the higher earnings of educated workers are related to the level of their education, rather than through skills and knowledge (Jin Xiao, 2001).
Additionally, Spence (1973) stated that the market has become a signal to indicate the potential productivity of
EDUCATION
Human Capital
Productivity Jobs Wages
Economy
Growth
Country
Development
Poverty Alleviation
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2010 EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 57
workers, while Schultz (1975) implies that education enhances an individual’s ability to successfully deal with disequilibria in changing economic conditions. A similar argument was given by Levin and Kelley (1994, cited by Xiao, 2001), implying that education could only improve productivity if complementary inputs exist, such as training, contract terms, and management practices….
The objective of education is manpower development, aimed at national growth and development (Enamiroro, 2007). These definitions and theories have significantly linked education with human capital, leading to national development and economy growth.
V. POVERTY & EDUCATION
What is Education?
Education is the process of the teaching and training of the child. It is about imparting skills and the acquisition of knowledge for a particular trade or profession in which appropriate methods are applied (Kellerman, 1980). Similarly, education as all positive efforts, conscious and direct, incidental and indirect, made by a given society to accomplish certain objectives that are considered desirable in terms of the individual’s needs as well as the needs of society where the programme is based (Fafunwa, 1983).
In relation to the individual and community, education has been linked to society with the definition of Ebong (1996), defining education as a powerful instrument for the development of man and society, while according to Enamiror, (2007) education is a systematic procedure for the transfer and transformation of culture, through formal or informal training of people in a society. Thus, it deals with the mental, physical, psychological and social development of the citizens in a given society. According to Ojo and Vincent (2000), cited by Nwangu (2004), “Education is many things to man, a visa to success, a passport to the unknown, a catalyst to great heights. Education empowers, emboldens, refines, civilizes, enlightens, enriches and gives confidence to man”.
What is poverty?
According to Case and Ray (1989), poverty is defined as people with very low incomes. Besides, poverty should be measured by examining or calculating how much it costs to buy the basic necessities of life, a minimally adequate diet, the minimum housing unit and so forth. A country that is perceived to be poor has failed to cater for her citizenry, lacks amenities and lives in fear. “Poverty is the lack of capability to function effectively in society. Inadequate education can thus be considered a form of poverty” (AmartyaSen, 1992, 2001, p5, UNESCO, 2008).
However, in a country where poverty is rampant, numerous poverty alleviation programmes should be launched and it is a government responsibility to look at the problem from the grass-roots level and devise undisputable strategies.
The effect of poverty leads to a lack of educational resources in poor schools and sometimes could hinder learning. Without providing good facilities, teaching materials, textbooks and classroom resources, it becomes hard to facilitate good learning and quality teaching. Educationally speaking, the only way to reduce poverty is to make considerable investments in education. This investment provides many benefits such as skills enhancement and productivity among poor households. Moreover, poverty is a constraint to educational achievement both at the macro and micro levels. Hence, poor countries generally have lower levels of enrolment while at the micro level; children of poor households receive less education (Xoe, 1997).
It is believed that the young people who are suffering from poverty are restricted from getting enrolled or are deprived access to education and they are more likely to achieve poorer educational outcomes compared to young people from rich families or those with rich relatives. Furthermore, the situation of the young people deprived of receiving enrolment or being retained in education and those achieving low educational outcomes are the same and they are likely to experience poverty (Bynner and Joshi, 2002).
However, this has now become a global issue and in the US and UK, children’s attending school and their academic performance rely on the socio-economic position of their parents (Jencks’s, 1972; Carlo, Alan, Helen, Dave, Lisa and Afroditi, 2007). This issue also applies to less developed countries where there is a link between education and poverty when enrolment into and retention in education are strongly linked to levels of poverty (Filmer & Pritchett, 1999, 2001
VI. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The relationship between poverty and education is an international phenomenon and it has attracted recently many countries’ attention in providing better schooling. Eventually it has become accepted worldwide that there is a relationship between poverty and educational outcomes.
From the Human Capital Theory, education plays a huge role in development and economic growth. Besides, it was tested whether education is productive in an economic sense. The evidence shows that levels of schooling amongst the population are highly correlated with levels of economic development. Although there were early critics of Human Capital Theory such as Bowles, Gintis and others, sometimes referred to as the ‘Correspondence Theorists’, who argued that education was valued by employers not because of the cognitive skills which it engendered, but because of the non-cognitive qualities and attributes inculcated at different levels of the education system. According to them, education was thus judged to be responsible for reproducing the social hierarchies in society in a stable and predictable way, rather more than enhancing the productive capacities of labour (Zoe, 1997).
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Human capital theory implies that education or training raises the productivity of employees by imparting valuable knowledge and skills. Thus, it raises workers’ future lifetime earnings increment (Becker, 1964; Becker, 1964; Mincer, 1974; Jin Xiao, 2001); and provides an explanation that links investment in training with workers’ wages.
Furthermore, from the Human Capital Theory and in a different sense the Correspondence Theory perspectives, both emphasized that in order to alleviate poverty, there must be a very strategic anti-poverty implementation that will enhance education and skills amongst poor households. This will enhance their productivity in the informal urban and rural economy. This increases their eligibility for paid employment in the formal sector and for advancement once they are employed. In relation to this, Correspondence Theory similarly suggests the idea of increasing levels of schooling in the labour force in the sense that it could be functional to the process of employment growth (Zoe, 1997).
