ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 4 & THE NIGERIA EDUCATIONAL STATE

The United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adopted at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGAS) in New York on September 25, 2015, and of the 17 goal agenda adopted, quality education is number 4 on the list, only coming after No poverty, Zero hunger and Good health & Well-being.
The systematic arrangement of the goals only pin point that the UN after strategic planning and research could identify pressing needs for development of developing nations and the world at large.
No doubt or virtually little doubt can be cast over the assertion that the failure of countries like our dear country Nigeria and some other African countries to achieve a reasonable mark towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was what led to the adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The poor state of the Nigerian Educational System is not hidden neither has any attempt to tackle this catastrophe been successful. The evidence of our fall is reflected outrightly with the rate of out of school children increasing drastically.
In 2016, the management of the Universal Basic Education Commission (Established in 1999 and backed by the law on the 26th of may 2004, when Obasanjo signed the Universal Basic Education Act) released an alarming statistics on the state of education the primary level in Nigeria. The statistics showed that Nigeria had the highest number of out of school children in the world, an estimate of about 10.5 million with majority from the North and this was attributed to exponential growth in population that has added pressure on the country’s resources and public service.
That said, the depressing state of Nigeria universities has also yielded in series of strike activities with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarking on indefinite strike actions which obviously has not only tell on the student but also affected the academic calender of schools. Polytechnics and colleges of education are not exempted as the common cry at the various categories of higher institution of learning has been the lack of adequate facilities to foster effective learning.
This negative trend has now become a National creed at the various levels of education in the country from the primary up to the higher institution level. These are just highlights of the various problems that crept into the educational sector and all these can only be attributes to poor funding and breach of agreements, discriminations at different levels, obsolete and crumbling infrastructures and constant embezzlements.

THE BIG QUESTION
 According to the NANS zone D General Secretary Comrade Giwa Temitope Is there hope for the Nigerian child? 
We must admit that the journey to attaining an applaudable rate of achievement towards a Qualitative educational sector is an Herculean task, with the facts naked right before our eyes, the same can be said with other sectors of the Nation. The government has a major role to play in upturning the flow of events in this ugly show .
The readiness to do the needful and a strategic position of action towards this course (Quality Education) is a starting point to attaining change.
Introduction of incentives at the primary level like providing free textbooks and working materials, provision of delicious school meals (free lunch) can go a long way in making children run back to school (If you can feed me, you can own me) as an hungry child cannot learn. Attaining success in the educational sector through meeting the SDG number 4 goal will go beyond planning and advance to implementation and provision of adequate funds.
Partnership with private sector and international organisation could also go a long way in changing the tragedy plot of the Nigerian educational sector.

Yes, there is hope for a better tomorrow by Comrade Giwa Yisa Temitope, Secretary-General of National Association of Nigeria Student Southwest (NANS Zone D)

Aluta Continua
Victoria Acerta.

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