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Reimagining Development: Harvard Center for International Development Announces Kingsley Moghalu as Panelist at GEM26

Washington, DC/Abuja — Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for International Development (CID) will host its 17th annual
Global Empowerment Meeting (GEM26) on May 4-5, 2026, convening leading global thinkers and practitioners to tackle
one of the most pressing questions of our time: how to reimagine international development amid shifting geopolitics,
constrained resources, and evolving power dynamics.

Among the distinguished speakers is Kingsley Moghalu, renowned political economist, former Deputy Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria, and a leader in advancing economic governance, institutional capacity, and policy innovation
across Africa. Moghalu is the Founder and President of IGET Academy, a public policy think-tank and executive education
academy for African leaders headquartered in Abuja and Washington DC. He will participate as a panelist on Panel 2:
“Doing Development Differently” on Tuesday, May 5, from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. US Eastern Time.

The panel forms part of GEM26’s core focus on Reimagining International Development, which explores fresh strategies
for growth, equity, sustainability, and cooperation in a world of aid cuts, volatile markets, and geoeconomic fragmentation.
Discussions are expected to generate actionable insights into policy action.

CID Faculty Director Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Executive Director Fatema Z. Sumar highlighted Moghalu’s contributions in
their invitation: “Your leadership in advancing economic governance, institutional capacity, and policy innovation across
Africa—including through your work in central banking, international policy, and leadership development—has helped
shape important conversations about Africa’s role in the global economy. Your perspective would bring valuable insight to
this conversation on how development must evolve to meet the challenges of our time.”

Moghalu expressed gratitude for the invitation and the opportunity to contribute: “This is a discussion with potential
outcomes that could reshape the trajectory of many developing countries, especially in Africa. I am honored to join this
gathering and look forward to robust exchanges on practical, context-aware approaches to development.”

GEM26 features an extraordinary lineup of scholars, Nobel laureates, and global leaders. Other speakers include Jeremy
Weinstein, Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political
Economy at Harvard Kennedy School, James Robinson, co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics (2024) and
University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Esther Duflo, co-winner of the Nobel
Prize for Economics (2019) and the Abdul Lateef Jameel Professor of Development Economics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), and Raghuram Rajan, the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of
Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Other
speakers include Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy
School and former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Yuen Yuen Ang,
the Alfred Chandler Professor of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University and author of How China Escaped the
Poverty Trap, Khalil Shariff, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation, and Rachel Glennerster, CEO of the Center for Global
Development.

GEM26 builds on CID’s tradition of fostering evidence-informed dialogue that translates ideas into impact. The meeting—
some of which will be live-streamed—is aimed at challenging assumptions and incubating scalable solutions for a more
resilient global development landscape.

 

Moghalu’s participation underscores the growing recognition of African-led perspectives in reshaping global thinking about
development. His expertise, drawn from high-level policy experience as a former senior official of the United Nations, CBN
Deputy Governor, Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomacy, and institution-building efforts including as the inaugural President and Vice-Chancellor of the
African School of Governance, is expected to enrich conversations on moving beyond traditional models toward
approaches that prioritize local agency, institutional strength, and sustainable outcomes.
Virtual attendance for parts of the program is open via registration on the Harvard Kennedy School website:
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/gem/

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AI Rising: Africa’s Path

AI Rising: Africa’s Path

By Kingsley Moghalu and Stephen Ogundele

March 3, 2026  

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as one of the most consequential technologies of the 21st century, with far reaching implications for economic structures, governance systems, and social organization. Like earlier general-purpose technologies such as electricity or computing, AI does more than improve existing processes. It reshapes how value is created, how decisions are taken, and how power is distributed within and across societies. As AI systems become embedded in finance, public administration, healthcare, security, and communication, their influence extends beyond the technology sector into the core of political and economic life.

For African countries, the accelerating diffusion of AI presents both opportunity and risk. On the one hand, AI offers the prospect of productivity gains, improved service delivery, and enhanced problem-solving across critical development sectors. On the other hand, AI adoption is unfolding within a global political economy marked by deep asymmetries in technological capability, capital, and institutional power. The most advanced AI systems are developed, owned, and governed largely outside the continent, raising the possibility that Africa may once again be integrated into a transformative technological wave primarily as a consumer rather than a producer of value.
Crucially, choices relating to data ownership, regulatory frameworks, public procurement, and institutional capacity shape who benefits from AI and who bears its costs. In contexts characterized by large informal labor markets, weak regulatory institutions, and uneven digital infrastructure, uncoordinated AI deployment risks exacerbating inequality, and reinforcing dependency.

AI and Africa’s Development Context

Artificial intelligence is being adopted across African economies within a development context defined by distinctive economic, demographic, and institutional realities. Most countries on the continent are characterized by large informal sectors, labor-intensive services, and rapidly growing youthful populations. These features simultaneously increase the potential relevance of AI for development and heighten the risks associated with poorly governed deployment. Unlike advanced economies where AI adoption typically builds on formal labor markets and mature regulatory institutions, Africa’s socio-economic structure magnifies the distributional consequences of technological change.


Africa’s recent digital experience is often framed as leapfrogging, particularly in the rapid spread of internet/mobile telephony, digital payments, and platform-based services. In many cases, these technologies were adopted quickly and at scale, enabling significant gains in financial inclusion, commerce, and connectivity within a relatively short period. However, this pattern of leapfrogging has largely been driven by access rather than by the development of underlying infrastructure. Digital services have expanded in environments marked by unreliable electricity, limited broadband capacity, and weak supporting systems, constraining their efficiency, resilience, and long-term scalability.


This experience offers an important parallel for the current wave of AI adoption. As with earlier digital technologies, AI tools are becoming available and increasingly used across the continent, even as the foundational infrastructure required to develop, deploy, and sustain them such as stable power supply, high-performance computing, data infrastructure, and reliable connectivity remains uneven or insufficient. In contrast to advanced economies, where AI builds on decades of cumulative investment in digital and industrial infrastructure, Africa’s engagement with AI is unfolding atop structural gaps that limit domestic innovation and deepen dependence on externally developed systems.


At the same time, Africa occupies a strategically significant position in the evolving global digital economy. Its large and fast-growing population represents both a major source of talent, and a future market for AI-enabled services. In addition, the continent holds substantial reserves of critical minerals essential to digital infrastructure and AI-related technologies. These factors underscore Africa’s relevance to the global AI ecosystem, even as the capacity to capture value from these assets remains limited.

The Political Economy of AI Adoption in Africa

The adoption of artificial intelligence in Africa is shaped less by technological readiness than by political and economic structures governing access to capital, data, infrastructure, and decision-making power. Globally, AI development is highly concentrated. Advanced systems rely on large scale computers, proprietary models, and vast datasets controlled by a small number of firms and countries. This has produced an asymmetrical AI ecosystem in which most countries participate primarily as users rather than producers of high-value technologies.

Within this global structure, African economies largely occupy the role of adopters and consumers. AI-enabled services deployed across the continent are typically built on externally owned platforms, cloud infrastructure, and models. As a result, much of the economic value generated through AI adoption accrues outside domestic economies, while governments and firms remain dependent on foreign providers for critical digital capabilities. 

Domestic institutional capacity further shapes AI outcomes. Many African states face gaps in regulatory expertise, coordination across ministries, and technical oversight, limiting their ability to set standards, and enforce safeguards. In practice, AI adoption is often driven by narrow administrative efficiency or security objectives rather than by integrated national development strategies.

Political economic dynamics also influence how benefits and risks are distributed. Access to AI driven opportunities remains concentrated in urban centers and among skilled elites, while informal workers and rural populations face higher risks of exclusion. Without deliberate policy intervention, AI may amplify existing inequalities rather than reduce them. At the same time, the deployment of AI in areas such as surveillance and information management raises concerns around accountability and civil liberties, particularly in contexts with weak oversight mechanisms.

AI adoption in Africa is therefore not a neutral process of technological diffusion, but a contested terrain shaped by power relations, institutional capacity, and economic incentives. Whether AI contributes to inclusive development or entrenches existing structural vulnerabilities will depend on the ability of African states and regional institutions to assert agency within an evolving and unequal global AI landscape.

Social Dynamics and Distributional Impacts

The social effects of artificial intelligence adoption in Africa are emerging unevenly and incrementally, shaped more by development priorities and institutional capacity than by large-scale technological disruption. At present, AI deployment across the continent is concentrated in sectors such as agriculture, health, financial services, logistics, and public administration. 
In agriculture, AI has begun to influence livelihoods primarily by improving information access and decision-making for smallholder farmers. In countries such as Kenya and Malawi, AI powered tools and chatbots provide real-time advice on pest control, soil health, and climate adaptation, often delivered through basic mobile platforms. These systems improve productivity, income stability, and risk management where traditional extension services are limited.


In Nigeria, Rwanda, and Côte d’Ivoire, AI enabled telemedicine platforms and diagnostic support tools have been used to extend basic healthcare access in underserved areas. These systems assist with symptom triage, patient routing, and clinical decision support. The social impact lies in expanded access to care and earlier intervention. Fintech platforms in countries like Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt use machine learning for fraud detection, transaction monitoring, biometric authentication, and customer support. These improvements carry indirect social benefits for informal traders, micro-entrepreneurs, and households reliant on digital payments and remittances.
AI has also begun to influence public sector operations and infrastructure management. In South Africa, AI enabled logistics and port management systems have been deployed to reduce congestion and improve cargo handling efficiency, lowering trade costs across supply chains. Also, In Guinea-Bissau, governments have experimented with advanced digital tools such as blockchain based systems for public sector payments and administrative monitoring. These initiatives aim to improve fiscal transparency, eliminate “ghost workers,” and enable secure, real-time tracking of salaries and pensions.
However, there are some sectors lagging that could also benefit greatly from AI. Sectors such as energy and power grid management, legal and judicial administration, and advanced technical education in AI

Governance and Institutional Landscape

The governance of artificial intelligence in Africa is taking shape through a mix of continental frameworks and national policy initiatives but remains fragmented and uneven in practice. While interest in AI has grown rapidly, governance arrangements across most countries are still evolving and have yet to crystallize into coherent, enforceable systems.


At the continental level, the African Union adopted a Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy in 2024, positioning AI within Africa’s broader digital transformation and development agenda. The strategy outlines shared principles on ethical use, inclusion, data governance, and regional cooperation, and signals a collective ambition to shape AI outcomes on the continent. However, the AU’s role is primarily normative and coordinative. It provides strategic direction but lacks binding authority or implementation mechanisms, leaving responsibility for execution largely with national governments.


At the national level, several countries including Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Senegal, Zambia, and Mauritius have developed or are developing AI strategies. These documents show areas of convergence, particularly around skills development, innovation, and responsible AI use. In many cases, however, AI strategies function as standalone vision statements, weakly connected to budgeting processes, sectoral policies, or regulatory mandates, and implementation pathways remain underdeveloped.


There are notable exceptions. Kenya’s National AI Strategy places strong emphasis on governance and data ecosystems and is reinforced by an existing Data Protection Act (2019), providing a clearer institutional basis for oversight. Rwanda has embedded AI within a broader digital transformation framework, supported by centralized coordination and early engagement with governance and ethics questions. Egypt’s AI strategy, adopted earlier than most, is closely linked to public sector modernization and institutional capacity-building efforts.