VII. LEVEL OF POVERTY IN NIGERIA
Generally, Africa is a continent blessed with different types of natural resources but still, the continent has a long history of poverty caused by political instability, mismanagement, serious corruption and selfish leaders. There is a high level of poverty in the African continent compared with others and this poverty is denying millions of Africans better lives, good education and is crippling the process of development and the economy. According to the African Development Bank (ADB), cited by Nwagwu, (2007), 40 to 45% of Africa’s population is estimated to be living in absolute poverty and an estimated 30% belong to the extreme poor. Thus, those Africans in absolute poverty live on $2 per day while those in extreme poverty live on below $1 per day. Therefore, it is a painful task to look into these statistics and a true catastrophe for the African continent.
In Nigeria, before independence in 1960, the economy was characterized by the dominance of exports and commercial activities while after independence, agriculture continued as the mainstay of the economy. During this time, jobs were created and the rates of inflation, unemployment and productivity remained relatively acceptable (Ekpo & Umoh, 1998). Ironically, Nigeria is a petroleum-based country, with the problem of political instability, corruption and poor macroeconomic management. The installation of democracy happened in 1999 after been ruled by the military for decades. Despite this wealth and abundance, Nigeria is the 17th poorest country in the world, in spite of the large quantity and quality of crude oil produced in the country.
In 1960, after independence, Nigeria displayed great awareness of educational development and the economy was booming. The Nigerian government and individuals
became involved in educational development. Besides, in these particular years, moving into the 70s, everyone was given an opportunity to go to school and attain basic education. It was an era of Universal Free Primary Education. But, unfortunately, the opportunity did not last long. The 1980's and 1990's degenerated with regard to keeping up with the previous education standards (Gaffar, 1997).
In the 90s towards 21st century, the federal government mounted for 6 years (since the restoration of democracy) a series of programmes geared towards achieving poverty reduction, some of which were
People’s Bank of Nigeria (PNB) (1990)
National Agricultural Land Development
(NALDA) (1993)
National Poverty Eradication Programme (NPEP)
(2001)
Eventually, the programmes died down without achieving their ultimate aims and objectives. To alleviate poverty through education, many universities were built and colleges were established but despite the increased number of university graduates produced from these universities and colleges, the Human Development Index (HDI), a compound measure of income and access to education and health services, ranked Nigeria 152nd out of 175 countries in 2000 ( UNDP, 2004). This low HDI reflects the situation with regard to poor access to basic social services in the country (Aye & Oji, 2002). The National Household Survey conducted in 2005 shows that 51.6% of the Nigerian population lives in poverty (NBS, 2005).
VIII. SUSTAINABILITY OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Without any shadow of doubt, education is very important and essential for human beings. Education shapes human beings’ lives in positive ways. Education is a human right that should be bestowed on all human beings exclusively by reason of being human. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between education and development as was propounded before by many theorists and researchers. The establishment of education is a key index of development. Above and beyond this, it is well acknowledged that schooling increases productivity, health and decreases negative features of life like child-labour as well as empowerment (EFA, 2002).
Over decades, the Nigerian government has emphasized the commitment to providing good education for the people in the community, aiming to overcome illiteracy and ignorance with the goal of accelerating national development. But in the short run, the effort and commitment did not materialize due to unpaid teachers’ salaries, and the degradation of education facilities at all levels. Eventually, the literacy rates in the country started declining despite the obvious fact that education is
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2010 EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 59
essential to the development of the community and the nation.
In Nigeria, the distribution of education has suffered because it has been neglected so long due to the inadequate attention given to policy frameworks within the setting. Findings of research conducted in the educational setting confirm the unsustainability of education in Nigeria. The national literacy rate is currently 57%. Some 49% of the teaching force is unqualified. Old infrastructures and buildings are maintained, there is a lack of facilities and acutely inadequate resources at all levels. Wide disparities persist in educational standards and learning achievements. The system emphasizes theoretical knowledge at the expense of technical, vocational, and entrepreneurial education (ActionAid, 2003, cited by Otive, 2007).
The sustainability of education in the country has seriously declined due to uncountable strikes and riots which frequently ended up by closing down the schools and universities for countless months. Teachers/lecturers/workers in universities and schools going out on strike has become normal in support of their protests about being unpaid for months perhaps years. Pensions are delayed and salaries/wages are frozen for many months and years. This leads to students taking years to graduate.
A significant percentage of children and youth leave primary, secondary and universities before graduation. This may be due to a lack of funds, poor nutrition, the inability to read, write or the results of a poor beginning and the effect of family background. The system in the country does not provide any opportunity for transition from school to work, particularly for those from poor homes (Enamiroro, 2007). This has substantially contributed to students’ abandoning their studies and putting an end to their formal education, substituting it by learning traditional work or joining the ranks of street beggars/traders for them to provide whatever income they can for the family, while some opt to choose weapons when they are desperate.
Additionally, research conducted shows the strong reasons why pupils are abandoning primary schools; the costs of schooling are too high, there is a lack of opportunity, illness and hunger, limited economic costs of education and low quality of schooling (Action Aid, 2003). Besides, in Nigeria, the costs of schooling include the costs of books, stationery and basic equipment, uniforms, admission fees, registration and examination fees, contribution towards the building and maintenance fund, construction fees, transportation, mid-day meals, Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) fees, sports fees, library fees and extra tuition fees.
