From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Sonny Echono, immediate past permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, has warned of the looming time bomb in the North.
How has it been in retirement?
It’s nothing different because I had prepared myself, consciously and otherwise. I knew this day would come; it didn’t meet me by surprise. I give glory to God who made it possible, saw me through the years in civil service, rising to the rank of permanent secretary and served for seven years in different ministries.
Life is about time and seasons. It is only God who can order a man’s footsteps diligently to the right places. He also has designed different programmes for us at different times.
How would you describe the four years you spent in Federal Ministry of Education as permanent secretary?
I will leave that for people to judge and take position. But I want to state clearly, with mixed feelings. First is the fact that we had some missed opportunities. Most significant of that is the disposition of the President. We enjoyed the support of the President and that was responsible for the success we achieved.
Today, teachers have been reduced to ridiculous elements in the society. People don’t aspire to go into the profession, perhaps, due to poor remuneration and other working conditions. In our society today, people are sceptical to marry teachers or rent their houses to them for the fear of not being able to pay.
But we have started to change the narrative. The President approved that teachers are put on first line charge so they can enjoy the same privileges that some of the top political office holders enjoy. It is left for the people with the responsibility of implementing the policies to do the needful.
The President has approved empowerment-training programme for teachers. We are starting with 30,000 teachers who would be trained on ICT and other toolkits that would enhance their effectiveness in the space. We need to restore the dignity of our certificates.
What are the areas where you think we missed it in education?
We missed it in terms of commitment of state governments to the issues of basic education. Constitutionally, states are charged with basic and secondary education, while Federal Government is responsible for the tertiary level, as well as policy formulation. It is only the 104 Unity schools that are owned and run by the Federal Government.
Nevertheless, some states are doing well in terms of basic education administration but more efforts are required. Unfortunately, the worst cases are in the North. We would love to see a situation where there is a change in the narrative, otherwise, we would be consumed by the army of uneducated and unskilled, unemployable people. We must end the era of children littered in the streets of the North begging for food.
Most northern states are up-to-date in terms of accessing UBEC funds, but it doesn’t reflect in the basic education system. What could be responsible?
We really need to talk to ourselves in this regard. I am proud of my northern heritage, and I know I am a beneficiary of the heritage. I was trained with public funds. My family belongs to what you can describe as northern aristocracy. Most of us are not doing enough, we are forgetting our history so fast.
The problem in the North was caused by the elite. There is a lot we can do as individuals. For instance, some state governors often divert the UBEC funds. In addition to the UBEC funds, there are other financial interventions from the World Bank and other donor agencies into basic education in the North.
But the results of those interventions are often not impressive. There should be will and commitment from northern governors to provide education to the people. How can a governor prioritise sponsoring religious pilgrimage over basic education? This is pure absurdity! It is not sustainable. It is better we addressed the problem from the roots.
The bandits and other criminals are being killed on a daily basis, but we cannot continue like that. UBEC law is very clear. Basic education is not only free but also compulsory. We must find the courage to implement and enforce that law for the sake of posterity.
We are looking at ways to ensure that UBEC funds are not diverted or applied on less useful reasons anymore. We have tightened the rules to ensure that the funds are judiciously used, henceforth.
We recently had long meetings with the governors and the issues were discussed. Unfortunately, the majority of them did not convince us that they would be more committed to funding basic education using the UBEC funds, especially if they are freed from making counterpart funds.
What is the formula for accessing the fund?
The formula is very simple. States are required pay 50 per cent of the fund. Thereafter, the Federal Government will commit 50 per cent of the fund and hand over the entire money, 100 per cent, to the states. States are expected to draw their plans and submit to UBEC and access the fund.
The major problem of many of the governors is that they want to divert the money and use it for politics. But gone are days when governors saw UBEC funds as free money. That has changed.
What solution are you offering to these challenges?
We need to collectively accept that we are on the wrong track, return to the basics of addressing the structures of society. This will involve parents taking responsibility. Parents should control births. They should produce children they would cater for, prepare them for future challenges. Don’t give birth if you cannot cater for them.
This so-called population explosion is a mirage. They are dividends and assets, if they are prepared and are useful to society, otherwise, they would become a huge burden that would consume the entire nation.
Another point is that we must reposition the traditional institutions and the family structures. You cannot just give birth and throw them on the streets to fend for themselves. That is wickedness to these innocent children. Ideally, these children should grow in an environment of care and love with their parents, and other safety nets around them, notably, uncles, nieces and other relatives.