Across the continent, regulatory capacity remains a central constraint. Few countries have AI-specific legislation, and oversight typically relies on existing ICT, data protection, or sectoral regulators whose mandates were not designed for algorithmic systems. Responsibilities for data governance are often dispersed across institutions, limiting coordination and constraining both effective public-sector deployment and domestic innovation.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence will not transform Africa simply because it is adopted. Its effects will depend on how African states, institutions, and markets choose to engage with it. AI is entering African economies through existing development pathways, shaped by global concentration of technological power, domestic institutional capacity, and sector-specific needs. This reality calls for clarity of purpose, not imitation.
Across the continent, AI is already being applied in practical ways to improve service delivery, reduce inefficiencies, and support decision-making in areas such as agriculture, health, finance, and public administration. These applications reflect Africa’s priorities and constraints. They also underscore that the continent’s AI trajectory will differ from that of advanced economies, not due to a lack of capability, but because of different development objectives and institutional conditions.
The central challenge is therefore not technological access, but institutional readiness. Without coherent governance, clear mandates, and coordinated policy action, AI adoption will remain fragmented and its benefits uneven. Strategy without execution will change little. What is required is deliberate action: strengthening institutions, building supporting infrastructure, improving coordination, and asserting policy control over how AI is deployed in pursuit of Africa’s development goals.

  • Kingsley Moghalu is the President of IGET Academy and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
  • Stephen Ogundele is a Technology Founder and Research Associate at IGET Academy. He graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from Voronezh University and studied for an M.A. in Information Technology Entrepreneurship at Innopolis University, both in Russia.
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Academy

Davos, the New World Order, and Africa

Worldviews — and not a few egos — clashed strongly at the 2026 edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as the world is remade in the image of United States President Donald Trump, and the assumptions – not always accurate, or even honest – that have underpinned the “rules-based international order” experience a tectonic shift. Our interest in this perspective piece is not so much the actual subjects of tension and dispute, in particular the future of Greenland and the Arctic region more broadly. It is more at a level below, the philosophical, and what it all means for Africa.

Worldviews – And Why They Matter

What exactly is a worldview, and why does it matter? Put simply, a worldview is an individual’s or a group’s (society, nation, country, race etc) interpretation and understanding of the environment in which he, she, or it exists, and the guidance that understanding provides to individual or group action as a pattern of thought and behavior. In short, it informs how this understanding helps us navigate life and the world around us, near and far. Worldviews are foundationally important as a predictor of action (or inaction) and individual or group success. They shape the destiny of individuals and nations.

Philosophers identify seven components of a worldview:

1. A model of the world: an understanding of the world and why it is the way it is.
2. An identity-historical component, the who am I or who are we question that asks the question: where have we come from?
3. Destination: where am I or are we going?
4. The theory of action – strategy. How do I or we navigate life and the world to get to the destination we have identified and agreed?
5. The value system: what are the set of values that bind and guide my/our actions and our society?
6. The knowledge system: how do we learn and internalize what we believe to be true or false? Just to give an example, western classical medicine, Chinese acupuncture, African traditional medicine, and Indian Ayurvedic medicine are all distinct knowledge systems. They come at the same goal – the human body and the care and healing of it – from different angles.
7. Building blocks: what are the building blocks of a world view? Worldviews come from ideas or knowledge that already exists. We accept some and use them to construct our worldview, while we can reject some or be agnostic to those others.

To demonstrate how philosophical worldviews are such a powerful driver of success or failure among countries, let us briefly consider the worldview anchors of the West (with the United States as a prime example) and Asia (exemplified by China but also other rising Asian powers) that dominate our world today. The western worldview is one that sees individual liberty (freedom and human rights), institutions that check untrammeled political power of sovereigns, and scientific invention and innovation as the key drivers of national prosperity. The United States, in addition, was founded on a worldview of “exceptionalism”, one in which it is unique and powerfully endowed for greatness as the “shining city on a hill”, the “land of the free, home of the brave”.

The Asian worldview, on the other hand and as seen in the rise of China, is anchored on the Confucian principles of the elasticity and endlessness of time (hence the Chinese typically think and plan so long-term), stability as an end in itself, and therefore the interest of the community or society as much more important that the freedom of individuals. In other words, the Asian worldview emphasizes the obligations of individuals above their “rights”.

What all this means is that worldviews are not one universal truth. They are, in fact, subjective understandings. What matters is the consistent application of the worldview, especially in national life. This will always yield transformative results because the goal and the path to achieving it are shared as a belief by all or most citizens. African countries, as a result of fundamental challenges of state formation arising from colonialism and arbitrary boundaries lumping peoples of disparate identities under artificial nations, as well as a contemporary dearth of visionary leadership that can overcome this foundational challenge, have tended to lack driving worldviews around which they can galvanize and organize to achieve development.

The Anarchical Society: An Understanding of World Order

In other to process accurately what happened at #Davos2026, we must understand that world order has been anchored on three contending pillars, in the rationalist-realist worldview of the English School theory of international relations. This approach to understanding world politics has been borne out time and again.

1. The international SYSTEM: based on the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the Thirty Years War between Christian Protestant and Catholic kingdoms in Central Europe and ushered in a new epoch in international order. Here, states were territorial, completely autonomous and sovereign, relating to each other through commerce, diplomacy, and war. Stability was anchored by a balance of power.

2. Two centuries later, an international SOCIETY emerged in the late 1800s after the Universal Postal Union (the first multilateral international organization) was established and technology had begun to bridge physical distances between countries (the nascent rise of globalization). The short-lived League of Nations and, eventually, the United Nations after World War II, followed. Sovereign countries now started coming together to collaborate around mutually agreed values. But even in the “society”, there is always tension (called “anarchy” in international relations scholarship).

Even in the UN, for example, countries jostle to project and protect their national interests, and underlying domestic economic and military power created both formal and informal hierarchies in the society of states. An example is the veto power of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China – the Allied Powers that defeated the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan and Italy) during the Second World War. This is why proposed reforms to the permanent membership of the Security Council have not happened, and there is virtually zero prospect of expanding the numbers of veto power wielding members of the Council. It also is why President Trump in his speech at Davos on January 21, 2026, asserted that the audience at Davos would have been “speaking German or Japanese today” were it not for the United States deployment of overwhelming force that ended WW II.

What this means is that inherent in the “rules-based international order” is in reality a system anchored significantly on power relations in which the powerful act, or claim to act, as guarantors of order in the international realm. This is so particularly in relation to the use of force, which has important implications for the real nature of international law and its ability to bind powerful actors. Thus the international order has, in reality, remained and remains an anarchical international society of states, the “rules-based international order” notwithstanding.

3. The international COMMUNITY. This is an aspirational epoch that never fully emerged in reality, but was strenuously canvassed after the end of the Cold War and driven by the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the carnage of the Balkan wars that resulted in the disintegration of the Former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. This approach believes the world to be not just a society of independent, sovereign, collaborating and simultaneously contending states, but a community in which we ought to become our brother’s keepers, with a “Responsibility to Protect” citizens from genocide and other human rights violations committed under the cloak of sovereignty. In other words, sovereignty was no longer absolute.

Along with this doctrine came the fast and furious rise of globalization driven mainly by “free” trade ( Trump’s deliberate unleashing of tariffs as a tool of statecraft has skewered this concept), technology, and culture. Along, also, came a sharp rise in immigration flows across countries, mainly towards advanced western countries from developing or underdeveloped countries in Africa and South Asia.

The challenge is that globalization, while a real phenomenon, was always overrated, at least to the extent that its advocates assumed that it meant the end of substantive sovereignty. It has increasingly faced resistance with the rise of right-wing politics in several western countries over the past two decades. The philosophy of this rising force is that “our country is ours” and no external organization (such as the European Union or the United Nations) should dictate what happens inside a country with a legitimate government elected democratically by its citizens.

This was the driving force behind Brexit, the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union via a popular domestic referendum. Intertwined in this perspective, understandably, is a sharply increased hostility to immigration, in particular of the illegal variety, as citizens of Western countries feel increasingly overrun by foreigners that are making them creeping minorities in their own countries. In several cases, these population movements have brought with them religious tensions and, in extreme instances, served as a cover for terrorist cells.

It has also meant that developed countries have become far less concerned about what has erroneously been known as “international development” in poor countries. Development, by definition, is a bottom-up process and evolution in societies, and cannot be achieved with the outsider-driven approach embedded in the international aid industry of the past seven decades.

The two elections of President Trump, the most recent, in 2024, even more so than the first in 2016, have been the most consequential outcomes of the conceptual and domestic political resistance to extreme levels of globalization and the advocacy for an international community. For the United States is without question the world’s most powerful country. This is also because globalization has led to a transplanting of values and social norms across countries in ways that have fundamentally challenged prevailing worldviews in individual countries.

The tensions at Davos and in the run-up to it arose precisely because the Trump administration’s “America First” philosophy has knocked the previously existing contours of the Western alliance in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) out of kilter, and — at least in the perspective of European countries with which the United States has had historically close relationships — turned on America’s allies in the singular pursuit of the Great Power’s framing of its own national interest. All is no longer well inside “the family”.

What’s in It for Africa?

What does all of this mean for Africa, to which the Trump administration — and even other Western countries — have since served notice of the end of an entitlement-anchored relationship of dependency on foreign aid?

African countries need to understand that:

✅ A fundamental shift has occurred in the global order, and tomorrow’s existential reality for the continent can no longer be anchored on yesterday’s historical relationships with Western countries that have turned increasingly inward-facing. This means that the continent must now find its own way and fend for itself in a competitive world.

✅The basis of competitiveness, influence and strength in the world is INTERNAL resilience and success in achieving the fundamental elements of sovereignty and state capacity. The main elements are four – the state’s ability to secure its territory and the lives and property of its citizens from external attack, the ability to administer taxes and mobilize revenues through a genuine social contract in which those taxes create an expectation of a minimum level of protection of the welfare of the citizens (e.g. universal social security), the ability to deliver effective social services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure, and an enabling environment for wealth creation by private citizens through entrepreneurship. Thus, the state spurs progress by creating security and welfare for citizens as a foundation for success and agency-driven interaction with the rest of the world. Paupers at home have no real standing in gatherings of the wealthy abroad. This calls for the formulation, citizen-education and the re-creation of nationhood on the basis of clear philosophical foundations as a driver of national ambition and progress, as has been the case in the West and Asia.

✅ This requires a complete return to the drawing board in terms of national politics, efforts at democratic governance and economic management. Critically, leadership selection in African countries must be reimagined. It is only the selection of the caliber of leaders with the capacity to drive the rise of the continent’s countries based on these fundamental understandings and values, that can guarantee Africa’s real, measurable progress. Attendance of international summits such as Davos, against backgrounds of teeming poverty of millions of citizens and insecurity at home that militate against productive enterprise, is a misplacement of priorities. While symbolism can matter in certain contexts, no deals reached in Davos can transform the reality of any African country. What is required for transformation is capable, competent, visionary and values-anchored leadership at home that transforms realities on the ground, serving as a sustainable foundation for external projection into the anarchical international society.

✅”Politics” – chasing votes and political power in domestic periodic rituals of elections through means fair and foul – will not save African countries and their leaders and make the continent respected in the world. Far more important are leadership and governance with measurable outcomes for citizens at home, and the factors that drive leadership selection.