In this regard, this underlines the unsustainability of education in Nigeria due the factors mentioned above. Education is sustained when there are no hindrances in the way of schooling. Education is sustained when every citizen is eligible at least physically, morally, economically and financially to obtain formal education. But once there
is poverty, there is a type of discrimination which leads to unequal opportunity in society.
In terms of employment and unemployment, you could see the unsustainability of education in the long run when the majority of the youths in Nigeria with university degrees are unemployed. Some who were employed once and unemployed for a few months lacked the technical skill to keep their job. There, the economic conditions have made meeting the demands for food, education, health and shelter a Herculean task (The progress of Nigerian children, 1997).
IX. THE CONTRIBUTION OF CORRUPTION ON POVERTY
Corruption is perceived as endemic in all countries. It is considered as a global phenomenon. Lately, corruption has received extensive attention in the communities due to the effect on a country’s economic conditions and development. The definition of corruption varies but it could be defined broadly as “a perversion or a change from good to bad” (Victor, 2008, p2). Precisely, corruption or corrupt behaviour is about abusing the laws or involves the violation of established rules for personal gain and profit (Sen 1999, p.275).
In addition, corruption is the way of accumulating wealth in a dubious manner and securing power through illegal means and private gain at public expense. Besides, corruption is about personalizing public interest or misusing public power for private benefit (Lipset & Lenz, 2000,).In Nigeria, corruption is rampant and a pandemic in all government sectors. Corruption has possessed Nigerian leaders and they are obsessed by it because it runs through their veins. In Nigeria, “corruption occurs in many forms, and it has contributed immensely to the poverty and misery of a large segment of the Nigerian population” (Victor, 2008).
Consequently, corruption tarnishes the image of the country and blemishes the reputation of a nation. Nigeria is the perfect example. As we can see, Nigeria is the most suffered nation amongst the nations for its tarnished-image globally due to its failure to deal with corruption and bribery in the country. This failure has a serious effect on education due to the fact that the government spends relatively more on items to make room for graft (Shleifer &Vishny, 1993; Lipset & Lenz, 2002).
According to Nwagwu (2004): Corruption is the bane of Nigerian society. Corruption puts the economy in a parlous state. Money disappears into private accounts thereby making some individuals billionaires while many remain in destitution and penury. Many people are dehumanized and debased as a result of poverty (p.3).
As a matter of fact, corruption breeds national poverty, stated by Morphy who believed that “elite corruption is the
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cause of poverty” in Nigeria. Corruption in Nigeria “results in scarcity of funds for schools, healthcare and infrastructure. Unfortunately, it is the ruling elite who are guilty of this sort of dishonesty”. Many studies have been conducted, examining the relationship between corruption and poverty and most of the findings of this global research indicate that bribery, fraud, favouritism and cronyism all breed and deepen poverty in the society (Morphy, 2007).
X. METHODOLOGY
Data collection
Data were collected in 2010 through interviews. Four interview questions were designed by following the Interview Protocol. The first question was related to interviewees’ educational background, working/teaching experience, place of work and current position in Nigeria. The second question was about the effect of poverty on education in Nigeria. Third focused on the possibility of making education accessible for all in order to alleviate poverty in the country while the last question was aimed at seeking interviewees’ opinions and suggestions on how to reduce poverty for the quality life of people in Nigeria as well as their socio-economic status.
In terms of sample, an interview protocol was sent to 15 experts in Nigeria and outside Nigeria but unfortunately, there were no responses from them. Only four from Malaysia responded. Calls were also made to some Nigerian experts and authors but the problem of poor communication system played a huge role in making them inaccessible and some unanswered. The phone numbers attached in their online bio-data perhaps have been changed or did not exist anymore.
In terms of validity and reliability, interview was conducted in Malaysia, interviewing four formal Nigerians civil- servants: an educationist, economist, a lawyer and formal National Poverty Eradication Progremme (NAPEP). They are currently pursuing their PhD.
Data Analysis A tape recorder was used to collect the data. Verbatim
transcripts were done by the researcher. The analysis was done manually; transcribing by listening to the tape and writing the transcripts down in a table with three columns. The first column is the initial data, the second column is the coding and the last is the theme.
INTERVIEW PROTOCAL
Analysis
Table 1. Statements by group interviews in a reflective meeting of the experts working in the educational sector and in the system in Nigeria Question 1: Explain the effect of Poverty on education in
Nigeria.
Existential
Meaning
Coding Theme
PERSON 1
NPE is to target poverty or eradicate poverty.
Poverty eradication in Nigeria has 2 faces, 1-implementation, and 2- policy that affect/effect poverty eradication in Nigeria.
Education system in Nigeria has really virtually collapsed without doubt.
Poverty is in the country because people don’t have capability to sponsor themselves.
The Nigerian government has good intension to eradicate poverty, but it will take a long time if monitoring and evaluation are not well founded to carry out such poverty policy which is lacking in Nigerian poverty programmes.
Money has
Government lunching programmes to alleviate poverty: implementation and policy.
The impact of poverty on people’s lives and downfall of the educational system and the educational system has been destroyed.
