high-level education, manpower development and training: a key to ...

HIGH-LEVEL EDUCATION, MANPOWERDEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING: A KEY TOSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH ANDDEVELOPMENTProfessor Samuel E. N. OkohUniversity of Benin14 th March, 2002INTRODUCTIONWhat is education?According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995), education isdefined as the process by which your mind develops through learning at a school, college,or university. Secondly education is the knowledge and skills that you gain from beingtaught. For the purpose of this inaugural lecture, we are going to focus on these twodefinitions.In the beginning of human civilization man was a crude being moving from place toplace. The Holy Book of Bible (Genesis 26 – 30) recorded that before the creation ofman, God had created the universe first and found that it was good but incomplete. As aresult, God created man and entrusted the leadership of the universe to him. But the earlyman was not in charge or master of his environment because he was a mere raw materialthat needed to be transformed through the process of education. However, the life of theRiver Valley civilization presented challenges, because the rich alluvial plains madepossible the production of unprecedented surplus food. In view of the new challengesthere was the need for the intelligent study and management of water supply, for properflood control and irrigation. This was the beginning of early education.1

The introduction of learning, particularly through written language, enhanced humandevelopment. This was very significant knowing that before this epoch makingdevelopment, mankind had relied on the individual’s memory for human civilization. Theintroduction of writing protected knowledge from the decay and loss which it hadsuffered when knowledge was stored only in the minds of men so that when such giftedmen died, the ancient civilization was lost: it was not only the death of the gifted personsbut the loss or records stored in their memories. The knowledge kept in writing andtransferred to a new generation through education brought about increased knowledge,which helped to increase production and improvement in the standard of living. It helpedto reduce the dependence on the astrologers and magicians in explaining certain omens ofthe ancient world. In fact, the training of man helped to remove the mystical area ofknowledge. The final resultant impact of education is that it helped nations to attain theelusive state of economic development.Economic development has been defined by Okoh (1976) as a state of economicattainment of a society that allows the people to produce enough food, clothing and bettershelter. It means the elimination of yearly famine, which is commonly experienced by thedeveloping nations, and subjects them to starvation, poverty and death. It is a society ofliterate people with proper understanding of its environment devoid of superstition. It is aself sustaining economy. Economic development involves the proper utilization of anation’s resources to effectively increase productivity for the betterment and generalwelfare of the people. The achievement of a developed status involves the application ofmodern science and technology, which requires high-level manpower development,among others. To sustain the state of economic development requires new discoveriesand most of the new discoveries cannot be achieved without effective research anddevelopment, which calls for high-level manpower development.The human element in economic development is such that it must be highly skilled. Itmust have the ability to search, discover, and mobilized the result for the development ofthe nation’s natural resources. Can anyone imagine the state of a nation without theinformation technology which had reduced the world to a global village?2

A nation that fails to recognize the importance of high-level manpower development andtraining in nation building is doomed. Man’s potentials cannot be fully tapped without itsfull development in education. The Holy Bible book of Hosea 4:6 said that my peopleperish for lack of knowledge.Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719), quoted by Egbuchunam (2001) said, “education is acompanion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy canalienate, no despotism can enslave. At home a friend, abroad an introduction, in solitudea solace and in society an ornament. It hastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once graceand government to genius without it what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage”To Ricardo (1817, in Bell 1967) labour is the architect of all produce that receives rents,profits, and wages, which in general helps to boost capital formation, therefore, labourmust be properly trained.In fact, the realization of the importance of high-level manpower development andtraining to the national economies of England and United States of America made theseeconomies to pay special attention to the early development of their educational sector intheir quest for sustainable economic development. There is urgent need for sustainedeconomic growth and development because many of the poor countries failed toparticipate in the global expansion of the 1990s, according to the World Bank 201Annual report. There is need to increase output in these countries and ensure that the gapbetween rich and poor does not widen.This inaugural lecture shows that high-level education, manpower development andtraining are the keys to sustainable economic growth and development, in spite of thenation’s rising number of graduate unemployment. The nation should not be discouragedby the present state of widespread unemployment of high-level manpower.3

