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In analyzing the Nigerian education system, the very first step is to recognize the fact that the shortcomings in the system should be blamed on the federal government, the state government and the education ministry. The leaders and the policy makers have not done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, the education system is not, and cannot be as good as it should be.

Having said this, we also have to recognize the fact that in Nigeria's education system, it is not all bad. In spite of the general atmosphere of neglect corruption and inefficiency, there are still pockets of excellence and high academic standards. This is a tribute to indomitable will of the enterprising Nigerian. It is also a recognition of the private sector participants in education who have succeeded where the government institutions have failed.

There would be no point in quoting figures and statistics. All those statistics are depressingly familiar to most people by now. The more sensible approach would be to look at what ought to have been done as compared to what has been done.

University Education:

Nigeria has only 76 universities. This number includes federal, state and private universities. For a population of over 150 million, this is grossly inadequate to say the least. As a result, university hostels are over crowded, lecture theatres are over stretched and university lecturers are over worked. Add the fact that lecturers are not well paid and the fact that the universities are not well-funded and you begin to understand why the lecturers are almost always on strike. However, this applies only to state and federal universities. Private universities like Igbinedion University and Babcock University are doing a great job and their standards are quite high.

Secondary Schools:

The average public school at secondary level is a scandal. Effective teaching is not done, teachers are not properly supervised by education ministry officials and the students are distracted, indiscipline and generally lazy. But what do you expect when some classrooms have no roofs, students sit on the floor to learn and teachers are owed salaries for months? This is the sad plight of the government secondary school. However, certain government schools called unity colleges are not in this category. The government also has "model schools" and "special schools" which are properly funded and effectively run. The simple solution, of course, is to ensure that all government schools are run like the unity schools,

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