Government failure of
Poverty leads to downfall of educational system in Nigeria.
Poor implementation and evaluation of poverty programmes.
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been given as a budgetary basis for poverty alleviation programmes but this money is disbursed arbitrarily.
There is no effective monitoring of how this money has been disbursed, for example, for skills enhancement programmes where it could be a benefit for people involved in acquiring skills. But it is not there.
Evaluation, year in year out, NAPEP disbursed money or presented a budget to the national assembly which has been approved whether complete or incomplete the budget that been approved, it depends on the allocation of the budget to them. But all this money is given for each state secretary that represents the national poverty, but yet, no one is evaluating how this money is utilized or achieves the main purpose it was meant for.
So the poverty still remains in the Nigerian system because the monitoring system is not there, the mechanism of disbursing the money is not there, and the mechanism of evaluation is equally not there. So money is subject to deduction by politicians who
monitoring the programmes and the wrong distribution of the money and budget allocated.
Poor evaluation of the money spent by the government and poor assessment of whether the budget allocated for the states to alleviate poverty reaches the target.
The money allocated is embezzled by the top government officials.
The poverty programmes are ineffective and the level of poverty in the country still very high.
Politicians using poverty
Corruption and mismanagement
The failure of the poverty programmes affects education in Nigeria.
Poor facilities and lack of resources lead to schools collapsing.
The failure of poverty eradication in the country leads to unemployment.
Lack of support, loans and scholarships from the government
force it on administrators who are just bureaucrats.
But the involvement of the politicians in poverty eradication has virtually undermined the entire poverty eradication programme. This is the problem and that is why the poverty eradication programmes in Nigeria are facing serious difficulties.
Since 1999, the programme was initiated, although, it is a carry-over from other programmes like FEP, Women Empowerment also part and parcel of national poverty eradication.
The failure of the programmes launched to alleviate poverty has an effect on education. What it has to do with education in the sense that the target audience is primarily the educational institution because if the youth have not been empowered financially, they do not automatically got a sound education. These youths have been forced out of educational system due to their inability to sponsor themselves or have access to the educational scholarship schemes at the federal level or
eradication for their own personal interest.
The failure of poverty alleviation in the country has affected education in Nigeria.
The failure has affected the educational institutions badly due to the poor facilities, resources provided and budget allocated.
The failure of poverty eradication affects the youths of getting jobs after graduation and no financial supports.
No ability to go to school and the rate of drop-outs from the schools is high and scholarship given for youth to continue their studies.
leads to huge rate of school drop-out.
Lack of support and poverty leads to students’ poor performance.
Inability increases drop- out rate
Quality of education has been affected
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state level or local government level due to the programmes that are not explicitly explained by the power holders in the country. So it really affects them.
So you can see that the best brain in education is not there because of the poverty.
Poverty has deprived people to not be in schools. Poverty has led people to drop out from colleges as well as the best brains that are supposed to be in the system are gradually dropping out, they have been discouraged.
PERSON 2
Education in Nigeria as far as I am is concerned not like it used to be in the past.
Defining poverty, poverty is a situation where people are not able to earn enough for their needs, in terms of living standard, very low feeding as well as accommodation.
Poverty can go to the extent where people cannot afford transportation and security.
If a person
This has affected the performance of the students, standards and the quality education in the country.
Poverty is inability of a man to earn a living and provide needs. Poverty affects way of living and safety.
Presently, things are getting worse compared to the past. Things are getting costly and people live in absolute poverty.
Inability of the parents to send their children to schools.
Public schools are poor and not well managed. Schools have failed people by not meeting the standard and not providing quality education.
Private schools
Poverty leads to poor earning and safety.
People living in absolute poverty in Nigeria.
Lack of means of the parents increases illiteracy.
Low interest in sending children to schools.
Public schools neglected by the government.
couldn’t afford the needs, we can say the person is poor.
In the past, in Nigeria, transportation used to be very much less compared to the present.
People basically are living in hardship and it is hard for people in the country to send their children to schools.
The public schools are not good in terms of standard.
Public schools are not providing what people are looking for and not meeting people’s expectations to send their children to public schools.
Private schools are patronized by people when there is a means but now, it is expensive and people are sending their children back to public schools where 50-80 students in the class with old teaching and learning materials.
Some people have opted for private schools for them to get good education for their children.
Parents can’t afford to send their children to private schools while they can’t even afford daily meals, buying books; school uniform; basic learning materials
become the means for those people that have money and are rich as well as being funded. Inability of the parents to provide basic life needs, learning materials and send their children to private schools.
The salaries of civil servants are extremely low, could afford the basic needs. Things are expensive and difficult to buy them.
There a serious hunger in the country and people dying of lack of foods.
Poverty is destroying the education where a lot of schools are without good facilities for children to learn and no amenities that can encourage children to go to school.
Poverty is killing education everywhere in the country.
Rich people sending their children to private schools.
Poor salaries for government workers.
Insufficient income deprives workers of better life.
Hunger is tormenting.
Poverty is crippling the education process in Nigeria.
School fees are unaffordable.
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and seeing their children wearing torn uniforms.
This is what people are going through in the country.
Looking at the rate of inflation, the amount people are earning in the public sector is very low.
The same happened to the private sector where people there also at lower levels and middle class levels are not well paid. Things are not getting better for them.