Conclusion

President Donald Trump’s recent actions in world politics – tariffs, the intervention in Venezuela, and his muscular assertions of a U.S. national security interest in acquiring sovereignty over Greenland, and the tensions at the 2026 edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos – are far less a defenestration of the “rules-based international order” than an explanation of its undertones in reality, and perhaps an extreme demonstration of the nature of power in world politics that holds important lessons for African countries. Those lessons should be the starting point of a redefinition of the strategies of African countries as they seek their place under the sun. This task is far more fundamental – and difficult – than the current tendencies of the continent’s countries and their political leaders suggest they understand, much less a determination to embark on this journey. But in an evolving world, the continent has no alternative to grappling with this strategic agenda. Else, its future – with an estimate that its fast-rising population will make one quarter of the world’s workforce by 2050 and 40 percent of the world’s population by 2100 – will be a difficult one. Substance must replace hype, and real leadership and strategy replace the political correctness of blind optimism.

References

Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s ‘Last Frontier’ Can Prosper and Matter (London: Penguin Books, 2014)

Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977)

Henry Kissinger, World Order (New York: Penguin Press, 2014).


Kingsley Moghalu is the Founder and President of IGET Academy. A former senior official of the United Nations, he has served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Inaugural President and Vice-Chancellor of the African School of Governance, and as Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford.

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MOGHALU TO ADDRESS CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN SPEAKERS OF PARLIAMENT IN MOROCCO

President of the IGET Academy and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Kingsley Moghalu OON, will deliver a keynote address to the 3rd General Assembly of the Conference of Speakers and Presidents of African Legislatures (CoSPAL) scheduled to take place in Rabat, Morocco from December 12-14, 2025. CoSPAL’s 3rd General Assembly, hosted by the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, will convene on the theme of “Legislative Leadership and Parliamentary Diplomacy in a Changing Global Order”.

Professor Moghalu was invited to address the CoSPAL High Level Dialogue on Friday, December 12 on the topic “Securing Africa’s Economy for the Future: The Role of Legislative Leadership”. “As the global order undergoes profound transformation, the High-Level Dialogue provides a platform for some of Africa’s and the world’s foremost experts to engage with legislative leaders on critical issues shaping Africa’s future. In recognition of your expertise in governance, economic transformation and institutional leadership, we would be honored to have you deliver an address titled “Securing Africa’s Economy for the Future: The Role of Legislative Leadership”, CoSPAL stated in its letter of invitation to Prof Moghalu signed by Dr. Dapo Oyewole, Secretary-General of the pan-African organization.” The session will explore the structural vulnerabilities of African economies in light of global economic transformations and examine legislative instruments necessary to drive industrialization and secure Africa’s economic sovereignty”.

The CoSPAL is an indigenous pan-African inter-parliamentary organization established in 2020 as a unifying body for legislative leadership of African member parliaments to devise legislative solutions that address Africa’s challenges. It has 25 member parliaments of African countries represented by their Speakers/Presidents. Members include: Algeria, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin, Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, is the current Chairman of CoSPAL.

Professor Moghalu is a global leader, renowned political economist, former presidential candidate, and a distinguished international speaker. He served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014, subsequently held senior teaching faculty and research roles at Tufts and Oxford Universities, and served as Inaugural President and Vice-Chancellor of the African School of Governance in Kigali, Rwanda. Prior, he had a 17-year career in the United Nations system, rising to the highest career bracket of Director. He is the Founder of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET Academy), a public policy think tank that provides executive education to Africa’s political, institutional and business leaders and their international partners. He is also the Founder of Sogato Strategies, a Washington DC-based risk and business intelligence advisory firm.

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Policy Briefs Featured

Elevated Multi-Dimensional Poverty in Africa: Diagnostics and Effective Policy Options

Executive Summary

Africa’s economic growth over the past two decades has been significant, yet poverty reduction has remained slow and uneven. Over 530 million Africans are multidimensionally poor—deprived across health, education, and living standards (UNDP & OPHI, 2024). This discussion paper examines the persistence of multi-dimensional poverty, explores its drivers, and proposes practical policy options for inclusive and sustainable transformation across African economies.

Context and Overview

Despite progress in GDP growth and macroeconomic stability, Africa remains the world’s most impoverished continent in multi-dimensional terms. Income measures alone mask the breadth of deprivation that households face—limited access to clean energy, poor health outcomes, and inadequate education. Recent shocks—including COVID-19, inflation, and climate-related disasters—have intensified these vulnerabilities, pushing an additional 30 million Africans into poverty since 2020 (World Bank, 2023).

Figure 1: Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by Region, 2024 (Source: UNDP & OPHI, 2024)

Analytical Framework

Multi-dimensional poverty captures deprivations across multiple indicators simultaneously. The African experience shows that income-based metrics underestimate the extent of vulnerability. The UNDP’s MPI measures deprivation across health, education, and living standards, using indicators such as nutrition, child mortality, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, and assets.

Empirical Trends and Evidence

As of 2024, approximately 40 percent of Africans live in multi-dimensional poverty. The distribution is uneven: West and East Africa record the highest incidence, while Southern and North Africa show relative progress. Rural areas account for over 80 percent of the multi-dimensionally poor.

Table 1: Energy Access and Poverty Rate in Selected Countries.

Structural Drivers of Poverty

The persistence of poverty in Africa stems from several interrelated structural challenges: low agricultural productivity, limited energy access, poor human capital outcomes, and weak governance institutions. These factors reinforce one another, creating persistent poverty traps that are difficult to escape without coordinated multi-sectoral intervention.

Policy Gaps and Institutional Weaknesses

Most African poverty strategies are fragmented, short-term, and underfunded. Weak fiscal capacity and donor dependency limit the ability of governments to implement sustained programs. Outdated household data and weak monitoring systems impede policy learning.

Policy Options for Transformation

The following integrated policy approaches can accelerate multi-dimensional poverty reduction:

  1. Reorient growth toward inclusion and productivity—support labor-intensive sectors and rural value chains.
  2. Expand human capital and social protection systems—invest in education quality, universal health coverage, and digital safety nets.
  3. Address energy poverty as a cross-cutting enabler—expand mini-grids, solar solutions, and affordable tariffs.
  4. Strengthen governance and fiscal coherence—improve tax systems, transparency, and inter-ministerial coordination.
  5. Adopt climate-resilient, gender-responsive frameworks for sustainable development.

Implementation Pathway and Financing

Implementation requires coherent institutions, reliable data, and innovative financing. Governments should embed MPI indicators in national development plans and mobilize domestic revenues through tax reforms, while leveraging blended finance and public-private partnerships to expand social investment.

Case Studies of Emerging Success

Examples from across the continent show that progress is achievable with commitment and coherence:

 i. Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme has supported over 10 million people through public works and asset creation.

ii. Ghana’s LEAP programme improved educational attendance and nutrition outcomes via digital cash transfers.

iii. Kenya’s rural electrification initiative reduced energy poverty and boosted small business growth.

iv. Rwanda’s human capital reforms have raised education and health indicators significantly over the past decade.

Conclusion and Policy Imperatives

Africa’s elevated multidimensional poverty remains both a challenge and an opportunity. The continent must shift from measuring poverty to managing prosperity, through inclusive growth, human development, and energy access. Leadership commitment, data-driven policymaking, and regional coordination under the African Union will be vital for sustainable transformation.

References

UNDP & Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (2024).

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024.

World Bank (2023). Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report.

International Energy Agency (2024). Africa Energy Outlook.

UNICEF (2024). State of the World’s Children Report.

African Development Bank (2023). African Economic Outlook.

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News Updates Featured

Join IGET at ADIS25 – Celebrating a Decade of Diaspora Giving, Impact, Innovation

IGET is proud to be part of the 2025 African Diaspora Investment Symposium (ADIS25), a landmark 10th-anniversary gathering of global changemakers, innovators, and diaspora leaders committed to shaping Africa’s future. Hosted by the African Diaspora Network, ADIS25 celebrates a decade of bold ideas and collaborative action, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders abroad to deepen diaspora engagement and catalyze transformative investments in Africa.

We’re excited to announce that IGET’s Managing Director and CEO will be speaking on the dynamic panel:
“Innovation Spotlight: Diaspora Success Stories and Call to Action.” This session will highlight selected leaders to share timely reflections, breakthrough innovations, and urgent calls to action rooted in their lived experiences. The speakers will also encourage participants to help scale their impact through collaboration, innovation, and strategic investment. Don’t miss this powerful conversation showcasing real-world solutions and visionary leadership.

Be inspired to contribute meaningfully to Africa’s economic transformation.

Register to Attend
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Nigeria’s out-of-school-children Crisis: IGET MD/CEO speaks to Arise TV

Nigeria's out-of-school-children Crisis: IGET MD/CEO speaks to Arise TV

IGET MD/CEO Evelyn Dan Epelle spoke to Arise TV News Night hosts, Nkechi Nnanna and Adesuwa Omoruwan about the state of Nigeria’s out-of-school-children crisis and research at the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET) that seeks to deconstruct the ‘Almajiri’ narrative for inclusive solutions to Nigeria’s out-of-school crisis.

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Policy Briefs Featured

Education and National Development: Meeting Nigeria’s Challenge in the 21st Century.

5th Arthur Mbanefo Annual Lecture

I. INTRODUCTION: THE FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION

“What is the purpose of education?”, Eleanor Roosevelt asked in an essay she wrote in 1930, three years before she became the First Lady of the United States.

Purpose must be at the heart of education and education systems. That is the only way education can go beyond literacy – important as that is – to develop and transform societies.

The education sector serves as a critical provider of human capital, equipping individuals with the requisite skills and enhancing their intellectual acumen to make meaningful contributions to their communities and nation. Good education works to develop not only the learner’s understanding of established knowledge but also sharpens the learner’s mind and enhances their capacity for thinking, creativity, and innovation so they can become active creators of new knowledge.

Education, however, does not only develop people intellectually; it also plays a vital role in the development of the social dimensions of the person and the citizenry. Well-educated individuals are not only confident to lead fulfilling personal lives but also actively engage in problem-solving within their societal contexts, thereby elevating overall societal welfare and fostering social cohesion. They are not equipped only with intellectual capacity for thinking and knowing, but also with a deepening sense of character, community, and citizenry. Education plays an active role in the socioeconomic development of a nation by actively contributing to educating its people about necessary character, roles, and obligations of citizenship. Education fosters social cohesion and the development of a collective identity necessary for a visionary future.

I therefore agree with experts who have identified five key purposes of education. These are:

  1. Education for Economic Development. This is the most believed purpose of education. This perspective is rooted in the human capital theory – that the more schooled and educationally qualified we are, the higher our incomes, wages, and our productivity will be.
  1. Education for Building National Identity and Good Citizenship. Education is an important means that countries use to construct nationhood, a shared sense of unity and purpose for the citizens of the state, beyond physical statehood. It can instill in citizens not just a sense of their entitlements, but also of their responsibilities and obligations as good citizens. Education is a powerful tool to construct and inculcate worldviews – a personal and collective sense of identity, ambition, the values that underpin society and its ambitions for each citizen and collectively, and a nation’s sense of destiny. Without a clear worldview, no nation can rise. We have the examples of the United States and Pax Americana, the British Empire, the Rise of China, and Asia more broadly, the State of Israel and its accomplishments, etc.
  1. Education as Liberation. This perspective on the purpose of education sees that purpose as that of confronting various kinds of structural oppression and setting people free. Examples include the transatlantic slave trade that lasted for nearly four centuries, colonialism, contemporary racism, gender inequity, and so on. This is the sense in which Martin Luther King defined the purpose of education in his essay in 1947 titled “The Purpose of Education”. The American civil rights leader argued that the purpose of education had to be one of social and political struggle alongside other objectives. Education provided the basis for our struggle for freedom from colonial rule a century ago. Today, although Nigeria became free from colonial rule in 1960, Nigerians are still suppressed and oppressed by maladies such as corruption, tribalism, mediocrity in governance, and the worship of wealth for its own sake, no matter how acquired. In this understanding of the purpose of education, we need the re-education of present and future generations to set our citizens free.
  1. Education for Well-being. Education advances our social, emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. This purpose has to do with young people acquiring the knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable them to create positive mental and emotional health for themselves and balanced relationships with others.
  1. Education for cultural sustenance. Here, education should serve the purpose not just of discarding all aspects of our culture and becoming ever more “westernized”, but in fact hold on to the objectively positive aspects of our indigenous cultures. In this context, education should validate our identities and project it as part of our worldviews.

II. UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF NIGERIAN EDUCATION.

Nigeria boasts of a vibrant youth population, with over 60% of its people under the age of 35. This demographic dividend presents a reservoir of human capital ripe for harnessing the nation’s socioeconomic advancement. Human capital, as defined by the World Bank, encompasses the knowledge, skills, and health individuals accrue over their lifetimes, empowering them to fulfill their potential as valuable contributors to society. Yet, the discourse on human capital extends beyond the mere presence of people to encompass their productivity and capacities to generate socioeconomic outputs.

Central to this narrative is the pivotal role of the education sector. Education emerges as a vital conduit for nurturing human capital. Charged with the task of imparting essential skills and honing intellectual acumen, the education sector empowers individuals to make meaningful contributions to their communities and country. Awell-educated populace not only enhances personal fulfillment but also addresses local challenges, elevates societal well-being, and fosters social cohesion.

However, the current Nigerian education landscape grapples with myriad challenges, undermining the nation’s human capital potential. As of 2020, Nigeria’s Human Capital Index, as assessed by the World Bank, stood at 0.36, positioning it 168th out of 173 countries globally—a marginal improvement from 0.34 in 2018, where it ranked 152nd out of 157 nations surveyed. This sluggish growth underscores the persistent obstacles hindering the effective education of Nigeria’s populace. For Nigeria to play a significant role on the global stage in the years ahead, it must effectively develop and deploy its human capital to propel national advancement. Given its central role as the primary purveyor of human capital development, the education sector assumes heightened significance in Nigeria’s developmental agenda.

Understanding the intricacies of Nigeria’s educational challenges is vital for devising effective solutions. The education sector comprises numerous interconnected elements, requiring a systematic approach to drive substantial reform. These challenges can be categorized into several areas. One such category encompasses obstacles hindering access to quality education for the Nigerian populace. These hurdles include the escalating number of out-of-school children, low rates of educational completion, limited transitions between educational levels, adult illiteracy, and the provision of education during emergencies.

Another set of challenges pertains to the erosion of education quality, resulting in insufficient capacity-building within the existing educational framework. Among these challenges is inadequate financing. Despite UNESCO’s recommendation that developing nations allocate 10-15% of their budgets to the education sector, Nigeria’s education budget allocation is a low 5.3% in 2023 (Figure 1). Additionally, both the World Bank and UNESCO have disclosed that a minimum of 20% of teachers in public basic education institutions in Nigeria lack the necessary qualifications. This percentage nearly doubles in private schools (Table 1). Furthermore, the quality of Nigeria’s education system suffers from deficient educational infrastructure.

Another significant category of challenges revolves around the human capital implications stemming from inadequate access to and quality of education. These challenges include the disconnect between academia and industry, diminishing socio-emotional attachment to education among young individuals, rising unemployment rates, and the issue of unemployability. These challenges contribute to a myriad of other interconnected problems within the education system.

Addressing the challenges within the Nigerian education system requires a multifaceted approach. Acritical first step, however, is recognizing the lack of clear objectives within the system. Establishing these objectives is vital to driving progress and development. The reform movement must be grounded in precise objectives that can guide efforts toward meaningful change. It’s essential to determine the necessary reforms and the desired outcomes of an improved education system. Given Nigeria’s context, needs, and trajectory, three fundamental objectives are paramount for driving development and should serve as the cornerstone of education reform efforts. These objectives are:

  • Literacy

Nigerian education reforms must emphasize both foundational and adult literacy. Several challenges have attacked foundational literacy. For instance, UNESCO has estimated that there are approximately 20 million out-of-school children aged 6-18 in Nigeria, which is a significant increase from the 13.7 million reported by the World Bank in 2013. This means that one out of every 12 out-of-school children worldwide is Nigerian. In 2019, the gross enrollment rate for primary school children at the required age was 68%, while it was 54.4% for secondary school children.

 

However, these figures do not fully capture the disparities in educational access across different regions, as the net primary school attendance rate drops to 53% in Northern Nigeria, according to UNICEF. The situation is particularly dire for girls, with more than half of girls in the Northeast and Northwest regions of Nigeria not attending school. Some states in these regions have female primary net attendance rates as low as 47.3%. The challenges contributing to the Out-of-School Children (OOSC) dilemma stem from both overarching and region-specific factors. Generally, barriers to children’s education include poverty and insufficient educational infrastructure.

When viewed through a geopolitical lens, these obstacles vary in nature and intensity across different regions. In the Northern areas, socio-cultural complexities exacerbate the situation, with insurgency emerging as a prominent concern. There were approximately 25 terrorist attacks targeting schools in the North in 2021, resulting in the abduction of 1,440 children and the tragic loss of at least 16 lives. In March 2021, around 618 schools in Kano, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Yobe states were forced to close due to fears of attacks and kidnappings of students and staff. Additionally, cultural perceptions associating schooling with Western influences, negative attitudes towards female education, and religious sentiments further compound the issue.

Low Literacy levels are also influenced by school completion rates. UBEC’s 2018 Education Profile Indicators revealed low completion rates for primary, junior secondary and senior secondary education in Nigeria. Disparities existed across different geopolitical zones, with the North Central region having a low primary school completion rate of 63.84%. UNESCO’s data for 2018 (Table 2) showed primary school completion at 70.80%, junior secondary at 62.46%, and senior secondary at 49.30%, all lower than 2010 figures. By 2021, slight improvements were seen with primary school completion at 73.14%, junior secondary at 67.77%, and senior secondary at 53.71%, though a reversal in progress was noted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gender disparities were evident, with a widening gap between male and female students as they transitioned from primary to secondary school, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to ensure equal access to education. The accessibility of education becomes increasingly challenging as children and youth progress through the various levels of education. This trend is evidenced by a noticeable decline in attendance rates, dropping from 68% in primary school to 54% in secondary school, and further plummeting to approximately 12% in tertiary education.

Tertiary education is the least attainable form of education in Nigeria, primarily due to a range of factors. Among these factors, the high cost of tertiary education stands out as a significant barrier. Annual tuition fees at Nigerian universities typically range from $200 to $5000, a stark contrast to the socioeconomic conditions of the country, where more than 33% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.

The challenges of illiteracy in Nigeria are beyond the foundational levels. Adult illiteracy persists in Nigeria despite ongoing efforts to improve literacy rates. According to UNESCO, Nigeria’s overall literacy rate was approximately 62% in 2018, indicating a substantial portion of the adult population lacks basic reading and writing skills. Illiteracy rates across the country exhibit regional disparities with the rates generally higher in the northern states when compared to the southern regions. For example, in some northern states like Katsina and Borno, the adult literacy rate is below 30%, while in the southern states like Lagos and Ogun, it exceeds 80%.

Moreover, gender inequality exacerbates the problem, with women generally experiencing lower literacy rates than men, particularly in rural areas where traditional gender roles may limit girls’ access to education. According to UNICEF, in some northern states like Kano and Sokoto, the female literacy rate can be as low as 14%, compared to over 60% for males. Rural communities also bear the brunt of illiteracy, as limited infrastructure and fewer educational opportunities hinder literacy development. Consequently, illiteracy tends to be more prevalent in rural areas than in urban centers.

The economic implications of adult illiteracy are significant, as it restricts individuals’ access to higher-paying jobs and hampers their ability to participate fully in the workforce, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. According to the World Bank, each additional year of education for an individual can increase their income by up to 10%. Furthermore, illiteracy impacts health outcomes and overall development, as individuals with low literacy levels struggle to understand health information and engage in civic activities. Despite government efforts to address adult illiteracy through initiatives such as adult education programs and literacy campaigns, challenges such as limited resources, infrastructure deficits, and socio-cultural barriers persist. It becomes imperative, therefore, that literacy, both at the foundational and adult levels, be a core objective of the nation’s education reformation.

  • National Ethos and Values:

The national ethos of a nation encapsulates its core values, beliefs, and ideals, shaping its collective identity and guiding its actions on both individual and societal levels. The national ethos of a country provides both sociological and ideological definitions to that country and stands it out in the comity of nations. It serves as the compass, influencing policies, behaviors, and interactions within the nation and between it and other countries. It also serves as the ideal vision from which her citizens and communities can build their personal and communal visions. Essentially, the national ethos encapsulates the core principles that characterize the nation’s character and aspirations. For instance, the national ethos of the United States is rooted in the ideologies of liberty, equality, democracy, and opportunity that encompass the ideals of individual rights, freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and the pursuit of happiness towards the goals of diversity, innovation, and resilience.

Chapter 2 Section 23 of the Nigerian Constitution describes the national ethics of the nation as Discipline, Integrity, Dignity of Labor, Social, Justice, Religious Tolerance, Self-reliance and Patriotism. Other national values spread across several sources, including the constitution and official government statements include cultural diversity, respect for the rule of law, democracy, patriotism, faith and spirituality among others.

Cultivating and disseminating a thorough understanding of the national ethos of the country should be a major objective of the Nigerian education system. Education should play a role in the acculturation of citizens towards the collective identity of the nation. Thus, there is a need to align the education systems towards the promotion of the national ethos.

  • Skills

The education system of Nigeria must put skill development right at its center. Education must go beyond rote memorization of facts to helping learners acquire various forms of skills that make them form a formidable human capital for the nation. Educated citizens must be skilled to be able to create individual livelihoods, community wealth, and national value chains and thus effectively contribute to the economic transformation and global competitiveness of the nation, especially considering the 4th Industrial Revolution. There are at least 5 kinds of skills that are crucial for education to help develop among the nation’s educated citizens:

  1. Technological Skills: In the 4IR, technology plays a central role in driving economic growth and innovation. Without adequate technological skills, Nigeria may struggle to adopt and leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness across various industries. This lack of technological proficiency can hinder the development of advanced manufacturing, digital services, and other high-value sectors critical for economic transformation.
  1. Scientific Skills: Scientific knowledge and research are essential for innovation and the development of new products, processes, and technologies. Without a strong base of scientific skills, Nigeria may face challenges in conducting cutting-edge research, developing indigenous technologies, and addressing complex societal problems. This can limit the country’s ability to create value-added products, attract investment, and compete in knowledge-intensive industries globally.

iii. Vocational Skills: Vocational skills are crucial for meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving labor market and supporting industries such as construction, manufacturing, and services. Without a skilled workforce in areas such as plumbing, welding, electrical work, and automotive repair, Nigeria may struggle to meet infrastructure needs, maintain industrial machinery, and provide essential services. This can impede economic development and hinder efforts to build resilient and sustainable communities.

iv. Entrepreneurial Skills: Entrepreneurship is a driving force behind economic growth, job creation, and innovation. Without a culture of entrepreneurship and the necessary skills to start and grow businesses, Nigeria may struggle to unleash the full potential of its human capital and natural resources. Lack of entrepreneurial skills can inhibit the creation of new ventures, the scaling of existing enterprises, and the development of vibrant ecosystems that foster innovation and collaboration. A focus on developing vocational skills, when combined with entrepreneurial skills and efficient access to capital, will play an important role in boosting employment in Nigeria, as self-employment is one of the most potent methods of reducing unemployment.

v. Interpersonal/Soft Skills: These encompass a range of personal attributes, attitudes, and abilities that facilitate effective interactions with others, adept navigation of social situations, and success across various life and work domains. Unlike job-specific technical skills, soft skills are transferable and relevant across different roles and environments. They include skills such as communication, problem-solving, adaptability, leadership, time management, and emotional intelligence. These capabilities are vital for fostering relationships, collaborating effectively, managing conflicts, and attaining both personal and professional achievements. Soft skills complement technical proficiency and are highly prized by employers in today’s ever evolving and interconnected world. Without appropriate soft skills, educated Nigerians might struggle to sustain their jobs and/or ventures, adapt to changing global workforce dynamics, and innovate for the long haul.

