Former president of the Niger Bar Association (NBA), Augustine Alegeh, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has told those who preach that education was a waste or scam to be prepared to take responsibility of their opinion and decision.
The 1985 University of Benin Law graduate also disclosed why old students of the Unity Secondary Schools seem to be at the forefront in the fight to rebuild Nigerian schools.
Alegeh spoke at an interview at the recently concluded 41st plenary of the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) where he reacted to growing notion by young people against education.
The 1981 graduand of the Federal Government College, Warri, (FGC-Warri) advised young people to find the type of education that suited them instead of writing off the entire education process as a waste.
The keynote speaker however, warned that people would bear responsibility for their opinions and decisions.
He said: “You know when we talk of education there are different sectors in education: formal and informal. You need to find what suits you, but formal education is not negotiable. Any youth believing that school is a waste of time is going to be responsible for his or her opinion or decision.”
He further said that sometimes, such a mindset would come back to haunt them.
“You need education in whatsoever you do, so you need to find what works for you and that is still education. For example, the native medical system or the herbal system. This is the same herbs that are the raw materials used to make the drugs that people take, but it’s just that our presentation of them without dosage and without preservation makes them unhealthy.
“Even the children of native doctors or herbalists decided to study how to extract the vital ingredients from these herbs and present them in a better and formal way. Some study medicine, some study pharmacy or other professions within the medical line,” he said.
Highlighting the major points of the keynote, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said it was all about education and legacy and national unity. “The key part of the address is that without education we are nothing. Education is everything. It’s education that gives us the enabling mind to develop our country.
“It is education that gives the skills required to develop the country. Its education that gives us knowledge to make correct decisions to have unity. It’s education that allows us to understand that we are better working together than working differently. So, education is important. That is the whole theme of our discussion that education is everything.”
Why old students are fighting
Justifying the seemingly tireless fight by USOSA for education, the former NBA boss those of them who had the opportunity of attending the Unity Schools system were privileged to attend good schools. “We have the duty to give back to the system by fighting to restore the standard of education in Nigeria. The challenge is for us to ask ourselves as we are here today is to ask whether we are giving back enough? Have we done enough to the system that had kept us where we are today?
“I think that is the essence of what we are doing today. I pray at the end of the day when we leave here, we have many more people interested in giving back personal contributions, putting their own quota to the development of education which enhances national development.”
He rejected the notion of attitude or mentality of students of Unity Schools, saying Unity Schools were not spared of the problems in the education system.
“The challenges that confront education in the land also confront all schools, either unity schools or not. They include overcrowding, insufficient funding. Most importantly, there is lack of access. At some times we would need to ask ourselves: what is the population of Nigeria; what is our land mass and how many unity schools do we really have for us to make a meaningful impact?”
Alegeh had asked the audience how many of them that had their children in Nigerian schools or in Unity Schools. He explained in the interview that those that sent their children abroad didn’t do so because they had too much money. “They did so because they want their children to have quality education like they had.
“Those that didn’t send their kids abroad and took them to different schools in Nigeria, they did that because they want the same thing. So, it’s evidence we need to get back to the basics. We need to ensure that our Unity Schools and our government schools are able to fit for purpose, that they are able to provide quality education.”
If that was available, he insisted, people would take their kids back there. “There’s nobody that wants to spend too much or more than they could afford in school but now people are taking loans to send their kids to good schools to oversees.
“So, we need to go back to the basics. Let the schools be well-equipped. If we take all these measures and correct the teaching methodology, our children should be able to pass out from these schools with good education that can guarantee employment. Then, people will stop sending their children abroad and you know what the impact will be.
“We are talking about dollars today at N1,500 and a lot of people are still having the dollars to pay for their kids’ school fees. If we had good schools here and all the money we pay out as fees is invested back into to the country, it will be better for the country and better for all of us.”
The audience was told that former students of Unity Schools now in the Diaspora were eager to help Nigeria, especially their former schools.
This was further disclosed by Michael Magaji, President-General of the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA), in Port Harcourt where the 41sth Plenary was held. The theme of the plenary was hinged on: ‘Education is the Key Foundation for Building Legacies and Our United Future’.
Welcoming delegates, the President-General said ex-students around the world have shown interest in giving help back home. He descried USOSA members as one of the keenest groups for the unity and transformation of Nigeria, especially its education system.
He said the essence of the annual meetings being taken round the country is to help in mobilising ex-students to build a strong force that can rescue and transform the education sector to how it was in the past.
He said the Unity Schools were so strong and famous around the world that it was training South Africans to prepare to manage the affairs of their country after apartheid.
He pointed to the resilience of USOSAns, saying despite the hardship in Nigeria, their Port Harcourt branch mounted such an exquisite plenary worthy of global acclaim. He said the association now has over one million members, larger than some countries.
On the theme for 2024, he said it helps to think deeply about rebuilding the foundation of the nation. “We have been preaching that if you don’t get secondary school level of education right, the entire education and human capital development system will fall below mark, will be weak.
“This is because quality is key. Primary school certificate holders were strong enough to work efficiently in offices and companies. These days, even with university degrees, many can’t write any piece well.
“Engagement on this will continue. The education summit we held in 2023 was also to achieve this.”
He said the association is on solution mode such that USOSA brings in ex-students (alumni) of other schools to join and give their own perspectives on any topic of discussion and to also tell say what the issues are (concerning standard of education).
“We document them in implementable steps and send to the Ministry of Education. We have also created USOSA Education Desk to collate education problems and support policy options that will improve quality of Education.”
Magaji said public sector education must be improved to help the system. “We have USOSANs in government from Senate President, deputy, army chiefs, ministers. We need more of this to produce those who can help to rebuild Education in Nigeria.
“We can contribute policy tips to run Education. At a time in the past, Nigeria’s ‘Unity Schools’ trained South Africans (after Apartheid) to learn how to run segments of their country after apartheid. Who says Nigeria’s education system won’t improve so much that this kind of thing can happen again, and Nigeria can train people from other countries.”
The plenary tried to recognise the oldest sets found at the event (1977) to the one from the youngest set, 2017.