PERSPECTIVES ON HIGH-LEVEL MANPOWER DEVELOPMENTHigh-level Manpower according to the Ashby Report (1959) is defined as an educationbeyond the secondary school level. This definition classified not only the graduates ofuniversities, as high-level manpower but also, the graduates of other such institutions likepolytechnics and colleges of technology.Halsey (1961) sees the abundant and increasing supply of highly educated people as theabsolute pre-requisite of social and economic development in our world. It is a conditionfor national survival because an individual is less than fully effective if his education andtraining are less than the limit of his potential. Most of the uneducated are fast becomingan unproductive economic liability. The society must be an “educated society” toprogress in today’s world since investment and training on human resources contribute innumerous ways to the development of a general milieu favourable to economic progress.It provides complementary resources for comparatively scarce factor. Harbison (1964)agrees that although capital plays significant roles in economic growth and development,none is more important than human capital. When Alfred Marshal (1890) attributed thedifferences between the backward and civilized races to manpower development, he saidthat whereas the civilized races embraced the development of manpower, the backwardraces did not.The World Bank (1980) sees the development of people as encompassing education andtraining, better health and nutrition, and fertility reduction. Manpower is the basicresource; it is an indispensable means of converting other resources to mankind’s use andbenefit. How well we develop and employ human skill is fundamental in deciding howmuch we will accomplish as a nation. We live in a time when knowledge is exploding.There are more sources of knowledge and new techniques that are changing the world,and manpower must be well vested with the expanded knowledge and the newtechniques. Bolino (1968) observed that education is the only means to liberate man fromignorance and superstition and to help him master his environment. While Harbison(1963) said that the progress of a nation depends on the progress of its people, unless a4

nation develops the spirit and human potentialities, it cannot develop much materially,economically, politically, or culturally. The basic problem of most developing countriesis not the poverty of natural resources, but the underdevelopment of their humanresources, hence they must task themselves to build up their human capital. This entailsthe improvement of the nation’s education and training system.Heneman and Yoder (1967) see manpower development as not only an attempt to enrichthe quality of human knowledge through training but as the process of preparing man toundertake specific tasks and employment functions which help to transform theenvironment. Manpower development and training involve the development of skills andthe total transformation of human resources. But this state of affairs cannot be attainedwithout an efficient and effective educational system since education and training are thebasic sources of transforming manpower which is the key to sustainable economic growthand development. Nations must, therefore, endeavour to develop their educational sectorto ensure that the right type of training is given to people at the right places, and at theright time.MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIAFafunwa (1969) said “if Nigeria is to move rapidly the 18 th century into the 20 th century,she must place education into the main stream of economic, social and culturaldevelopment, otherwise no major industrial revolution can neither take place or besustained, nor can a new society be built or maintained”. He said that “any country wherethe masses are still held down largely by ignorance, disease and poverty could notsurvive”.Harbison (1973) and Yesufu (1962) have both observed that human resources constitutethe ultimate wealth of a nation, while Myrdal (1969) and Okoh (1984), attributed one ofthe causes of the poverty of nations to lack of education. In fact, Lewis (1966) Heilbrun(1974) and Okoh (1984), have identified human capital development as one of the majordeterminants of income distribution because individuals with little education and training5

have low marginal productivities and earn low income. Low levels of income andproductivity would affect the aggregate demand that would result to low levels ofeconomic growth and development. Improvement in income and productivity wouldbring about improvement in human welfare.The formalized form of the development of human capital calls for the provision ofeducational facilities like school buildings furniture, equipment chemicals, books,teachers and all the other teaching aids needed to make the education and training ofpeople a success.THE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION AND NIGERIAN HIGH-LEVELMANPOWER DEVELOPMENTOkoh (1969) and (1976) observed that the British colonial masters understood the effectsand the importance of high-level manpower development, but left the education ofNigerians to the Christian missionary societies. According to Coleman (1958) the schoolwas the church right away in the bush, and the teacher was the village evangelist. Until1945, the mission schools dominated 99 percent of schools, which were mostly located inSouthern Nigeria. The British colonial administration paid lip service to the support ofthe education of Nigerians, but decided to do something when they discovered thatwithout western education given to Nigerians, there would be no clerks and technicians tofill the roles in administration and commerce, which were unprofitable or impossible tofill by the Europeans. Crowder (1968) noted that not until 1931 with the appointment ofGovernor Sir Donald Cameron did the colonial government become more concernedabout the education of Africans. The new awareness was as a result of the governmentpolicy of employing more Africans in its service. The founding of Yaba College wasconceived during this period. The governor discovered that due to the intemperateclimate. Europeans were known for absenteeism and were expensive to employ and as aresult, it became imperative for the position of clerks and other lower caliber staff to belocally trained and employed.6