Religious, community, traditional institutions should also play their roles in the upbringing of these children. If we fail in this regard, we would pay dearly for it, and that is what is happening to us now.
What is the role of government in this situation?
They should prioritise education. Human capital development is the primary responsibility of the government after safety and security. If these are done, every other thing will fall in place. The private plays critical role in economic growth and development, and they would take care of so many things if the right environment is there.
Unarguably, when you prepare people, they would exploit all the opportunities therein, thereby, contributing to the growth and development of the economy. But the basic things must be done. These include the capacity, skills, exposure and every other thing that would increase their chances in local and global competitions.
Former Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, tried to change the narrative in the North but he was fought and dethroned.
This is part of the problems I just highlighted now. I do not have so many friends who would boldly speak the way I do now. We are yet to come about the attitudinal change we need to drive the agenda.
The reality is that Emir Sanusi II was saying the truth and we cannot run away from it. We must invest in our children invest in our female children. We should not be marrying them out at a very early age. That is disastrous to their life.
I am happy the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, is leading in that direction. Many other traditional leaders have also agreed that we won’t keep our children out of school for whatever reason. They need all the education and skills they could get to be relevant to the society, family, religion and any other areas. Education is even good for the success of the campaign for birth control.
Must it be formal education?
It must not be, maybe, because of cost. But if parents are not financially strong enough to sponsor the children to secondary or tertiary education level, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) is there to augment.
We have strengthened the TVET programme and made it more accessible in schools. It is better than leaving millions of the young population doing nothing, thereby, making it easier for them to be recruited by armed bandits and other criminal non-state actors.
What are the things you wished you had fixed as Permanent Secretary?
The first thing was to restore stability in the academic calendar of the universities. But it can only be done when we do away with the culture of strike. Unfortunately, it cannot be legislated upon.
But I was hoping that through the carrot and stick approach, we would solve the problem. In doing that, government should know its obligations and honour them accordingly. The labour unions should understand that there are competing needs for the limited resources. There are circumstances that mitigate or tend to prevent government from doing everything they want.
What do you think are responsible for low rating of the Nigerian universities?
One of it is the instability in the academic calendar of the public universities. Strikes have multiple destructive impacts on our education system. It is majorly responsible for the low rating of our universities in the world. Strike affect things like internationalisation.
These days, Nigerians are sceptical to send their children to public schools because they do not know when they would graduate. Many students have spent seven years in universities for a four-year programme. That is why private universities are thriving and doing amazing things.
ASUU should seek alternative ways to achieve its objectives without shutting down the universities, thereby, punishing the students. We really need to come to terms with these issues so we can move the education sector forward.
What role has TETFUND played in supporting education?
TETFund has done marvellously well in the provision of infrastructure and other capacity development opportunities for the tertiary institutions with the support from the ministry. But our major problem is in the basic education level.
More investment in basic education is required from the state governments. The worst cases of dilapidated schools, open roofs, children sitting on the floor and other cases are in basic education in states. We also have the problem of teacher capacity and their numbers.
Why are some agencies in the ministry struggling to meet their mandate?
You are very much right in that regard. If you noticed one thing, heads of such agencies have been punished in one way or the other. Many of them were not returned as chief executives of the agencies. I was at the head of the committee that carried out detailed assessment of these agencies, and the outcome was what was used to determine who get reappointed.
Heads of TRCN, JAMB, NABTEB, NUC and few others were returned, and it was based on merit and performance. We are revisiting our education strategic plans to make inputs and corrections where necessary.
What is the true situation of Federal Polytechnic Bida as regards the tenure of the rector?
The rector had a running battle with the labour union when he was appointed from among the school employees. As expected, he resigned his appointment to take up the tenured appointment. That made public service rule on mandatory retirement age not binding on him.
His case was peculiar because he took up the appointment while he was a public servant and not as a tenured appointment. In fact, he was interviewed by public servants and his letter was issued to him by the Head of Service of the Federation.
He was seen and still being seen as occupying a civil service position. But when the explanation was properly made to the aggrieved union leaders, the case was settled. However, from the point of the law, his tenure hasn’t ended and the position was explained to the labour union leader.
The labour union approached the court incidentally they lost. The unions are pushing the argument because he had some problems with them. He went and got an injunction against the union that almost crippled them, and that, naturally, would not make them happy.
We have to always be careful with tenured appointment. If someone is given tenured appointment and he chooses to resign his or her normal appointment, you can only judge him or her based on the tenured appointment. The person is taking a risk too because he or she can loose the tenured appointment and there won’t be a fall back.