Poverty is hitting hard in educational sectors. The facilities and nutrition that children require for them to learn are not there.
It is very hard to teach a child when he is hungry; there is no way the child can learn.
No water; people have to buy water which costs a lot every month.
The price of food is rising rapidly. So poverty is striking hard at the root of education.
It is impossible for people to be educated when they are poor.
In Nigeria, people are not taking education seriously and not
Schools fees are expensive and unaffordable. Education has been neglected and parents prefer their children to stay home and learn tradition work that can bring money instantly.
The level if illiteracy is very high in the country.
Poor appearance of the teachers and low salaries. Poor motivation to be a teacher.
Poverty has made people lose interest in education and sending their children to school.
High rate of illiteracy
Schools disappoint parents
Educational values have gone
going to school because they need to survive first.
The cost for enrolling is extremely high and performing badly in their work “West African Examination Council” (WAEC).
People will not take education seriously when the society is not vibrant because the vibrant society knows the value of education.
People believe education is a long- term investment and the reward cannot be reaped immediately.
Parents sending their children out to sell something and bring money back home instead of waiting for education that will not give or produce instantly.
There is a relationship between poverty and illiteracy, because people are leaving school to go and get money and job to earn living and to survive.
Survival first.
Teachers are not well paid, and they could not afford to buy good shoes and shirts. How to see value of education when the students are seeing their teachers in that kind of
Country can only develop when there is no poverty.
People work hard to feed their families and avoid poverty.
Education plays a huge role in the development of the nation.
Education alleviates poverty in the country.
Progress and development show after poverty eradication
Education leads to country development
Education reduces poverty
Education provides a better life
Education provides a better salary
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situation.
Education becomes interesting when people see value in it.
The institutions in Nigeria are pathetic. Therefore, poverty affects education badly in the country.
PERSON 3
Certainly, there is no way to progress in this life without getting rid of poverty.
Poverty is a serious problem in any set-up of human life especially education.
Poverty has a particular feature, a feature of disease with the sense that anyone who is poor will work and struggle to ensure his progenitors are not poor; otherwise, poverty can be inherited from one generation to another.
Education is essential in eliminating poverty in the family and society.
Education is an instrument or tool that a man can use to migrate away from poverty.
Education is a way of running away from poverty to prosperity.
People that have education in Nigeria live better lives.
Education accelerates people and moves them from below to the top.
Education determines people’s salaries, status and kind of lives people should live in Nigeria.
Children are sent to public schools where there is a lack of teaching and learning facilities due to the inability of the parents to send their children to private schools.
In Nigeria, poverty dictates people’s lives and the government has failed to do something about
Better life is achieved by education
Public schools are in trouble
There is a relationship between public schools and poverty
Government failed to tackle poverty
Rich people in Nigeria have better lives.
In Nigeria, people that have education are able to maintain a distinguished status from those people who lack education in terms of poverty.
Once a poor man is educated, it moves him from a lower level to a higher level in society. The more educated he is, the more progress there is.
In the whole of Nigeria, education is the principal determinant of who is at the bottom of the ladder and who is at the top of the ladder. Education is the determinant.
So education is the biggest factor in moving away from poverty. Because people are poor because they don’t have the ability to attend school.
Children of poor go to public schools which are not well taken care of by the government; no fans, and some chairs and tables are provided but are very basic while the rich go to private schools where the facilities are well provided.
This situation may not happen in other parts of the world but it is peculiar to Nigeria.
At the end of the day, poverty determines the quality of education
it.
Nigeria lives a life of meritocracy and rich people dominate as well as having better lives.
Inability to send children to school is caused by poverty. Failure of having jobs of the parents is determined by poverty.
Schools are poorly financed by the government and teachers are not been paid well.
Poverty creates havoc in Nigeria and the government is not providing
Sending children to public schools relates to poverty
Lack of financial supports in schools
Government failed to provide better life for people in Nigeria.
Basic needs are beyond the means of the people.
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2010 EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 65
that a man gets in Nigeria.
Looking at this, it shows that the role that poverty plays in the education of children in Nigeria cannot be quantified.
Deliberately, people in the government have neglected the public institutions and polluted private institutions because they want poverty to continue so that children of wealthy families continue to dominate and hold on to power in the country.
Because once people have better education than others, complexes will step in and people that have poor quality of education normally suffer some inferiority complex.
PERSON 4
Defining poverty in relation to education as the inability of the parents to access quality of education for their children either as a result of poor employment situation of the parents or as a result of some physical incapacitation on the part of the parents.
Poverty can come from the government if the government has
things for people in the country to have better lives.
Hunger is striking and people are suffering.
failed to invest in the educational sector.
The poorer parents can only send their children to government schools which are poorly equipped.
Teachers are engaged in other jobs out of school to survive and increase their earning and are unable to prepare well for their classes or produce quality teaching and education.
Poverty has created a gap between the children of the poor and rich.
Some people want to help educational institutions but they are business- oriented looking into gain, interest and profit.
The inability of parents to provide food where the government has to provide meals and that is a motivation for parents to send their kids to school.
Table 2. Statements by group interviews in a reflective meeting of the experts working in the educational sector and in the system in Nigeria Question 2: Do you think making education for all could
alleviate poverty in Nigeria by making education
accessible?