The curriculum of the local institutions meant to train local staff was of the mediocretype. Mbadiwe (1944), in his criticism of local institutions, observed that it was notuncommon to find an educated Nigerian who could name the principal English cities,quote the Bible and recite Hamlet, but who has little knowledge of geography, or theproverbs and folk tales, or names of the prominent leaders and outstanding events in thehistory of Nigeria.In spite of the early mediocre nature of the colonial education of Nigerians, it contributedimmensely to the country’s economic growth and development. The effects of Britishtraining were seen on the Nigerian Independence Day in 1960. On that day according toNewsweek (1966), Nigeria became the first African’s nation to count on African besttrainedand biggest civil service. The British had trained 845 Nigerian medical doctors,over 1000 lawyers, 37,000 civil servants, and 61 Sand Hurst trained army officers. Incontrast, the Congo reached independence without a single black doctor, lawyer,engineer, and army officer or senior civil servant. In fact, by 1960, more than 20,000Nigerians had attended British universities and 5,000 more Nigerians were in Britain atthat date, while Nigerian schools were well established. This shows that Nigeria had forlong known the importance of high-level education to national development. Thisstatement was confirmed by Yesufu (1996) who said that before 1960 everyone agreedon the need for and value of education but it appears there was inadequate perception andobjectives.In spite of this achievement, the Third National Development Plan observed that quiteoften the development of most developing countries have been held back by a trinity ofconstraints, savings, foreign exchange, and executive capacity. In the case of Nigeria,these projections make it quite clear that there will be no savings or foreign exchangeconstraints during the Third Plan period. However, the lack of sufficient high-levelmanpower or executive capacity remains a bottleneck to the development of the nation.THE 1959 ASHBY COMMISSION7

To resolve the problem of the shortage of high-level manpower, the governmentdevelopment policies of the past have stressed increasing the nation’s stock of trainedmanpower through the expansion of educational facilities. This policy led to theestablishment of the Ashby Commission 1959.The Commission was established by the federal government to assess the state of thenation’s high-level manpower development and recommend ways forward. The work ofthe commission led to the establishment of the National Manpower Board, which wasvested with the authority to forecast how the nation’s manpower needs could be met. Toaccelerate the training of high level manpower, the commission also recommended theexpansion and establishment of more universities. The effect of the Ashby Commissionwas the rapid growth in the development and expansion of high level institutions oflearning in the country as shown in Table I. The number of the Nigerian universitiesincreased from one university in 1948 that graduated 35 students in 1953 to twenty-eightuniversities graduating 21,717 persons in 1982/83. Altogether, the number of universitieshas increased to 33 as of 1997 according to NUC 1997 Statistical informationTABLE INUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA BETWEEN 1948 1983Year of Establishment Total Cumulative1948 1 1 11960 1 1 21962 3 3 51970 1 1 61975 7 7 131980 6 6 191981 4 4 231983 5 5 288

Source: Extracted from Afolabi Toye, “Proliferation of Universities”. The Nigerian Experience, IlorinJournal of Education Vol. 4, No. 4, 1984Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, Ladies and Gentlemen, you may be glad to know that the firstExecutive Secretary to the National Manpower Board in 1962 was Prof. T. M. Yesufuwith my humble self as one of his secretarial staff. This explains the father-sonrelationship between Prof. T.M Yesufu and myself. We thank God that we still have menof Prof. T. M. Yesufu’ caliber around.THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY EXPANSIONOkoh (1986) conducted a study showing that the expansion of universities has turned thecountry’s high-level manpower shortage, which was prominent in the 1960s to high-levelmanpower surplus. The result of the study showed the under-utilization andunderemployment of high-level manpower in Nigeria.The graduate unemployment of the 1980s is a very significant phenomenon given that inthe 1970s that over 80 percent of university graduates who completed the National Youthservice got jobs within three months of completion, according to the 1984 NYSCGraduate Employment Tracer Study sponsored by the Directorate, and the NationalManpower Board. The Tracer’s study showed that about 93 per cent of the 1983graduates who completed the National Youth Service remained unemployed at the end oftheir Scheme in June 1984. This trend had even worsened since then because while theNigerian education has borne the burden of rising population, arising from the increaseddemand for education, the economy has witnessed a decrease in per capita nationalincome and productivity resulting in unemployment and underemployment. The growinggraduate unemployment is causing concern because professions like engineering,medicine, architecture etc, are now involved in the unemployment crisis. Although, whileserious concern is being raised over the state of the country’s graduate unemploymentand underemployment, no parent has volunteered to keep his/her child off the universitygate, pending the time when the university graduates could be assured employmentopportunities.9