Nigerian Tertiary Education particularly needs to foster integration between academia and the industry. While academia is traditionally expected to serve as a supplier of human capital and a catalyst for research-based innovation in industries, this synergy has not been fully realized within the Nigerian tertiary education system. Students in higher education often have limited exposure to the professional world, and the curriculum tends to prioritize academic theory over the development of practical skills required in the modern world of work. It is therefore pertinent that skill development becomes a core objective of education for Nigeria to position itself as a competitive player in the global economy and achieve sustainable economic transformation. Investing in education, training, research and development, and supportive policies can help develop a skilled workforce equipped to drive innovation, create value, and thrive in the 4IR.

  II. IS NIGERIA’S CURRENT EDUCATION POLICY FIT FOR PURPOSE?

The impetus for a national education policy arose from the 1969 National Curriculum Conference, which convened a diverse group of Nigerians. This gathering was prompted by widespread dissatisfaction with the existing education system, which had become disconnected from national needs, aspirations, and goals.

The conference, occurring amidst the Civil War, served as a pivotal moment for the development of Nigeria’s indigenous education system and continues to underpin the nation’s educational philosophy. Beyond intentionally tailoring an educational framework to align with the nation’s cultural context and practical requirements, a notable aspect of this conference was its inclusivity, drawing participants from diverse sectors of Nigerian society beyond academia and government.

Following the National Curriculum Conference, a seminar was held involving representatives from various interest groups across Nigeria, including voluntary agencies and external bodies. The seminar deliberated on the essential components of a national education policy suitable for an independent and sovereign Nigeria. The result was a draft document that, after receiving input from states and other interest groups, culminated in the publication of the National Policy on Education in 1977. Subsequent editions followed in 1981 and 1993. The fourth edition, released in 2004, was prompted by policy innovations and changes, as well as the need to update the previous edition from 1998. The subsequent editions, 2007 and 2013, reflecting the evolving landscape of social change and educational demands, incorporated recent developments such as:

  • Rescinding the suspension order on Open and Distance Learning programs by the Government.
  • Strengthening and expanding the National Mathematics Centre (NMC).
  • Establishment of the Teachers Registration Council (TRC).
  • Integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the school system.

  • Inclusion of French Language in the primary and secondary school curricula as a second official language.

  • Specification of the minimum number of subjects required for candidates.

  • Incorporating basic education into the school program to ensure equal opportunity and implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE).

  • Enhancing the science, technical and vocational education scheme to optimize national educational performance.

  • Updating the policy to reflect current best practices in education, among other changes.

Nigeria’s education policy has evolved over the years, aiming to address various challenges in the education sector, such as access, quality, and relevance. In recent years, Nigeria’s education policy has been undergoing reforms to improve the quality of education and make it more relevant to the needs of the society and the economy. Some key aspects of the current education policy include:

      i.Universal Basic Education (UBE) Policy: Implemented to ensure that every Nigerian child has access to free and compulsory basic education. This policy covers the first nine years of formal education, comprising six years of primary education and three years of junior secondary education.

        ii. Tertiary Education Policy: Nigeria has various tertiary education institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. The policy aims to expand access to tertiary education while also ensuring quality and relevance. Efforts have been made to improve infrastructure, curriculum, and faculty quality in these institutions.

        iii. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET): Recognizing the importance of skills development for economic growth and youth empowerment, Nigeria has been placing more emphasis on TVET. Efforts have been made to improve the quality and relevance of vocational education to align with industry needs.

        iv.Curriculum Reforms: There have been ongoing efforts to review and update the national curriculum to make it more responsive to the needs of the society and economy. This includes integrating technology, entrepreneurship, and critical thinking skills into the curriculum.

         v.Teacher Training and Capacity Building: Improving the quality of teachers is crucial for enhancing the overall quality of education. The government has been investing in teacher training and professional development programs to equip educators with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Despite these efforts, Nigeria’s education system still faces many significant challenges, including inadequate funding, infrastructure deficits, teacher shortages, and issues of equity and access, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, there are concerns about the quality and relevance of the curriculum and the effectiveness of implementation. So, it continues to beg the question if the current national policy on education is truly fit for its purpose of shaping the nation’s education system as the vital national human capital supplier in the 21st century.

A full 55 years later, the Nigerian education system still largely runs on the 1969 vision. The National Policy on Education, even with all its revision, still imbibes a view of education that doesn’t reflect much of the globalization trends of the 21st-century world. Its most current version was published in 2013, i.e. 11 years ago – a testament to the fact that much of our current education vision is playing catch up with rapidly changing global dynamics.

In addition, the National Education Policy suffers from implementation challenges. Innovative policy reforms are sometimes crippled at the implementation stages due to factors such as lack of adequate human capacity, inadequate funding, and corruption. At other times, implementation of policies is sometimes slowed down or completely side-stepped because of weak political will and vested interests within the community of stakeholders responsible for implementation. Despite the creditable objectives and structure of education in Nigeria, all indications point to the fact that the Nigerian system of education failures is on the yearly increase which can be effectively attributed to problems of policy implementation.

IV.NIGERIA EDUCATION POLICY AND GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS: LESSONS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

The socioeconomic strength of any country is directly correlated to the strength of its education system. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) which assesses 15-year-olds’ abilities in reading, mathematics, and science, found a clear correlation between the academic achievement and economic outcomes of a country. Generally, developed countries with strong education systems demonstrate some common key characteristics, including:

                  i. Implementation of rigorous standards and cohesive curricula designed to prepare students for a competitive global economy. Teaching and learning methodologies prioritize critical thinking, interdisciplinary connections, and fostering innovation.

                  ii. A commitment to both equity and excellence in education. Highly ranked nations ensure that all students, regardless of socio-economic background, have access to high-quality education.

                 iii.Rigorous recruitment and training processes for teachers and school leaders. Only individuals with  exceptional academic achievements are selected to join the education profession, and continuous professional development opportunities are provided to maintain a focus on shared educational objectives. Compensation and career advancement structures are clearly defined.

                 iv.A strong emphasis on mathematics and science education, starting from the early stages of primary schooling and progressing throughout the educational journey.

                v. A dedication to extended learning time and academic effort. Asian students, for example, invest more time in their education compared to their American counterparts, leading to a deeper academic foundation.

               vi.Astrong commitment to adequate financing of education.

 

High-Performing Education Systems: Case Studies of Israel and South Korea

In 2012, Israel ranked second among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (tied with Japan and after Canada) for the percentage of 25 to 64-year-olds that have attained tertiary education with 46 percent compared with the OECD average of 32 percent. In addition, nearly twice as many Israelis aged 55–64 held a higher education degree compared to other OECD countries, with 47 percent holding an academic degree compared with the OECD average of 25%. It ranks fifth among OECD countries for the total expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP.

In 2011, the country spent 7.3% of its GDP on all levels of education, comparatively more than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 6.3%. As a result, Israel has fostered an education system that helped transform the country and rapidly grow its economy over the past 70 years. In 2019, OECD countries spent on average 4.9% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on primary to tertiary educational institutions. In Israel, the corresponding share was 6.2%. Between 2008 and 2019, funding for educational institutions from all sources grew by 74% in Israel. Over the same period, the increase in GDP was lower with 52%. Consequently, expenditure on educational institutions as a share of GDP grew by 0.8 percentage points over the same time.

South Korea is another top-performing OECD country in reading, literacy, mathematics, and sciences, with the average student scoring about 519, compared with the OECD average of 493, which ranks Korean education at ninth place in the world. The country has one of the world’s highest-educated labor forces among OECD countries and is well known for its high standard of education, resulting in the nation being consistently ranked amongst the top for global education.

The main driving force behind Korea’s development is the government’s investment in human resources. Consequently, Korea can provide the necessary skilled workforce at the right time through vocational education and training and is now preparing for the future by tackling issues

posed by the 4th industrial revolution. The Korean government has launched and implemented two major education policies: The Free Semester Program (FSP) and the SMART Initiative. Through such efforts, Korea aims to meet changing industrial demands and foster a creative economy. The Free Semester Program (FSP) was implemented to address the identified shortcomings in its education system, including academic stress, teacher-centric teaching/learning, learning confined to textbook and class, test-based assessment, and teacher-dominant education manpower. First announced in 2013, FSP aimed at developing competencies for the 4th industrial revolution, such as creativity, problem-solving skills, higher-order thinking skills, and social-emotional skills, with four objectives by offering students a chance to find their dreams and talent and continuously reflect upon and develop themselves through experiences of exploring and designing their aptitude and future. Diverting from a competition-centered education, FSP enables self-leading creative learning and the development of creativity, personality, and social skills through a shift towards student-centered teaching and learning. Rather than traditional lecture-based classes, students are engaged in solving complex problems through project-based learning and debates. FSP was initiated in 43 schools and continually expanded to all 3204 middle schools (100% of all public middle schools) as its overall positive impact was recognized.

Korea also launched its Self-directed, Motivated, Adaptive, Resource-enriched, and Technology-embedded (SMART) Education initiative in 2011 to customize education systems and bridge the gap between these new and innovative fields and the education sector in a way that fosters learner capacities for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The key goal of implementing the SMART Education initiative was to digitize educational content by 2015, reflecting modern changes of the 21st century and to utilize ICTas a primary medium of learning.

