Last week, Lagos yet again witnessed another tragic incident which could have been well avoided if we had people who are committed to doing their job.
The tragedy was caused by the collapse of a three-storey building housing a school located at No 14 Massey Street opposite Ojo, Ita-Faaji, Lagos Island, on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, around 10:20 AM.
As media reports have it, the building at Ita-faji was already marked for demolition as far back as 2015. But because of our peculiar nature as Nigerians where ‘anyhow-ness’ is the order of the day, nothing happened ever since then.
Permit me to quote the outgoing Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode when he visited the scene: “As you can see, some of the buildings have been marked for demolition but we get resistance from the landlords”. However, he gave assurance that “we must save lives, the buildings that fail integrity test will be evacuated and demolished”.
Now back to the real issue that necessitated me writing this editorial, driving down to work this morning, I was shocked to hear on radio that the Lagos State Ministry of Education said they are not aware of the school’s existence – there is no record anywhere of the school paying levy or making any form of payment to the ministry.
This statement calls for a whole lot of investigation and further reveals the crass ramshackle state of our educational system. I am so sure that there are several other schools of such that operate illegally without any government approval, and poor parents fall victims by sending their wards to such schools.
In general, our government has a lot to do in terms of lifting the face of our education. As a Nation with immense wealth, Nigeria has come of age to start reaping the dividends of a functioning and visionary Government. The solution is quite simple – fix the system, build more schools and refurbish the existing ones where some of the students receive lectures in unfavorable conditions – broken doors & windows, torn down roofs, and sometimes no furniture.
Of course it shouldn’t end there, make basic education completely FREE, Primary 1 to 6 at least. Enforce laws that see no public school requesting payments of PTA/Exam fees and those other levies they force students to pay. After all, all of these and many more are part of what our current leaders enjoyed in this same country back then.
That said, it’s quite sad that despite being labeled ‘Giant of Africa’, we are still several years behind. Let’s take a cue from other countries that have invested in and made the betterment of their educational system a top priority. I would have made mention of Canada as a case study, but that is going too far. I read somewhere last year that Rwanda is already improving their public schools, which has led to the close down of private academies. Will Nigeria ever attain this height again?
Conclusively, Nigeria’s problems are way too much since her inception and it will take many years for us to fix everything, but JUST FIX EDUCATION. In return, a well-educated scholar can fix light or create alternatives to PHCN. Well-educated and empowered citizens can create jobs. In the words of the great Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Wale Adetona, a public commentator tweets from – @iSlimfit
Commenti