Existential Meaning Coding Theme
PERSON 1 Education for all could be a fallacy in the sense that it is not mandatory for everybody to be
It is no possible to make education for all because of the
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educated. But everyone in the country should have a right of survive. The right of living, the right of doing the right things in his country. The right to have access to the national resources. The right to the access of distribution of goals and services. This is supposed to be the policy of the government. That is how it should be. Education for all, the government doesn’t have the resources for it to fund education due to the huge population of the country. So education for everybody is not possible, but if there is technical education where someone can go and enhance skills or vocational education, that one is OK. But to say it is mandatory for the government to provide education for all, the government will be over- stressed due to the limited resources. It is not easy to run the system, security and run the country with this population
Food and security, for example, there is no food in the country, and the agriculture system is highly dilapidated, it is absolute; we don’t have a well mechanized agricultural system.
It is the mediaeval system of farming that is still going on in Nigeria. That alone is a problem. So someone that does not eat, how could he get his education?
That kind of person has physical poverty that has overwhelmed his thinking. He is not
huge population. Education is not compulsory for everyone but the means of surviving should be provided.
There should be the ability for everyone to get whatever they want and resources that they need. This should be in one of the government programmes.
Vocational and technical education is not available for skills enhancement.
It is not easy for the government to cater for all but the government should make sure lives are better for people to live in terms of food and shelter.
Government didn’t pay much attention to agriculture which can produce much food and nourishment.
The system of farming is still backward. Hunger has stopped people from attending formal education to get a means to survive.
Poverty has stopped people in Nigeria from
Accessibility of education for all in Nigeria is impossible
Hard to get all people educated
Huge population deprives people of general access to education
Food and shelter are government responsibility .
Government ignores agriculture
Farming system in Nigeria is old fashioned
Poverty leads to poor life and education
thinking to improve his mental development.
PERSON 2 Government claimed of making education accessible as a principle, role and law but it is not. Where is the accessibility when there are no free books and uniforms are not provided? When resources and materials given. Where is the accessibility? Making education accessible is to provide what can make learning comfortable such as, food and shelter because that is what the society need first before thinking of going to school. These are some of the factors that make education accessible in the country now. Put food and shelter in school and the children will come. That is why people are patronizing traditional Islamic schools because they provide food, shelter and even houses for children to stay to enjoy their education. Basically, education cannot go anywhere without addressing poverty in the country. We have to address poverty if education is to succeed.
PERSON 3 Certainly, accessibility of education alleviates poverty. But what type of accessibility government
having better lives and better or quality education.
Education cannot be accessible when there is still poverty in country, despite the accessibility of education proclaimed by the government.
Accessibility of education is impossible when teaching and learning materials are not provided in schools.
Food and shelter are one the factors that can make education easier and more accessible.
Private Islamic schools in Nigeria receive many students by providing accommodation for children to learn.
Getting educated is impossible when reducing poverty rate is low in the country.
Education reduces the level of poverty in the
Access to education is impossible when poverty exists
Food and shelter motivate children to go to school
Poverty is the greatest enemy of education
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2010 EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 67
wants to provide where learning and teaching materials, tools, facilities, resources and even a toilet are not provided in the schools. So what kind of accessibility is that? Government wants to show that education provides a better life but refuses to provide what is needed in schools. Where is the accessibility where teachers cannot survive without collecting bribes in schools from the students? What kind of education would a child gets from that school? The child will believe that education is to survive with bribes. With this, morals are breaking down. What kind of mental development can the children achieve in those circumstances? Nigeria has money and potential, the government is spending the money but it does bring good results because it goes to the wrong people/target. There must be a resolution in making education accessible with the emphasis on quality education. The money spent by the government to make education accessible must make sure that money reaches the target.
country.
Education cannot be accessible when teaching and learning resources and materials are provided in schools.
There is no better life without school development.
The accessibility cannot take place when teachers earn low salaries.
Bribery is practised in schools in front of the students and the value of education is going down drastically.
Morals and ethics are no more in schools and the quality education and good performance from students has gone.
There must be changes in Nigeria in educational settings and the money spent should be transparent and targeted.
There is a relationship between education and poverty reduction.
There is accessibility of education when things are provided in schools
School development determines a better life
Brides in schools degrade educational values
Moral and ethics are no more in schools.
Changes needed in Nigerian educational sector
PERSON 4 Quality of education is the government’s responsibility. Making education accessible is in the hands of the government. Accessibility of education will help in reducing the rate of poverty in the country.
Making education accessible for all is in the hands of the government because making education accessible helps in alleviating poverty in the country.
More money and budget for education
Accessibility of education reduces poverty.
Table 3. Statements by group interviews in a reflective meeting of the experts working in the educational sector and in the system in Nigeria Question 3:What are your suggestions and solutions
towards this problem?
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Existential Meaning Coding Theme
PERSON 1 Primarily, if you want education to succeed in Nigeria, make sure financial accessibility is there with each Nigerian citizen having access to bank loans for education, and in return they know how to pay back. The financial institution should map out strategies of bank loans for the educational system or scholarships and map out strategies for getting this money back. If the banking sector or financial institutions are not giving financial resources for people to have access to the education system, it will be very difficult because it is not only the state that can provide education. State will also have their own scholarship scheme that will equally develop. The bank carries the buck for everything. For example, the Malaysian government made a policy which every Malaysian has an access to a loan in the banks or a scholarship such PTPTN, using it to pay their school fees and have other money for food.