Why should medical doctors, engineers, architects, and so on be unemployed in adeveloping country like Nigeria? Okoh (1987) conducted a study on graduateunemployed in Nigeria. In the study, we looked at the impact of graduate turn-out againstthe occupational vacancy rates, the relationship of the nation’s economic growth to theemployment opportunities, the problem of ethnicity, statism, religion, contractemployment, etc.Table II shows that the total undergraduate enrolments in the Nigerian Universities in the1972/73 academic session jumped from 20,899 students to 94,375 student in the 1982/83academic session. Although the enrolment has since increased to 213,517 in 1994/95academic session, while the nation’s university graduates according to the NationalUniversities Commission increased from 2,473 in 1971 to about 20,000 in the 1983/84.We found that the astronomical increase in graduate output was not matched by theemployment opportunities. However, there has been an argument amongst HumanResources experts whether high-level training has to be dependent on the nation’s abilityto create job opportunities. There was also the problem of statism, where stategovernments and other employers of labour preferred applicants of their states of origin.Yesufu (2001) puts it this way, “Statism compounded the inability of Nigerians to movefreely in pursuance of legitimate business and other productive employment in their owncountry”.10

TABLE IINIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES – TOTAL ENROLMENTS 1972/73 – 1994/95YEARTOTAL1972/73 20,8991973/74 23,2281974/75 26,4481975/76 32,2861976/77 41,4991977/78 47,6701978/79 49,9031979/80 57,5421980/81 70,2521981/82 82,9521982/83 94,3751983/84 -1984/85 -1985/86 128,1011986/87 143,9511987/88 151,4121988/89 159,3981989/90 162,7111990/91 179,2311991/92 171,3871992/93 193,3951993/941994/95 213,517Source: National Universities Commission Annual Report, July – Dec., 19821993 NUC Annual Report1997 NUC Statistical Information on Universities.11

Other factors found responsible for the graduate unemployment, include lack of effectiveeconomic growth in the Nigerian economy. The nation’s industrial base was notdeveloping fast enough to absorb the army of the unemployed graduates. The study alsofound that Nigerian graduates lacked entrepreneurial ability, thereby lacking ininnovation. The Nigerian education has been elitist because it was merely designed forthe pursuit of certificates without much emphasis given to vocational or entrepreneurialability. The result was that most Nigerian graduates were oriented towards salary jobs.We thank God that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. R.A. Anao, has introduced a course inentrepreneurship at the University of Benin. There was also imbalance betweenArts/Humanities and Physical sciences as shown in Table III. The rural urban problemwas identified while the issue of poor training arising out of poor funding was equallynoted.TABLE IIITHE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE OUTPUT BY FACULTY FORSELECTED YEARSFacultiesYears1971 1975 1982/83 1983/84Administration 157 217 1,862 1,720Education 174 586 5,754 5,026Law 130 162 1,002 1,026Social Sciences 406 640 3,208 2,935Health Profession 176 448 1,719 1,420Engineering and Technology 224 387 1,530 1,282Natural Sciences 448 585 2,236 1,947Agricultural Studies 128 326 805 727Total 2,473 3,878 21,717 19,71712

Sources: 1980 FOS Annual abstract of Statistics, National Universities Commission Annual ReportEDUCATIONAL FUNDING IN GENERALEducational funding is a controversial issue in many countries. The Economist of London(October 6 th 2001) observed that since the British expansion of the university educationin the 1980s the number of students has doubled, but the government funding has barelyincreased. It said, “The amount of money the universities receive for each student hasfallen sharply. For example, in 1990, the British Universities were receiving about eightthousand pounds per student but this amount had been reduced to about five thousands in2001”The Vice-Chancellors of the British universities are very concerned because lowfounding is affecting the quality of education. The Vice-Chancellor of LondonUniversity, Professor Zellick, said that the funding situation is making many universitiesto run useless degree programmes for unqualified students just to earn extra income. Thistends to remind us here in Nigeria of the various ill-equipped off-campus programmesthat have been closed down by the federal government.Education is a very costly venture. As the saying goes, those who complain of the highcost of education should try ignorance. The rising cost of education is a worldwidephenomenon, although it tends to be more acute in a developing country like Nigeria.But, in spite of its high cost, it must be recognized that education plays such a vital role ina society that it must not be compromised. For example, Alfred Marshall (1890), in Okoh(1984), stressing on the importance of human development wrote.that the wisdom of expending public and private funds on education is notto be measured by its direct fruits alone. It would be profitable as mereinvestment to give the masses of the people much greater opportunitiesthan they can generally avail themselves of. For by this means many, who13

