Primary school teachers in Kaduna State that embarked on an indefinite strike on January 8 suspended it last Thursday. Initially, they did not return to classes to start the second term, as they protested government’s sacking of 21,000 teachers considered unfit to remain in the system. Governor Nasir el-Rufai had warned them not to do so, and vowed that the severest penalty awaited those who defied his order. But enamoured of the support from the organised labour, they went ahead. However, the turn of events followed government’s decision to give the sacked teachers another opportunity for recruitment into the state’s teaching service. To winnow them is a compromise and fair deal.
This gridlock should ultimately be resolved in favour of public interest: a solid foundation for education in the state. It is unfortunate that the Nigeria Union of Teachers and the Nigeria Labour Congress, which in the first place lent support to the teachers, did not take into consideration the future of the pupils, and the society at large.
The sacked teachers had in November last year taken to the streets to protest the government’s action; their uninformed pupils were mobilised for solidarity of sorts in some local government areas, just as some parents did in the January strike.
Worried by the appalling standard of education in the state, especially at the basic level, the government subjected 33,000 primary school teachers to a competency test late last year, a cognitive appraisal fit for primary four pupils. But 21,780 of them could not score up to the 75 per cent pass mark the state had set. Some of the questions required the teachers to state the name of the state governor and define a triangle. These show the ordinariness of the test.
Unfortunately, the teachers bandied about the self-serving, emotive rhetoric that government’s action would worsen unemployment in the country, and ignored the fact that the misfits were to be replaced by competent hands – also from the state − most of whom have been jobless for years after graduation. A former governor of the state, the late Patrick Yakowa, had openly lamented in 2012 how misfits were imposed on him as teachers.
El-Rufai should ensure a complete draining of this swamp. The message is clear: the quality of education cannot rise above that of the teacher. The state’s cut-off mark in the 104 Federal Government Unity Colleges entrance examinations attests to this truism. The 2013 results of the exam, for instance, showed that the state’s cut-off mark was 91 out of 200. This represents 41 per cent, behind 21 other states with higher cut-off marks. Among them were Anambra, Imo, Enugu and Lagos states that had 139, 138, 134, and 133 respectively. In the North, Kwara, Kogi and Benue states had better scores with 123, 119 and 111 respectively.
But Kaduna is the political capital of the old Northern Nigeria, which ought to set the pace for others in education and other spheres. Or, do those opposed to incompetent teachers’ being thrown out of the system want to drag the state to the league of states where pupils that score two or three marks out of 200 are admitted to colleges?
Without question, there is no way the quality of education will improve without taking such a hard decision as el-Rufai has embraced. In societies that are conscious of the fact that the world is now driven by knowledge, of which basic education is the foundation, the teaching profession is not for mediocrities. This explains why, in Finland, only the best graduates are recruited, and then enrolled for master’s degree training in education for five years to qualify as primary school teachers. There, teaching jobs are scrambled for, and are the best paid.
Going by el-Rufai’s past in public policy implementation, we believe that he will overhaul the entire chain: the ministry of education and its agencies that recruited the dead woods. The inspectorate division, which has collapsed in educational administration across the country, should be repositioned. As there are incompetent teachers, so do dregs also exist in the ministry that should ensure quality control. In response to the strike, the governor was spot-on with the position that: “Trade unions cannot hold our state to ransom, by … baselessly claiming that a state must spend all its resources on 1 per cent of the population.” This view is further appreciated given the parlous state of its resources. The state’s internally generated revenue of N11.5 billion in 2015 bared it all.
It is not only teachers that are affected in this public service reform. The Kaduna State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Jaafaru Sani, said last year that 4,042 workers in the ministry, covering the 23 LGAs, were affected. About 8,000 workers in the ministries, departments and agencies are involved, too. Every worker laid off will get his or her entitlement in line with the civil service regulation. Its implementation should have been the ultimate concern of the NUT and NLC, rather than their misguided camaraderie.
Our position has repeatedly been that government does not exist only to pay salaries. Many of the workers in the states and even at the federal level are redundant, just as monthly wage bills outweigh the revenues of most state governments. Only the restructuring of public service will eliminate this scourge and bring service-delivery in the area of provision of infrastructure to the centre-stage of governance.
Empirically, the governor has shown this as the primary objective of the reforms with the 70 per cent of the budget set aside for capital and 30 per cent for recurrent since he assumed office. In 2016, the capital budget was N108 billion, recurrent N64 billion; in 2017 it was N131.4 billion capital, and recurrent N83.4 billion. The 2018 budget which has already been passed followed the same pattern; N131 billion is for capital expenditure and N85.4 billion for recurrent.
According to the state, the 2017 budget for example, was designed to complete the Zaria water project, rebuild and equip schools, rehabilitate township roads, create agro-industrial parks, provide infrastructure for mining sites and rural areas; hospitals and expand post-harvest price support for farmers, among other components.
What is going on in Kaduna State should be of interest to other governors who think about prudent resource management and result-oriented governance for a better future. Public office is not for time-marking and for the chicken-hearted, but for those prepared to show leadership by putting public good above their personal and partisan interests.