Financial support must be given and accessibility of education should be allowed.
Loans and scholarships should be given in supporting students’ learning.
There should be strategies of getting the money back in a convenient manner.
Nigeria should look at Malaysia and the way people get access to loans and students get scholarships to study.
This has made life and learning easier for Malaysian citizens.
Government should give financial support to schools
Loans and scholarships helps students’ learning
Nigeria should benchmark with Malaysia
Human capital leads to a country’s development
So this is the only way resources could trickle down, where people will have access to these resources and end their education for the progress of their country and for themselves individually.
PERSON 2 The problem of Nigeria is not only a Nigerian problem; it is the problem of the world. Because no country lives in isolation from the other communities, countries and world. The problem of Nigeria is not the problem that others can wash their hands of. Solutions to Nigeria’s problems start from the individual. The individual that has the ability to have 3 meals, such a person should able to share at least 1 meal out of the 3 meals that he takes in a day. Don’t expect a miracle to happen to such a kind of person that is hungry. “A hungry man is an angry man” To address education in Nigeria, we must address hunger, and addressing hunger is about creating jobs for people to have an income.
Life and education will also be easier in Nigeria when the rate of educated people is high which leads to the country’s development.
The whole world should work jointly to solve Nigeria’s problems.
Also, the Nigerian problem can be solved when people in the country join hands together.
Rich should cater for poor and those who have the ability should help those who do not.
Hunger should be tackled and seriously addressed in the country.
Government
Nigeria needs help from the world
Unity and solidarity solve problems in Nigeria
Help from individuals
Help from high class to low class
Reduce hunger and provide food and shelter
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Government should create loan opportunities… the kind of loan that they can pay back, not a loan with huge interest. In Nigeria, everything the government does, it puts interest on it. So the first thing to do in solving this problem is to address the problem of poverty. The government has the higher role to play but all of us also are part of government. The government must make education skills- oriented; because there are many graduates who still couldn’t get jobs. Government should remove the colonial system of education where graduates still depend on the government by making financial loans for graduate to start things on their own gradually. “Rome was not built in a day”. If there is no job, people become a liability to the community. Make the conditions right for people to learn. Government should address poverty even if they are not intent on giving money but give them facilities that they can use. Empower people so that they can see the benefit of education. This is what the Prophet of Islam and Christians do, because you
support is highly needed in helping people to emerge from poverty.
Loans and projects should be given without high rates of interest and commission.
Reducing high task and interest on government projects and loans given.
Creating job opportunities for graduates and empowering them so that they won’t depend so much on government.
Government should make environment conducive for learning and education.
Make education interesting and improve the value by providing things needed in schools and what makes learning easier.
Government’s help to provide a better life
Low rate of interest helps people to progress
Job opportunities lead to graduate empowerment
There is a relationship between good learning and a conducive environment.
Schools in Nigeria need more development
Improvement is seriously needed in Nigeria schools.
can’t preach to the people when they are hungry. Government should try to eliminate hunger before education. “people will obey devil if they have to eat”
PERSON 3 The solutions that work in other parts of the world might not be the solutions that work in Nigeria. Because the problem is from Nigeria to Nigeria. Virtually, all the international programmes or developmental programmes launched by developed countries worked in other parts of the world but never worked in Nigeria. One example is the shelter programme launched by the UN which had worked in other countries but there is still a problem of shelter in Nigeria. Water for all 2015, in other countries, the water is abundant now, that same progamme is not working in Nigeria. All the countries in the world have worked under a developmental agenda; under the UN, the countries are alleviating poverty before 2020. Malaysia is one of them. Malaysia has reduced the level of poverty to close to 2%.
Nigeria should know how to solve their own problems by themselves.
The international poverty programmes have failed in Nigeria while they have succeeded in other countries.
Nigeria failed to eradicate poverty and failed to provide amenities for people in the country to have a better life.
Countries like Malaysia had reduced the poverty rate impressively while in Nigeria it has increased.
Changes of attitudes in Nigeria are one of the best solutions to Nigeria’s problems.
This situation might not be common worldwide but it
Lack of leadership affects the success of poverty alleviation
Poor supervision in Nigeria leads to the failure of international programmes
Good amenities are not provided
Nigeria should learn from other countries
Attitude is the problem in Nigeria
People need help from the government
Enabling environment attracts investors
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Nigeria has not reduced the level of poverty, but is rather increasing the level of poverty in the country. The general problem that we Nigerians have is the problem of attitudes. The attitude we have is that do we want things or changes to happen or are we just talking? It is about wishing for things and working towards those things. The peculiar situation in Nigeria is the changing of attitudes and positive thinking.
PERSON 4 With a lack of food for children the government has to provide meals and that is a motivation for parents to send their kids to schools. Creating an enabling environment for investors to come in. Government should invest heavily on education Proper planning that will reach the target Creating jobs and places for graduates to work. Funding and good budget for education. Job opportunity There must be synchronization of education output to industrial needs because that is the only way the product of
is normal in Nigeria.
Food and hunger should be government’s first priority.
Making environment conducive and agglomerated for investors to come in and invest.
