Determined to lift more nations and people out of poverty, illiteracy, ill-health and reduce inequality, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Goals (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. One of the outcomes was agreement by Member States was to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) especially for countries which failed to meet the Millennium Development goals like Nigeria.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria substantially missed the MDGs.
At the Rio+20 Conference, 17 new goals were suggested for tabling at the United Nations to be debated soon for the post 2015 global development agenda. Education and shelter are two of the suggested topics to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Equitable and Quality Education
This focuses on providing ‘equitable and inclusive quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all,’ and has nine targets, including on ensuring equal access for all to affordable tertiary education, education for sustainable development and enhancing teaching quality.
Education remained an instrument of change and national development. It is a social process and the medium for the acquisition of relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes for survival in a changing world as well as the strengthening of democratic institutions witnessed the world over including Nigeria.
Investing in any form of education, however, can only have the intended impact if there are well trained and competent teachers, and the implications of this is for quality teacher education in the country.
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) program was launched in Nigeria in 1999 and passed into law in 2004 as one of the strategies aimed at implementing the educational component of the MDGs. Before the commencement of the scheme, the Nigerian educational structure comprised six years of primary education, three of junior secondary, three of senior secondary and four of tertiary education.
Although universal primary education (UPE) was launched nationwide in 1976, long before world leaders launched the concept as one of the MDGs, limited success was achieved as attendance was not made compulsory for pupils of school-going age. With the passage of the UBE Act, all tiers of government in Nigeria were mandated to provide free, compulsory nine-year universal basic education. Parents are required to ensure that their wards register for and complete the basic education cycle.
Determined to lead Nigerian children to the right part of being educated, the Act goes beyond the requirements for meeting these MDGs as it also encompasses programmes for early childhood care, adult literacy programmes, special programmes for nomadic populations, and various non-formal programmes for children and youth who are out of school.
Again to also ensure that those who complete the primary and secondary school programmes of the UBE scheme acquire the literacy, numeracy, and basic life skills needed to live meaningful lives and contribute to national development, therefore, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) document set some goals for education including improving the quality of education at all levels including teacher education. This is no doubt in recognition of the role of education in the empowerment of children who constitute about half of the Nigerian population (National Planning Commission, 2005) as well as adults in the drive toward the attainment of the MDGs.
Considering what many have termed the tottering nature of Nigeria’s education sector over the years, the pertinent questions on the lips of stakeholders in the sector have been; can the nation attain the set MDGs and targets on or before the stipulated period? What measures have been put in place in the last 12 years towards achieving this enviable feat?
A critical look at the sector over the years shows that it has been bedevilled by a lot of sordid forces. This has been proven by the high number of Nigerians who leave the country for other countries, including neighbouring countries such as Ghana, Togo, South Africa and Kenya, for what could best be described as the urge to get quality education.
Major avoidable factors that have remained a clog in the wheel of success to the nation’s education sector include but not limited to; poor budgeting, poor implementation of budgets, examination malpractice, and poor performances recorded in national examinations, poor remuneration and welfare packages for teachers, usually leading to industrial strikes.
Others are poor quality of teachers, poor quality of graduates, non-conducive learning terrain, unnecessary but complex school curricula, the quest and over-consciousness for certificate acquisition instead of quest for knowledge, developmental skills and technical-know-how amongst others.
A serious issue contending with the nation is insecurity. Stakeholders are of the view that reducing illiteracy statistics would go a long way to reduce the increasing wave of violence and insecurity currently facing Nigeria as a nation.
Even though the Federal Government and other concerned stakeholders claim to have been working their noses to the grindstone towards the attainment of the UN’s 2015 set goals, observers who spoke to Economic Confidential spoke about burdening issues such as non-indigenization of the MDGs to suit the Nigerian environment, quota system/federal character, complacency on the part of government, putting square pegs in round holes, endemic corruption, misplacement of priorities on budgets and needs amongst others, immensely contribute to the tottering nature of the nation’s education sector.
It was therefore suggested that in order to raise the prospects of goal attainment, Nigerian governments must see education as a right rather than a privilege and therefore increase budgetary allocations to education. There is also critical need for prudent management of available funds and resources. There is the need to mobilise governments at the three tiers to provide free and compulsory basic education for the citizens, and organise more mass literacy and public awareness campaigns on the role of education in personal and national development.
Shelter as a necessity
Shelter is a basic necessity of life. It is the social right of every individual to have access to adequate shelter. The problem of inadequate housing has long been a concern, not only of individuals but of governments in many parts of the world, particularly in developing nations like Nigeria. In most urban centres, the housing problem is not only that of quantity but also of the poor quality of available housing units. The consequence of this is overcrowding in the cities leading to; increased pressure on available infrastructural facilities, poor and deplorable living conditions, and degraded environment, and to a large extent, outright homelessness among urban poor.
No country is yet satisfied that adequate housing has been delivered to the various economic groups that make up its populace. Thus, most nations, in one form or another continue to claim a housing problem.
Some researchers asserts that the problem of housing is universal, it is however more critical in less developed countries (LDCs), including Nigeria. The most adversely affected in this regard are the urban poor who constitute the majority in the developing countries of Africa.
In recognition of this global housing challenge, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) wrote in its Global Report on Human Settlements in 1995 that “homelessness is a problem in developed as well as in developing countries.” The Report noted that poor urban housing conditions are a global problem, but conditions are worse in developing countries; and that today, over 600 million people live in life and health threatening homes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The threat of mass homelessness is greatest in these regions because of their very rapid population growth (UN-Habitat, 1996).
Specifically, in Nigeria, there is acute shortage of houses especially for the poor. Not only are houses in short supply, most of the existing ones are in deplorable condition.
Considering the magnitude of this housing problem, several attempts have been made in the past by concerned stakeholders – governments and non-governmental agencies through policies and programmes initiated to provide a lasting solution to the housing challenge. Grave concern has been expressed globally on the issue of housing; and in recognition of this global housing need, with its attendant consequences on the poor urban residents in most communities, the United Nation Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat) had in 1987 inaugurated a World Habitat Day, with the theme: Shelter for the Homeless. The aim was to explore ways of addressing the problems of global poverty and homelessness; and also to encourage various national governments to pay more attention to the shelter needs of their citizens (UNCHS, 1993).
Following this initiative were other several global summits which gave prominence to this housing issue. Among such are the 1992 Rio-de Janeiro summit on environment and development; the 1996 Habitat Summit at Istanbul; the 2000 New York, United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit; 2002 World Summit in Johannesburg; and the 2005 La Havana, UN Sustainable Cities Documentation of Experience Programme.
In line with the various global treaties, the Nigerian government has consistently pursued the shelter Agenda.
Regrettably, despite all these several efforts towards ensuring adequate housing to the people, more than a decade later, the aspiration of achieving this goal is becoming more elusive as existing reality indicates that little or no success has been made towards meeting the housing needs of the growing urban population. Although decent and habitable housing is a basic human need and a significant component of the social dimension of sustainable development, a large proportion of Nigerians still lacks access to a decent and habitable dwelling. The need to ensure decent and affordable shelter to the people – particularly the urban poor, is therefore fundamental to the improvement of their wellbeing as well as in achieving sustainable cities’ growth and national development.
