Corruption has caused untold havoc not only to the quality, quantity of education and credibility of citizens in Nigeria, but also to our national growth and development in all aspects of human endeavor. In academia it diffuses and circulates through the aorta and capillaries of the system, such that it is no longer view as a bottleneck thwarting the successful implementation of educational policies. The ugly scenario has degraded our educational foundation popularly called lower basic created a permanent vacuum which the subsequent higher level proved helpless to fill. The objectivity, reliability, trust, transparency, sincerity and above all integrity known in the academia as its “glory” have been wiped out by corrupt practices. At this junction, it is mandatory to dig out the reasons behind indulgence in corruption in our lower basic, identify its causes, approaches and effects as they are dimensional in nature. The paper will attempt the definitions of the term corruption at initial, and the concluding aspect will suggest the possible remedies.
TopIntroduction
The oldest industry known to man is education. Indeed, education is the only indiscriminate vehicle for social mobilization and dynamic civilization, where poverty gives way to affluence, disease is eradicated and replaced with a healthy vibrant populace, ignorance’s gives way to scientific, rational and progressive thinking which will collectively catapult the rapid growth of any society, not only in term of economic growth but also in political maturity. This is because the sociopolitical and economic development of any nation is determined by the quality and level of educational attainment of the population. Undoubtedly however, basic education is the bedrock of all tiers of subsequent stages of education which needs to be given all the attention it duly deserves, if we really want to have good products at both secondary and tertiary institutions.
“Nigeria has toiled with some educational programs, which have only served as conduits to transfer money to the corrupt political leaders and their cronies. For instance, the nation launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976, but as noted, the program failed due to lack of fund necessitated by corruption, among other factors. Nigeria has again launched another mass-oriented education program, this time branding it the Universal Basic Education (UBE)”. The President, Olusegun Obasanjo, declared during the launching of the program in Sokoto that the nation “cannot afford to fail this time around.” However, not long after that, the federal government reported that the falling standard of education in Nigeria is caused by “acute shortage of qualified teachers in the primary school level.” It is reported that about 23 percent of the over 400,000 teachers employed in the nation's primary schools do not possess the necessary teaching qualifications, even when the National Certificate of Education (NCE) is the minimum educational requirement one should posses to teach in the nation's primary schools” (Ogbeifum & Olisa, 2001).
Unfortunately, none of the strategies so far adopted has been able to yield any desired result. The most disturbing aspect of it is that the people who are supposed to be actively involved in the crusade against this evil monster to the success of the program are instead aiding and abetting it in one way or the other. These are board officials, administrators, head teachers, parents as well as the general society.