would have died unknown, are enabled to get the start needed forbringing about their latent abilities. An economic value of one greatindustrial genius is sufficient to cover the expenses of the education of awhole town; for one new idea, such as Bessemer’s chief invention adds asmuch to England’s productive power as the labour of a hundred thousandmen less direct, but not less in importance is the aid given to productionby medical discoveries such as those of Jenner or Pasteur, whichincreased our health and working power, and again by scientific worksuch as that of mathematics or biology even though many generationsmay pass away before it bears visible fruits in greater material well being.All that is spent during many years in opening the means of education tothe masses would be well paid for if it produces one Newton or Darwin.Shakespare or Beethoven.In fact, Okoh (1980, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000 etc.) hadshown in these various studies the impact of high-level education ranging fromimproving unfair trade practices, increasing agricultural production, poverty alleviation,reduction of income inequality, reduction of population growth, reduction of ethnicity,creation of awareness on the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) management offoreign debt, to the enhancement of privatization awareness, political stability, andunderstanding the danger of foreign importation. In fact, education has been described asan electric current, which must flow without interruption.EDUCATIONAL FUNDING IN NIGERIAIn a study we conducted on educational funding in Nigeria, (Okoh 1989), we were able toestablish that the educational funding up to the 1970s had always been a mixed grill,involving the government and the private sector. The private sector was made up ofparents, individuals, missionaries, business organizations and international non-profitorganizations. The schools, according to UNESCO (1966), were self-supporting. Theusers of educational facilities were taxed heavily in the form of school fees by their14

various institutions, although scholarships were given to the most brilliant students. Therevenue generated from schools fees and other charges by the various educationalinstitutions helped to maintain and provide further services. During this period educationwas on one hand elitist and on the other missionary related because only the children ofthe well to do could go to schools. But as the nation realizes the key role of education innation building, and, with enhancement in financial resources, government took a greaterinterest in the financing and administration of educational institutions. For example, fromthe 1970s the Nigerian government started to bear the lion’s share of educational funding.This was made possible by the nation’s oil boom. In the Third National DevelopmentPlan (1975 – 80), for example the educational sector accounted for about N3.2 billion or12 per cent of the total public effective expenditure programme of N26.5 billion. Incomparison to what used to prevail before this period, it was a significant allocation. Thisis because the 1970 – 74 Development Plan, allocated only N98 million or 5 per cent oftotal public expenditure to education, although the increased federal government’sfunding could be explained from the increased enrolment as shown in Table IV. Thestudy observed that within a very short period of time, Nigeria witnessed anunprecedented increase in enrolment in all classes of institutions.TABLE IV1975/1976- 1980 PRIMARY – UNIVERSITY SCHOOL ENROLMENTTYPES OF SCHOOLS 1975 – 76ENROLMENT1980ENROLMENTPrimary School 5,950,296 12,749,403Secondary 704,912 2,226,124Polytechnic/College of Technology 11,993 35,577Universities 31,511 57,772Source: fourth National Development Plan15

The educational industry has become so gigantic that it is no longer possible for itsfunding to be left to one sector alone.The reason for the rapid rise in educational enrolment in all levels of educationalinstitutions was the introduction of the Universal Free Primary Education Policy (UPE) in1976, the first known national policy on education.Also, compounding the surge was the free education at all levels, introduced by some ofthe state governments of the federation. The massive increase in enrolment was seen as agood omen for human resources development. However, it created other problems likeshortages of classrooms, teaching staff, teaching aids, and serious financial constraints. Infact, educational funding was made more difficult given the uncontrolled nature ofenrolment at a period of decreasing revenue. In view of the huge expenditure involved inproviding educational facilities, and education being both public and private good, therehave been debates amongst the experts as to how to fund education. Some experts areadvocating that the receivers of educational training must be responsible for the paymentof their training, while others argued that the government should bear the entire cost ofeducation. For example Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) in Bell (1967) advocated for the stateresponsibility of education because by so doing, it would make it easier to produce thefinest in human nature.Given the role education plays, the 1989 study on educational funding recommended thata clear-cut national policy on educational funding be advocated. This is important, giventhe government posture, which had left the universities in a financial mess, because thegovernment neither gives them enough money, nor allows them the freedom to increasefees.The government is, instead, asking the universities to cut costs and, also to look foralternative sources of revenue because this is no longer the period of squandermania thatcharacterized the country between the 1970s and 1980s arising from the oil boom.16

The oil boom created an era of misguided illusion that money was not our problem,according to the 1981 Budget analysis.This illusion led to project costs being unnecessarily inflated. The projects were said tohave been designed not primarily to suit designers. Table V appears to support the liberalfunding of education during this period.TABLE V1976 – 1985 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGETS ALLOCATIONS TOEDUCATIONYEAR Nation’s Budget Allocation to % of Total BudgetN Billion Education*N millions1976 – 77 10.7 1,329 121977 –78 8.6 779 91978 – 79 8.0 1,112 141979 –80 9.5 750 81980 11.9 1,196 101981 12.8 1,383 111982 10.9 1,201 111983 12.8 1,140 91984 10.1 875 91985 11.3 876.5 8Total N85.2 N8,890.5 10* It includes allocations to sciences and TechnologySources: Recurrent and Capital Estimates of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.17