Key Lessons for Nigeria

Nigeria’s 21st-century education policy should reflect a commitment to providing equitable, inclusive, and high-quality education that empowers individuals, strengthens communities, and drives national development. Taking lessons from countries with strong education systems, the nation’s education policy should prioritize several key areas, including:

        i.Digital Literacy: Incorporating technology into teaching and learning processes to enhance engagement, access to information, and innovation to equip students with digital skills essential for the modern workforce.

        ii.Quality of Education: Ensuring that the curriculum is up-to-date, relevant, and of high quality to meet international standards and equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a globalized economy.

        iii. Access to Education: Addressing barriers to education such as poverty, gender inequality, and geographical disparities to ensure equal access to quality education for all children.

        iv.Skills Development: Focusing on developing critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration skills to prepare students for the challenges of the future workplace.

        v.Teacher Training: Providing continuous professional development and support for teachers to enhance their skills, motivation, and well-being in delivering

effective and engaging lessons using modern teaching methods and technologies.

              vi.Partnerships and Collaboration: Collaborating with various stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector organizations, civil society, and international partners, to leverage resources, expertise, and best practices in education delivery and improvement.

               vii. STEM Education: Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to cultivate a workforce capable of driving innovation and technological advancement.

               viii. Entrepreneurship Education: Introducing entrepreneurship education to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among students and empower them to create jobs and contribute to economic growth.

               ix. Cultural Relevance: Acknowledging the importance of preserving and promoting Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage within the education system, fostering a sense of identity, pride, and belonging among students.

               x. Infrastructure Development: Investing in infrastructure such as schools, libraries, and laboratories to create conducive learning environments for students and teachers.

effective and engaging lessons using modern teaching methods and technologies.

              vi.Partnerships and Collaboration: Collaborating with various stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector organizations, civil society, and international partners, to leverage resources, expertise, and best practices in education delivery and improvement.

               vii. STEM Education: Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to cultivate a workforce capable of driving innovation and technological advancement.

               viii. Entrepreneurship Education: Introducing entrepreneurship education to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among students and empower them to create jobs and contribute to economic growth.

               ix. Cultural Relevance: Acknowledging the importance of preserving and promoting Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage within the education system, fostering a sense of identity, pride, and belonging among students.

               x. Infrastructure Development: Investing in infrastructure such as schools, libraries, and laboratories to create conducive learning environments for students and teachers.

  1. Monitoring and Evaluation: Implementing robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of education policies, monitor student learning outcomes, measure the effectiveness of education programs, and inform evidence-based decision-making.

          xii. Adaptability and Innovation: Building flexibility and adaptability into the education system to respond to changing needs and circumstances, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

 

V.RECOMMENDATIONS: REFORM OF EDUCATION POLICY AND PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

  • Recommended Philosophical Basis of Nigerian Education

The following philosophical foundations can provide guiding principles for shaping educational policies and practices in Nigeria to reform Nigerian education into the human capital generator it needs to be while reflecting the country’s diverse cultural, social, and historical contexts.

        i. Human-centeredness and Intellectualism: Human-centered education focuses on the holistic development of the individual, emphasizing the development of the learner’s critical thinking, creativity, innovation prowess and all-round personal growth. In Nigeria, human-centered principles can guide educational practices that prioritize the well-being and intellectual empowerment of students, nurturing their full potential as individuals and members of society.

Intellectualism refers to engagement with, and respect for, seemingly abstract ideas and concepts as the essential foundation for progress in all spheres of human activity, including invention and innovation, systems of governance, and the success of national economies.

          ii.Social Reconstructionism: This philosophy views education as a tool for addressing social inequalities and promoting social justice. In Nigeria, social reconstructionist principles will advocate for educational policies and practices that empower marginalized communities, challenge systemic injustices, and promote inclusive development.

         iii. Nationalism and Cultural Identity: Given Nigeria’s diverse cultural landscape, educational philosophy often includes elements of nationalism and cultural identity. This involves promoting a sense of pride in Nigerian heritage, history, and traditions while also fostering unity and solidarity among the country’s diverse ethnic and cultural groups.

         iv.Pragmatism: Pragmatic philosophy emphasizes practical experience, problem-solving, and experiential learning. In Nigerian education, a pragmatic approach can guide curriculum development and teaching methods that prioritize real-world relevance, vocational skills development, and entrepreneurship education

         v.Educational Equity and Inclusion: Grounded in principles of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity, this philosophy emphasizes the importance of addressing disparities based on gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and disability. In Nigeria, educational equity and inclusion are essential principles for ensuring that all students have access to quality education and opportunities for success.

  • Repositioning the Teaching Profession – Teacher Training and Teacher Pay

Efforts to reform teaching must focus on two interconnected areas:

Philosophical reorientation of the teaching profession

A philosophical reorientation of the teaching profession is imperative, moving away from the perception of teaching as a less desirable option, as outlined in the Ministerial Strategic Plan for Education (2018-2022). This shift requires a comprehensive reevaluation of the social, economic, and intellectual aspects of the teaching profession. Teaching should be recognized and esteemed as a vital profession responsible for fostering human capital development. Educators should be viewed as problem-solvers, facilitating value creation within the human capital ecosystem, and be trained accordingly. The government must demonstrate a commitment to enhancing the attractiveness of the profession by offering improved and timely remuneration packages, ensuring the provision of essential infrastructure, and more.

Additionally, there must be a societal shift in recognizing teaching as a respected and supported profession that attracts top talent. Finland and South Korea, for example, top the list of developed countries with the best education systems because these countries have a strong culture of education in which education is highly valued and teachers enjoy a high status in society.

Enhancement of teaching efficacy

To enhance teaching effectiveness, it is essential to broaden the opportunities for teacher training. Pre-service teacher training at National Colleges of Education and Institutes of Education within Universities should be revised to align with the evolving demands of the 21st century. Continuous professional development for educators at all levels is vital in a rapidly changing world. The teacher education curriculum must be redesigned to accommodate advancements in subject knowledge and to equip teachers with the ability to continuously enhance their teaching skills. Particularly in Nigeria, where societal challenges impact the quality of education, teachers should be trained as education solution providers, equipped with intellectual curiosity, professional insight, and critical thinking skills to address local educational challenges. Modern teachers should be seen as educational thought leaders with a profound understanding of their role within the economy. Concepts such as strategic thinking, design thinking, and social entrepreneurial leadership should be integrated into both pre-service and in-service teacher training programs. The establishment of Teacher Resource Centers, as proposed by the Revised National Policy on Education (2013), should be expanded to meet existing needs. Emphasizing education research is crucial, as sustainable reforms in the education sector must be informed by ongoing empirical and qualitative insights to evaluate the effectiveness of reform practices.

  • Financial Investment in Education

The education sector urgently requires enhanced financing, accompanied by clear and impartial guidelines for education financing that transcend individual political interests. Over the course of the past four years, Oyo State, for example, has demonstrated a commendable commitment to increasing the allocation of funds towards education. This serves as a noteworthy model that should be emulated by various levels of government to prioritize the advancement of education. It is imperative to address the issue of excessive costs of governance within annual budgets to enable the efficient utilization of limited resources towards essential socioeconomic priorities such as education. Moreover, there is a pressing need to diversify the sources of funding for education beyond government resources by incorporating greater private sector investment. Recent data indicates a notable growth in diaspora remittances and alumni financial contributions to educational institutions, highlighting a promising trend towards increased involvement of the diaspora community and alumni in the financing of education.

One notable example is the takeover of the famous Government College Umuahia, which fell into decay after the 1980s, from the Abia State Government by the school’s alumni, and the reinvention of the school under the non-profit Fisher Educational Development Trust as its new owner. A massive rebuilding and refurbishment of the institution followed, with approximately N3 billion in

funds donated by its Old Boys. The institution, which first had to be closed in order to reposition it, has now been reopened as a modern, 21st century secondary school under private and non-profit ownership. This Guest Lecturer happens to be an Old Boy of this institution and contributed his widow’s mite to the school’s restoration. Several other secondary schools in Nigeria are undertaking similar efforts at revival under alumni initiatives. There is a need and space for the active engagement of alumni, including those in the diaspora, in providing structured and systematic financial support for education initiatives.

Foreign investment in education in Nigeria should be encouraged and strategically pursued. This approach will serve three functions – enhance the pool of human capital needed for broad-based economic productivity, limit the drain on Nigeria’s foreign reserves created by the demands of paying for tertiary education abroad, and reverse the brain drain. An example Nigeria can look at is the EduCity Iskandar in Malaysia, a multi-campus education city with 305 acres of universities, higher education institutions, research and development centers that has Malaysian campuses of foreign universities such as Newcastle University, Maastricht University, and University of Reading. Another example is Rwanda, which hosts a campus of the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States.

  • Tackling Access to and Quality of Foundational Learning (Lessons from Burundi)

The World Bank blog, 2024 reported that the Government of Burundi made strides in the quality of foundational learning by investing in high-quality instruction in children’s mother tongue, Kirundi, in early grades. There has also been a commitment to building teams of qualified and dedicated teachers and to nurturing community engagement and support. The results of these initiatives are underscored by the ‘Programme d’analyse des systèmes éducatifs de la CONFEMEN’ (PASEC) student assessment, which shows that Burundian children shine in reading and mathematics, particularly in early grades, outperforming their peers in other Sub-Saharan African Francophone countries. The World Bank-funded Burundi Early Grade Learning Project (PAADESCO) has played a pivotal role in maintaining the quality of education by bolstering the primary school curriculum, enhancing teaching, and learning resources, extending school feeding programs, and providing essential school kits. Building on the successes of PAADESCO, the Human Capital Development Project, currently under preparation, aims to further advance reforms of the curriculum. It will concentrate on facilitating a smooth transition from Kirundi to French as the language of instruction, helping ensure uninterrupted learning.

To effectively tackle the issue of the access-quality conundrum within Nigeria’s education system and emphasize the importance of investment in primary and secondary education, the subsequent recommendations can be derived from the model set forth by Burundi, which includes the need for infrastructure improvement, curriculum review and development, teacher recruitment and training, ensuring equity of access, and appropriate community/stakeholder engagement. The nature of education expenditure also matters greatly. Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa spend 10 times more on university students than on primary school pupils, according to UNESCO. Burundi offers an interesting example. The country brought down its numbers of out of school children from 723,000 in 1999 to 10,000 in 2009, increasing its investment in education from 3.2% to 8.3%. Burundi dedicated a much larger portion of its education budget to primary education than secondary schools and universities. By adopting these recommendations and learning from the experiences of countries like Burundi, Nigeria can make significant strides in addressing the access-quality conundrum in primary and secondary education. Investing in these foundational levels of education is essential for building a skilled workforce, promoting social mobility, and driving sustainable development and prosperity across the nation.

  • Curriculum Reform

Given the rapidly evolving global landscape and the increasing importance of technology, science, entrepreneurship, and teacher training in driving economic growth and innovation, Nigeria must realign its education curriculum, particularly at the tertiary level, to prioritize these areas. By allocating 70% of the curriculum to technology, science, entrepreneurship, and teacher training, Nigeria can better equip its youth with the skills and knowledge needed to compete in the 21st-century economy, foster entrepreneurship, and improve the quality of education across the board. I also recommend that Ethics becomes a compulsory subject in the education curriculum in Nigeria at both primary (in a simplified and elementary form) and secondary school in a more comprehensive form. This will help achieve the educational objective of creating good and responsible citizens.

  • Pedagogy Reform

There is also a need to shift the pedagogical practices of the Nigerian classroom from one that emphasizes rote memorization to more intellectual engagement, creative thinking, and experiential learning. For instance, in tertiary education, it is imperative to foster the connection between academia and industry to improve the socio-economic impact of education. Tertiary students require exposure to real-world challenges that their education is designed to help them address. Edem Ossai (2023) put forth two models to assist students in applying abstract concepts learned in the classroom to practical situations. The first model suggests the establishment of discipline-based incubation spaces. In STEM fields, these spaces can function as Innovation Centers where students use STEM principles to tackle local issues. For non-STEM disciplines like arts, social sciences, and law, these incubation spaces can serve as Thinking Clinics where students engage with real-life case studies that necessitate the application of their knowledge.

The second model recommends the implementation of Experiential Capstone Projects to replace the current theoretical undergraduate thesis model. These projects would require students to develop solutions to community problems, marking the culmination of their academic journey. These models draw on existing practices in higher education and have been successfully implemented by universities in Africa, notably the African Leadership University in Rwanda. This successful implementation showcases the feasibility of such approaches even within the intricate African educational landscape.