More allocation of budget for education in Nigeria.
Graduates must study what is needed in the markets.
Vocational education and skilled-based education should be infused in school curriculum for graduates’ employment.
Education settings need financial support
Education should target the market
Vocational education is needed.
Infusion of skills in syllabus
education can be fruitful. The quality of education must be monitored. So every Nigerian graduate can work anywhere.
Table 4. Interviewees’ Profile
Person 1
PhD holder Political Scientist
Formal NEPAP worker Teacher/Lecturer/Civil
Servant
Vast experience in teaching and working in different sectors (inside and outside)
Person 2
PhD holder Educationist
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2010 EFFECT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 71
Teacher/Lecturer/Civil Servant
Vast experience in teaching and working in different sectors (inside and outside)
Person 3
PhD holder
Practical Lawyer Teacher/Lecturer/Civil
Servant
Vast experience in teaching and working in different sectors (inside and outside)
Person 4
PhD holder Economist Teacher/Lecturer/Civil
Servant
Vast experience in teaching and working in different sectors (inside and outside)
LINKS & RELATIONSHIP IN INTERVIEWEES’ RESPONSES
The effect of poverty on education in Nigeria Education reduces poverty. Accessibility of education for all. Inability of the parents to send their children to
private schools. Public schools with poor resources and not well
financed by the government. Education system has collapsed because of
corruption and poverty. Then gap between the rich and poor and quality
education. Poor salaries of the teachers. The problem of food and shelter. Unemployment of the graduates. More investment on education. Loan and scholarship from the government.
XI. FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
The findings of this study show that, there is a relationship between poverty and education in Nigeria. From the analysis, there is a poor accessibility of education in Nigeria. Some parents are unable to send their children to schools because of their low income while some parents can only send their children to public schools because that is what they can afford.
Furthermore, the findings also show that, public schools in Nigeria seemed to be abandoned by the government. Not much is invested on education in Nigeria. Salaries are
inadequate for teachers to live on. Public schools are not
meeting parents’ expectations of providing quality education for their children.
In addition, basic needs are hard for some parents especially when hunger strikes deeply, penetrating into peoples’ lives. The compelling questions are: how can education take place when there is hunger? And how can the children learn when their stomachs are empty? How can the parents send their children to school when they are sinking in poverty? Private schools which are well equipped in terms of resources, facilities and materials are beyond their reach. This seemed to cause a big gap between the rich and poor and quality education.
The findings of this study confirmed all the findings and theories mentioned that education reduces poverty and education leads to nation development and economics growth. This study confirmed some previous studies such as Otive, (2006), Becker, (1964) and Xiao, (2001) as well as Human Capital Theory on poverty and education. It maintains that schooling improves productivity and education or training increases workers’ productivity. This study also sustains the findings of Bynner and Joshi, (2002) which states that, poor or low education likely leads to
poverty.
XII. CONCLUSION
The conclusion which can be drawn based on the interviews conducted is that poverty has caused tremendous damage to people’s lives in Nigeria and has deprived people of the basic needs. Poverty strikes hard and determines people’s faith in Nigeria and dictates the kind of life people should live. The Nigerian government has failed its citizens by not providing them a good life and sufficient jobs for their survival.
In addition, the Nigerian government is overwhelmed with corruption and corruption is the root of the disease in that country. It is corruption of the government that has started everything. It is corruption that creates poverty due to the poor or unequal distribution of the wealth and equity of the nation. Corruption has sunk the entire system in Nigeria into the Dead Sea where it is hard for the system to be live. Government offices, sectors, departments and ministries are mummified by corruption. Nigeria has become a country where corruption and bribery are the national pride. Bribes are honoured publically and become express methods of getting things done in Nigeria and ensuring approval.
In terms of education, a relationship was found between poverty and education in the sense that poverty, again, determines what level of education people should have in Nigeria. Poverty has crippled our educational system. Schools are a shadow of what they were in the old days. Public schools and higher institutions in the country are neglected, have poor equipment, and lack facilities and resources. The government has failed to provide good teaching and learning facilities for schools for children to learn.
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Food and shelter have become the major problem in the country because of unemployment and poor earning levels. People live in hunger with shattered lives. Parents are unable to feed their children or even provide daily meals, how would they have the means to send their children to school?. People have to fill their stomachs before anything.
The government should open their eyes and see how the education system is being traumatized by poverty. The government should listen to the people in the country screaming the name of hunger and shelter. The government should pity us and Nigerian citizens and begin to distribute the money earned from our oil equally.
What are the faults and crimes of the citizens that make them deserve these tortures and cruelties? What has made the Nigerian government and our leaders turn a blind eye to the needs of Nigerians regards us with merciless eyes? Nigerians are involved in crimes and scams; tarnishing the image of the country because of poverty and inequality of wealth. Nigerians are suffering and hassling around the world; paying the price of our leaders’ crimes and atrocities. Nigerian citizens are regarded negatively amongst the citizens in the world because of our leaders’ devilish self-interest and corruption which leads to poverty.
Therefore, a revolution needs to be declared for things to change and for things to be put in order. A leader should follow the principle of serving the nation, providing for
their needs and considering their welfare. We need leaders who will see education as a future for the nation, leaders who invest in education and see schools and higher institutions as a platform for producing excellent human capital for the country’s development.
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