The table represents a ten year recurrent and capital estimate on the educational sectorfrom the period of the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976 to1985. The study used the table to assess the degree of federal government funding ofeducation. We used the federal government estimates as a yardstick on educationalexpenditure because the Federal Ministry of Education has a dominant share in the fieldof higher education but lesser responsibility for primary education and secondaryeducation. The Table shows that between 1976 and 1985 fiscal years, out of a totalBudget of N85 billion, about N9 billion or 10 per cent was allocated to the educationalsector. This was a very significant allocation although smaller when compared with the12 per cent earlier allocated between 1975 and 1980. However, education is on theconcurrent legislative list, meaning that the federal, state and local governments canprovide education. But, if compared with the present 26% UNESCO recommendationand 30% recommended by the Presidential Committee on Future Higher Education, the12% and 10% appear very low, respectively. For example, in 1985 the estimate oneducation of the former Western states, including Bendel, amounted to over 40 per centof their total budgets, while most of the remaining states of the federation budgets rangebetween 20 per cent and 34 per cent.The study also discovered that the Nigerian educational development has risen so fast to alevel that she was finding it difficult to sustain, because various state governments wereestablishing universities purely on political grounds rather than on well-articulated needs.Also, most of the state governments were advocating free education at all levels. Thesegovernments had no courage to tell the youths that they could not sustain free educationat the university level and at the same time maintain facilities. There is hardly any freemeal anywhere in the world because anything that has an economic value must haveassociated cost.18

TABLE VI1986 – 1995 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ANNUAL BUDGE ALLOCATION TOEDUCATIONYEAR Overall Nation’sBudgetEducationalBudgetN Billions% Of EducationalBudget to OverallBudgets1986 15.6 0.65 41987 17.9 0.34 21988 24.4 0.53 21989 30.1 1.29 41990 39.8 1.46 41991 38.7 0.76 21992 27.6 2.40 91993 112.1 8.00 71994 110.2 7.7 71995 98.2 12.7 13Total 475.9 35.83 7Source: Extracted from various Ministerial Budget speeches between 1986 – 1995 and as published bydaily sketch, January 2, 1986, Nigerian Observer January 1, 1988, Sunday Times, January 15, 1989, Dailysketch, January 8, 1990, Daily times January 1, 1991, Daily Times January 1, 1992, CBN StatisticalBulletin (vol. 4 No. 2, Dec. 1993), The Guardian, January 11, 1994, Daily Times January 17, 1995.But when we compared 1976/77 – 1985 period with another ten year period, 1986 to1953 since our earlier study terminated in 1985, we discovered that the yearly averageallocation to the educational sector had even declined to about 7 per cent as shown inTable VI. This tends to confirm the UNESCO (1962) Karachi Plan, which had observedthat many low-income countries would be unable to give universal free education at alllevels owing to the unrestricted population upsurge in those countries. The inability of the19

federal government to effectively sustain educational funding demonstrates lack ofadequate government planning. The nation has failed in planning the number of peoplelikely to be educated yearly, facilities to be needed, and above all the cost involved. Thefailure arose from the inadequate and unreliable data emanating from the country’sinability to conduct the national population census, and the lack of a labour marketsurvey. In fact, planning must not only project cost, it must also project the likelynumbers of trained manpower annually.RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONIt has been the wish of our political leaders to raise the living standards of our peoples,and this has always meant industrialization at all costs. They seem to forget that in orderto make any progress towards the raising of the standard of living, it is necessary that wedevelop our human and natural resources for the effective production of goods andservices.The development of our natural resources depends upon the availability of many factors,the most important of which is high-level manpower. We may not have all the requiredcapital for the nation’s development but we have the required human resources that needto be trained because it is the key to sustainable economic growth and development.Having the best educated labour force that operates the machine manufacture by man,therefore, labour must be educated labour force to manufacture and operate the computeretc.In this inaugural lecture, we have observed the role of high-level education as the engineof the sustainable economic growth and development of a nation. The development of amodern state depends upon the development of people. In fact, high-level manpowerdevelopment is a sine qua non for sustainable economic growth and development inNigeria. But what about the problem of graduate unemployment?20