Enhancing pedagogy reform in primary and secondary schools involves investing in comprehensive teacher training programs to equip educators with modern pedagogical techniques, subject matter expertise, and effective classroom management skills. Provide ongoing professional development opportunities to keep teachers updated on best practices and innovative teaching methods. It is also imperative to integrate technology into the classroom to enhance teaching and learning experiences and to provide teachers with access to educational resources, interactive multimedia tools, and online platforms for collaborative learning. Instruction strategies should also be catered to student’s learning systems and should accommodate diverse student needs. The classroom environment should encourage active participation, inquiry-based learning, and critical reflection while also fostering student engagement through cooperative learning structures, Socratic questioning techniques, and experiential activities. By implementing these strategies, primary and secondary schools can experience pedagogical reform, improve teaching and learning outcomes, and create a conducive environment for student success and academic excellence.

Finally, by investing in the practices and tools that foster creative thinking and innovation, Nigeria can create a more dynamic and resilient education system that meets the needs of students and the labor market, ultimately driving sustainable growth and prosperity for the nation.

  • Standards and Compliance

Nigerian education policy revitalization should also prioritize building and implementing effective standards and regulatory measures that ensure the compliance of all forms of education institutions to the necessary quality of the educational system. Some of the paramount forms of standards necessary are:

            i.Curriculum Standards: Establishing a framework for curriculum development that emphasizes relevance, flexibility, and alignment with national development goals. There’s a need for a broad-based curriculum that integrates academic, vocational, technical, and entrepreneurial skills.

           ii.Assessment Standards: Developing guidelines to monitor student’s progress through continuous assessment and evaluation and ensure learning outcomes are achieved. It encourages the use of various assessment methods, including formative and summative assessments, to provide a comprehensive picture of student achievement.

            iii. Teacher Certification and Qualification Standards: Setting requirements for teacher education and professional development in ensuring quality teaching. It emphasizes the need for qualified and well-trained teachers and outlines requirements for teacher certification and licensure.

            iv.Accreditation Standards: Accreditation by recognized bodies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is a means to ensure quality assurance and improvement in educational institutions.

             v.Accessibility and Inclusion Standards: This emphasizes the importance of providing equal access to education for all Nigerian citizens, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic status. It calls for measures to promote inclusive education and address barriers to learning, including those faced by marginalized and vulnerable groups.

V.CONCLUSION

Nigeria is urgently in need of educational policy that can enhance its human capital, make it globally competitive, and bolster its standing within the global community. This kind of education must prioritize access and quality by emphasizing literacy, skills, and national values. Our country has suffered a massive, progressive collapse of values over the past several decades. This has happened largely because we have taken our eyes off the ball of education, which is the foundation upon which every society rises or falls. The progressive loss of respect for ideas and education as a value naturally extended to a loss of priority for education as a national priority as the national focus shifted to the effects of Nigeria’s resource curse from the oil boom – easy money and illicit wealth from rent-seeking activities. The domino effect of this decline in values was felt in the death of a drive for access to education and the quality of education. As the private sector became increasingly involved in education through the establishment of both elite and pseudo-elite private schools, Nigeria’s public education system increasingly faced a struggle for survival and relevance.

We have not lacked education policy in Nigeria. Implementation, however, has always been our big weakness. But even the policies we have are out of date and out of place if we seek to transform Nigeria to become a nation, not just a country, to become a global power and not just a “potential” power. We can do it. Just look at how our compatriots thrive in foreign lands where the right philosophies drive education, making it a true national priority in terms of purpose, strategy, and investment.

We must return to education as a national priority, and to education that has a clear objective and purpose. There is no alternative but to reform our public education system and make it world class.

No country in the world has risen with a reliance on private sector educational institutions alone. The reason is obvious: private education is expensive, and only a tiny percentage of citizens can afford it. Education is a fundamental human right. If that right is to be respected, then education must be a national public good – accessible, qualitative, and affordable. This is the path to Nigeria’s rise in the 21st century.

References

Emily Markovich Morris and Ghulan Omar Qargha (2023), “In the Quest to Transform Education, Putting Purpose at the Center is Key”, Brookings Institution Commentary, www.brookings.edu/articles

Ezeyi, V.N., Ene, N.N.S., & Nwosu, R.Y. (2013). National Policy on Education in Nigeria [Article]. In: Historiological Dimensions of Nigerian Education. Equity Ventures in Conjunction with Mega Atlas Projects Limited, pp. 91-150. ISBN 978-978-49195-0-4.

OECD (2022), Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en.

Ossai, Edem (2023, September 20) Redefining the Role of Tertiary Educator in Nigeria [Webinar]. The Education Partnership Webinar Series.

Euiryeong Jeong (2020). Education Reform for the Future: A Case Study of Korea. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT). Vol. 16, Issue 3 (Special Issue), pp. 66-81

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WHAT AFRICA MUST DO ABOUT BRAIN DRAIN

WHAT AFRICA MUST DO ABOUT BRAIN DRAIN

If health is truly wealth, as the popular saying goes, does Africa have any chance of escaping mass poverty and low rankings in the human development index that measures the quality of life of the world’s peoples? This is an existential question for the continent because its health systems are collapsing, worsening the quality of life of millions of Africans who do not have adequate and quality healthcare because the continent’s doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists and other health professionals are fleeing abroad in search of greener pastures. Real development is not just about GDP growth numbers, but more about GDP per capita and human development issues such as the availability of quality healthcare and Universal Health Coverage, education and skills, nutrition, potable water, and life expectancy.

Africa, which has only 3% of the world’s health workforce despite being 18% of the world’s population, has suffered a massive “brain drain” – a one-directional migration of skilled human capital that benefits only the receiving countries – for several decades. The problem has become acute, progressively getting worse as the years have gone by. And it isn’t going away soon. While the brain drain is a challenge for the continent across the board, it is most profound – and its impact heaviest – in the healthcare sector.

Consider: 65% of Egypt’s doctors work abroad. A total of 9,000 Nigerian doctors left Nigeria between 2016 and 2018 to work in the UK, USA and Canada. In Nigeria we call this the “japa” syndrome. Between 1986 and 1995, 61% of the entire graduates of one medical school in Ghana had migrated to other countries for work. A decade ago, an Ethiopian official lamented that there were more Ethiopian doctors in the United States city of Chicago than in Ethiopia.

When we look at Africa’s health workforce, what we see most vividly and immediately is a map that divides Africa and the developed world between the “brain drainers” and the “brain drained”. Fifteen of the world’s fiscally wealthiest countries have 55,000 African doctors working in their health systems – and this does not include nurses and other healthcare professionals. And there is anecdotal evidence that these numbers are a conservative estimate. The top “brain drainers are UK (13,909), USA (12,692), France (10,731), Canada (5,888), Germany (4,535), Ireland (3,056), and Australia (1,999). Conversely, Australia is the country that suffers the least brain drain the world. The top brain drained countries in Africa are, in ranking order, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, and Sudan.

The health workforce brain drain is caused mainly by a combination of political instability, insecurity, and weak economies, on the one hand, and insufficient investment in public health systems. Inadequate equipment and drugs supplies, health insurance, low worker pay (African healthcare workers earn between $200 and $500 a month on average, while their counterparts in developed countries earn, on the average, 3000% more) all combine to create very difficult working conditions. Progressively increasing healthcare needs in developed countries, partly because of aging populations also drive the brain drain, as the laws of demand and supply kick. In the UK there was a 38% increase in new registrations of foreign doctors in 2002 compared to 1993 – a decade. England needed 25,000 more doctors in 2008 than it did in 1997. The situation is far worse regarding nurses: England needed 250,000 more nurses in 2008 than it did in 1997. More than 75,000 nurses are estimated to have left Nigeria in 2017.

The COVID19 pandemic has massively increased the healthcare needs of developed countries. Recruitment campaigns for health professionals by developed western countries targeting health workers in developing countries, and the absence of effective health insurance to cover healthcare costs, all contribute to a potent, irresistible mix of “incentives” for the brain drain phenomenon. There also is a lack of recognition and appreciation of the healthcare professions. The importance of health workers and the healthcare professions is not explicitly recognized, appreciated, and incentivized in the governance of most African countries. This also includes non-financial aspects of recognition and reward including the value attached to scientific research, the impact and publicity of publications in professional journals etc. This, combined with poor working conditions, creates an urge to leave our countries to work in developed countries where the uniqueness of the medical and healthcare profession is recognized in different and innovative ways.

The brain drain has had disastrous consequences for African countries. There is low doctor to patient ratios because of staff shortages. The World Health Organization recommends a ratio of 1 doctor to 600 people, but in Nigeria the ratio is a paltry 1:9000, while in South Africa it is 1:3198. Doctors in training (interns, Residents) now carry most of the workload burden, resulting in lack of adequate supervision, overwork, and burnout, with dangerous implications for health outcomes. Most African countries have been unable to achieve Universal Health Coverage. Moreover, the brain drain of healthcare professionals in Africa threatens the whole spectrum of development. Health tourism, which leads to economic bleeding of financial resources that would have been spent inside African countries, thus boosting the economy, is another major consequence of the brain drain. And labor strikes by medical personnel, with disruptive and existential implications for lives and public health in general, are a reality of life in countries like Nigeria.

Although reversing the phenomenon of the brain drain will take time even in the best of scenarios, it is such an important threat to the well-being of the citizens of African countries that it ought to be a number one priority of public policy and governance. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Few African countries prioritize healthcare. Without evident political will to reverse the brain drain, especially in the health care sector, the future of most African countries is bleak. A state exists to enable the welfare and prosperity of its citizens, for them to thrive and not to merely exist. Without health, most individuals will not live fulfilled and economically productive lives.

Against this background, the following strategies must be adopted to begin to stem the impact of the healthcare sector brain drain. First, fiscal investments in improving healthcare systems must become an evident political priority. In 2001, member countries of the African Union pledged to allocate and invest 15% of their national budgets on health. Only Eritrea, Mauritius, and Seychelles have met this target. Without such a level of investment, and with such investments allocated and spent efficiently and effectively with monitoring and evaluation of outcomes, healthcare cannot take off in African countries. Private healthcare providers simply cannot fill the gap, as their services are costly for poor populations. Second, we must train multiple times more health professionals. This requires a significant shift in the education policy. We need to shift the curricula of tertiary institutions to prioritize science and technology, in particular medicine and health sciences. Nurses and laboratory technologists are critical in this context. Third, incentive structures need to be created and implemented. These include increased remuneration for public sector healthcare workers, which will also incentivize more people to study medicine and the other medical sciences such as nursing, pharmacy, and so on. There should also be additional incentives for healthcare workers who work in mostly underserved rural areas. Fourth, we must massively increase health insurance coverage, as viable health systems must have a working health insurance policy to subsidize their costs, including compensation for medical workers.

Fifth, African countries need to establish and invest in comprehensive Diaspora return strategies, focused on the healthcare and education sectors. The brain drain crisis cannot be addressed without a direct engagement with brain drained Africans and with an attractive proposition too. IGET proposes a Diaspora Fund that would pay Diaspora returnees 50-75% of the compensation they earn in developed countries, for a fixed period of 5 years. This strategy would appeal to patriotic Africans who wish to return to and work in the continent but cannot get over the realities of their financial needs. These kinds of Africans would accept some “discount” on their compensation abroad when purchasing power parity in African countries is factored in.