From the analysis we presented in this lecture, we have observed that the rapid turnout ofhigh-level manpower had indeed resulted to graduate unemployment. The graduateunemployment problem arose in part as a result of the slow pace in closing up vacancyrates by the employers of labour, inadequate manpower planning, immobility of labourarising from state-of –origin syndrome and ethnicity, population growth etc. The lack ofaccurate and up-to-date data on labour markets has hindered the determination of theactual number of graduates in the labour force, and its composition. One of the urgentmeasures to resolve the present crisis is to conduct an accurate national population censusbecause the present under utilization of high-level manpower was partly due to inaccuratedata used in planning. There was also the lack of an effective information system thatwould guide qualified people on carrier prospects and job opportunities.The nation cannot bridge the gap between manpower development and utilization withouteffective manpower planning, and until such is done redundancies in high-levelmanpower usage will continue to occur. Also intensifying the graduate unemploymentproblem is the issue to employers of labour preferring candidates from their own states oforigin, or from their ethnic groups. This has hindered effective manpower utilization.Some states even carry this policy to a ridiculous level by preferring the employment ofexpatriates to Nigerians from other states. The government must enact a law prohibitingsuch practices. Okoh (1986) observed that the rigidity of the nation’s salary structure,which tends to place candidates with degrees on high wages irrespective of the jobevaluation, prevented employers of labour from using labor-intensive method ofproduction to capital intensive techniques. There is need for a flexible wage structurebecause there are employees who would prefer to accept less than minimum wage tounemployment. Industries should be free to negotiate wages upwards or downwards,depending upon the economic situation of the country. Salaries or wages should not bebased on academic degrees but on job evaluation. For example, it is not unusual to find aPh.D. degree holder teaching in a secondary school in developed countries of Europe andAmerica whose pay is commensurate with the job done.21

The nation’s primary and secondary schools are presently poorly staffed, andunemployed university graduates could be deployed to these institutions. These schoolsmust be made to employ university graduates who are walking the streets unemployedand paid accordingly. There is need for a deliberate government policy to ensure thatNigerian industries employ a labour intensive system of production instead of one that iscapital intensive.Also, since most of the Nigerian businesses e.g. banking, manufacturing, petroleum, etc,are making windfall profits, they should be made to employ a given number of universitygraduates yearly. In fact, most of the Nigerian establishments can afford to introduce shiftsystems instead of their employees working from 8 a.m. to 12 mid-night. The governmentmust enact a law to stop this type of slave labour.There is need for an effective and consistent economic policy geared towards enhancingthe nation’s economic growth and development because rising economic growth wouldbring about increased employment opportunities. While inconsistent and regular policyrevisal would result to capital flight. In fact, foreign investors would not be attracted intoan environment with socio-economic instabilities. Government economic policy shouldbe an instrument of income redistribution, stimulating economic growth, promoting fullemployment, compacting inflation and maintaining economic stability.Government should review the present practice where officials retire at a very young agebut only to take contract appointments with other government departments. This systemdoes not encourage the employment of university graduates. Contract employment shouldbe on the basis of need. To effectively plan and mobilize unemployed universitygraduates, government must create Unemployment directorate at various stategovernment levels where every unemployed graduate must register. The Directorate mustbe given adequate publicity to ensure an effective information system. The Directoratemust be responsible for registering, counseling and deploying the unemployed graduates.Government must ensure that every new employment is advertised through theDirectorate. The Directorate must be empowered to guarantee soft loans for business-22

oriented unemployed graduates wishing to embark on small-scale industries. TheNigerian university graduates on their part, must be more creative to eliminate thedependency syndromeIn spite of all the recommendations that we have suggested in this lecture, we would liketo call for the urgent restructuring of the Nigerian economy. The present trend where thenation is overly dependant on crude oil should be critically reviewed. The economy mustbe inward looking by adopting integrated rural development, which would enhanceincome, employment, agricultural development and productivity. This method wouldhelp to fight poverty and inequality. In fact, the war against poverty cannot be wonwithout an acceptable investment on education. it would improve the general standard ofliving and bring about economic growth and development. For example, Killick (1981)recommended solving the problem of unemployment through a system called“redistribution through growth”. The system solves the problem of poverty,unemployment and inequality. He therefore believes that the concept of redistributionthrough growth would be more comprehensive. This system he said, tends to tacklepoverty, inequality and unemployment by accelerating the growth of the economy in suchways which ensure that increments to assets and output are more equitably distributedespecially to those living in poverty. We would also like to suggest employment creationthrough appropriate economic policies like public workers, and tax incentives toemployers who may be willing to establish industries outside the urban areas.On educational funding, we will like to restate our earlier recommendation to the formerVice-Chancellor Professor Grace Alele Williams who wrote us on February 13 th 1991, tohelp prepare Uniben’s position paper on “Higher Educational funding” for presentationbefore the Longe Commission. One of the two articles presented was the article onEducational Funding and Human Resource development in Nigeria, and one of our majorrecommendations, which has since been adopted, was the introduction of educationalprofit tax amongst big business organizations. We were indeed very happy that thisrecommendation was adopted. We hope that all the companies who are today declaring23

windfall profit in Nigeria in spite of low capacity utilization are also paying windfalleducational profit tax.Educational Funding cannot be complete without parents and guardians paying for a partof the sustenance of their wards in higher institutions. There is no free meal in economicsbecause anything that has value has an associated cost. Parents and guardians must besensitive enough to make economic contributions towards the training of their wards.On the part of the federal government, scholarships should be given to all students whomaintain a grade point average of 3.0 and above. While for the other category of studentswith less than 3.0 average but with very serious financial problems should be able toobtain educational loan facility of N50, 000 annually from the Federal Government up tothe tune of N250, 000 in four years. And to enable the federal government to properlyfund high-level of education, it must cease running secondary schools, and colleges ofeducation; a system, which encourages waste, inefficiency, lots of duplication, andbureaucracy. It must concentrate on running the federal universities and researchinstitutions.The federal and state governments should be made by law to contract their consultancyservices to the Universities. This method does not only help to increase internallygenerated revenue for the universities, but also it helps to conserve the nation’s foreignexchange which would have been paid to foreign consultants.The present system where private organizations are granted licenses to operate privateuniversities is welcomed.Finally the inadequacy in funding cannot be reduced without the universities themselvesreducing some of the areas of wastages, such as their over blown bureaucracy andduplication of programmes.24

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSMy first acknowledgement goes to my Father in Heaven, the Almighty God who hasmade it possible for me to attain success. I give Him all the glory. At this stage I need toacknowledge my family, my wife Chief (Mrs.) Florence Nkiruka Okoh, my childrenAlexander and wife and family, Rosemary and her family, Donald, Ebele, Bruce and hiswife and family, David and Beatrice. They have all been very wonderful children. Maythe good Lord continue to grant all of you peace and protection – Amen. I will not fail toacknowledge my brothers, Deacon Bennett Okoh and family, Mr. Odinma Okoh andfamily, and Pastor Emmanuel Okoh and family.This acknowledgement would not be complete if I fail to mention the following, mymentor Professor T.M. Yesufu who not only inspired me but recruited me from theUnited States of America. I will also like to give my sincere thanks to the followings:Professor Grace Alele Williams, Professor A.G. Onokheroraye, Professor N. Okoh, andProfessor R. A. Anao. I will also like to acknowledge my colleagues in the department ofEconomics and Statistics, Professor M. Iyoha, Professor M. Obadan, Professor (Mrs.) C.E.E. Okojie, my former student in an American University and long time friend A. P.Okoduwa, Dr. J. C. Anyanwu, Dr. (Mrs.) M. A. Anyiwe, Dr. O.T. Ekanem, Mr. A.Uwubamwen, Dr. R. I. Udegbunam, Mr. D. Oriakhi, Dr. S. Edo, Dr. H. Oaikhenan, Mr.S. A. Oyefusi, Mrs. R. O. Mogbolu and Mr. E. O. Kokoh. My thanks also go to the nonacademicstaff of the department. In fact, this acknowledgement cannot be completewithout thanking the members of the Faculty of Social Sciences, where I had theprivilege to serve as the Dean for two terms. May God bless all of you. The same thanksgo to my neighbors in Friendship Street.In conclusion, Mr. Chairman Sir, Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to observe thatthe 20 th century, according to Watch Tower (2001) had been called one of the bloodiestcenturies humanity has ever known because crime, wars, ethnic strife, drug abuse,dishonestly and violence have been especially rampant during the last few decades. It is25

this violent action of man that made Voltaire one of the 18 th century philosophers todescribe man as a “vicious animal, absurd unintelligent and infamous” however, as welook to the future believing on effective implementation of our recommendations, wetend to agree with the 18 th century philosophy of William Godwin that says that man’sacquisition of knowledge would remove the burden of wickedness and uncivilized natureof man to the point of man becoming a rational being in all ramifications. We sincerelybelieve that with a firm commitment by the government and people of Nigeria to highleveleducation, manpower development and training would not only be a key tosustainable economic growth and development but would lead to social harmony, and asa result, a better society.THANK YOU.REFERENCESBell, F. J. (1967), History of Economic Thought. The Ronald Press Company (New York,N. Y.)Bolino, A. C. (1968) “Education, Manpower, and Economic Growth”, Journal ofEconomic issues (Vol. II, No 3)Federal Ministry of Education, (1960) “The Federal Government of Nigeria’sCommission on Post-School Certificate Investment in Education: The Ashby Report(Lagos)Coleman, James S. (1958) Nigeria, University of California Press, (Berkeley)Crowder, Michael, (1968), West Africa Under Colonial Rule, Northwestern UniversityPress (Evanston).26

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