The newly established World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Pandemic Fund

could be adapted for this purpose. However, with $500 million at this time, it may be too meagre

to meet the diaspora return funding needs of larger countries that have been the greatest victims of the brain drain such as Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria alone would need at least a $500 million Fund for this purpose.

Sixth, investments in skills training for healthcare industry remote work could create a brain gain in which trained and skilled African workers work partly for industries abroad remotely, earning hard currency, in addition to supporting medical care at home. Conversely, “brain drained” medical personnel abroad can deploy the technology of telemedicine to support health systems at home in Africa. Seventh, the productivity base of African economies must be improved so that a general improvement in living, working and professional conditions can help retain a significant portion of health workers. This will require adequate electricity, improved security, and the availability of housing and educational opportunities. Eight, slow down population growth. Population growth is outstripping not just economic growth in many African countries, but also outperforming improvements and advances in health care systems and the capacity of the health workforce.

Finally, African countries need to engage more effectively with the World Health Organization’s Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, which aims to make such recruitments more “ethical” and ensures the oversight or involvement of national health authorities. But most African countries have yet to engage seriously with this framework as part of a holistic strategy to address their brain drain challenge. In the WHO Global Code of Practice 4th National Round of Reporting published in March 2022, only 8 African countries had submitted their national reports on the implementation of this framework in their respective countries.

African countries cannot afford to merely lament the brain drain, with little or no strategy, public policy, or tangible action. That’s simply admiring the problem. The brain drain is admittedly a difficult challenge, one not amenable to a quick fix. This is the case also because migration, whether for political, economic or other reasons, is an intrinsic part of human history. And we have seen no evidence of Francis Fukuyama’s famous phrase, the end of history. But we must begin to mount a serious response to the phenomenon in Africa. Without a viable health workforce, effective healthcare delivery can’t happen. And without healthcare, a basic human need, any talk of development is a pie in the sky.

References

Mark Green, “Africa’s Healthworker Brain Drain”, Wilson Center Blog Post, May 23, 2023, www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/africas-healthworker-brain-drain.

Alfred Olufemi, “There Won’t Be Enough People Left: Africa Struggles to Stop Brain Drain of Doctors and Nurses”, The Guardian (UK), August 14, 2023.

World Health Organization Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel: Fourth Round of Reporting, June 2, 2022, who.int/news/item/02-06-2-22.

Delanyo Dovlo, The Brain Drain and Retention

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Nigerian Education Conundrum: The Leadership Gap

Nigerian Education Conundrum: The Leadership Gap

A comprehensive assessment of the challenges of education in Nigeria has earlier grouped the challenges into 3 major gaps: The Access Gap, The Quality Gap, and The Outcome Gap. The access gap covers the challenges of education that limit people’s access to education, regardless of their age group. A detailed assessment of this was provided in a previous policy brief HERE. The Quality Gap addresses the challenges of education that add up to ensuring that the education access doesn’t live up to its expected ability to equip people for intellectual prowess and socioeconomic contributions. A previous policy brief dive fully into it HERE. The Outcome Gap explicates the challenges that low access to education and low quality of education instigates within the context of national development. A previous policy brief full describes it HERE. Upon closer scrutiny of the state of education in Nigeria, it becomes evident that there is a need to recognize another significant gap within the educational system. This crucial void is best described as the Leadership Gap.

Numerous scholars have endeavoured to define leadership, and a few of these definitions are

outlined below:

“Leadership is the ability to evaluate, and or forecast a long term plan or policy and influence the followers towards the achievement of the said strategy.” Adeoye (2009)

“Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives” (Yukl, 2010)

“Leadership is a set of behaviours used to help people align their collective direction, to execute strategic plans, and to continually renew an organization (McKinsey, 2022)

The leadership gap in Nigeria education comprises all challenges that impedes the ability to strategize and mobilise diverse resources essential in achieving an education system free from the challenges underpinning access, quality, and outcome gaps. This policy brief aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the issues surrounding leadership within the education sector while also offering recommendations to help bridge the existing gaps.

Understanding the Leadership Gap.

The leadership gap manifest 4 interrelated challenges:

  • Lack of cohesive vision for current realities

The 1969 National Curriculum Conference formed the bedrock for the Nigerian’s philosophy of education. The conference, which happened at a time the nation was still reeling from the Civil War, became a launchpad for the indigenous education system in Nigeria. Some key outcomes of the conference includes the birth of the National Policy of Education and the 6-3-3-4 system which later evolved to the 9-3-4 system in 2008. Aside from its intentional decolonization efforts, an excellent feature of this conference was how it brought together Nigerian people from different walks of life to cohesively deliberate on a vision for Nigeria’s education. The conference in its aim to chart a vision for Nigerian education drew participants from all segments of the Nigerian society including academic institutions at all levels, local governments, various ministries, trade unions, publishing houses (Akanbi and Abiolu, 2019). Every part of the Nigerian socio-economic, political, and bipartisan institutions were represented including religious bodies, teachers associations, other professionals (medical, legal, engineering etc.), university teachers and administrators, ministry officials, youth clubs, businessmen, representatives of the then government of the 12 States of Nigeria and more (Dan Asabe, 2009). The government of the time thought it was necessary for the vision of education that was to emanate from the conference to be cohesively built by Nigerians so it could be owned by all. Adaralegbe (1972) succinctly described it as follows:

“It was not a conference for educationists alone; it was necessary to hear the views of the masses of the people who are not directly engaged in teaching or other educational activities, for they surely have a say in any decisions to be taken about the structure and content of Nigerian education.”

55 years later, Nigerian education system still largely runs on the 1969 vision. The National Policy on Education, although revised 5 times since 1969, still imbibes a view of education that doesn’t reflect much of the globalization trends of the 21st century world. Its most current version was published in 2013 i.e. 11 years ago, a testament to the fact that much of our current education vision is playing catch up with rapidly changing global dynamics.

Unlike the 1969 curriculum conference which made space for the input of the general Nigerian populace, the work of formulation of education policies in Nigeria in recent decades have been restricted mostly to policymakers with little involvement of the Nigerian public. Frequently, educators, who are intended to play a role in implementing education policies, often find themselves also excluded or overlooked during the formulation stages of these policies. The general populace, and sometimes teachers, are usually only informed of the policy after it has been decided by the policy makers.

Even concerning the dissemination of information, there are limited opportunities for direct public input before they are set on the trajectory toward implementation. A policy that has no public input is doomed to lack their buy-in also. It is no wonder there is little cohesiveness in the implementation of many would-have-been innovative education policies in Nigeria.

Current strategies to address this challenge involves work aimed at getting the public involved in charting a modern vision for Nigeria’s education in a cohesive, public-facing manner. They include works being championed by local organizations like The Policy Shapers, whose mission is to lead public-facing policy development processes by promoting policy ideation, dialogue, and advocacy that are led by young people in Nigeria. However, there remains the need for strong leadership that can rally the interest, buy-in, and commitment of the diversity of the Nigerian populace towards dreaming, strategizing, and executing a long-term vision of the kind of education necessary for the Nigerian to thrive in a modern world.

  • The Intertwining of Education and Politics

Education, originally conceived as a public and apolitical good, has become entangled with the political landscape in Nigeria. The education system is designed in a way that makes the nation’s political situation central to its realities i.e., the outcome of education at a particular moment is closely intertwined with the ideologies, interests, and views of the political power of the day. Education is thus left at the mercies of becoming a power tool for the political class to enhance their interest and control the nation’s path. Different ruling classes gives different level of priority to education with evidence seen for example in a striking different educational budgetary allocation percentage across different tiers of government and different political affiliations. The implication is frequently evident in various scenarios, such as the discontinuation of innovative projects once they cease to align with the interests of the prevailing political class. This occurs, for instance, when initiated by an opposing political faction or when they no longer contribute significantly to consolidating the political class’s power.

Instances have arisen where the failure to implement or sustain policies occurs even within the tenure of the administration that initiated them. This can be attributed to various factors, including a lack of political will to persist or issues like corruption. An example is the School Feeding Programme that was inaugurated but later discontinued under the 2015-2023 presidential administration. At other times, implementation of policies are sometimes slowed down or completely side-stepped because of differing political will, affiliation and interests within the community of stakeholders responsible for implementing.

The influence of the nation’s political climate on the education system is further reflected in the substantial involvement of political interests in appointing administrators at various levels, ranging from ministries to universities. Frequently, considerations such as political affiliations, quota systems, and ethnicities take precedence over demonstrated educational and leadership capacities.

The towering influence of the political class on the education system is not without repercussions. An instance of such consequences, for example, is the erosion of trust in educational leaders. When stakeholders lack confidence in the capacity and competence of education leaders, it becomes significantly challenging for these leaders to galvanize collective efforts towards the shared objective of reforming the education sector.

  • Education Leadership Capacity

Aside from teachers, another crucial human-capital contributor to the education landscape is the category of education administrators. They are responsible for the process of planning, administration, and management of the education sector. The structure of education leadership manifests itself in two primary levels of administrative scope: institutional-level and government-level.

The institutional-level encompasses the leadership structure within various tiers of education (primary, secondary, and university), featuring roles such as principals, proprietors, deans, vice-chancellors, and others. These individuals are responsible for guiding the leadership within their specific institutions. On the other hand, the government-level leadership structure is tasked with establishing and guiding the higher-level administration that governs the functioning of multiple educational institutions. This leadership is distributed across different tiers of government (local, state, and federal) and includes positions such as Ministers of Education, Commissioners of Education, Directors, and more.

Education leaders at these diverse levels and tiers are expected to have demonstrated capacity for education leadership. While many of these roles primarily involve administrative responsibilities, the intricate and rapidly evolving nature of the education sector demands that these leaders possess competence not only in administration but also in the nuances of education itself. The education sector differs significantly from other industries in its perspectives, scope, and practices. Consequently, education leaders need to possess not only general administrative skills applicable in any field but also sector-specific expertise essential for this distinctive domain. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Numerous educational leadership roles have been occupied by individuals who, while competent in other domains, lack demonstrated evidence of sector-specific capacity crucial for effective planning, administration, and management of the educational sector. Additionally, there is limited evidence of education leaders’ commitment to ongoing professional development, which is essential for consistent knowledge acquisition and capacity building. This lack of dedication to staying abreast of evolving global dynamics is particularly concerning, given the ongoing need for continuous evolution in how we both conceptualize and implement education.

  • Education Financing

As previously highlighted, numerous decisions shaping the state of education in the country hinge on the inclinations of the political class. A critical example that warrants detailed exploration is the decision-making process regarding education financing. The decision for budgetary allocation for education at different levels of government lacks a specified national standard. Despite multilateral institutions like UNESCO recommending a 15-20% standard for budgetary allocation to education, as agreed upon by member states in 2015, this guideline is not consistently followed throughout the various tiers Nigerian government. Furthermore, the methodology employed in determining the budgetary allocation for education at various tiers of government remains unclear and is often influenced by the prevailing political power dynamics at that particular level.

It is not unusual to observe significant variations in budgetary allocations to education among different states and tiers of government. For instance, in 2024, Enugu state earmarked 26% of its budget for education, whereas Bauchi state and Ebonyi state allocated 16% and 6% of their budgets to education, respectively (See Figure 1). Conversely, at the Federal Government level, education received only 6.39% of the national budget.

The state of education financing within a specific tier of government thus heavily depends on the preferences of the political leader in charge. An illustrative example is the year 2019 when the budgetary allocation for education in Oyo state surged from 3% to 10% due to a change in the political leadership of the state administration. There remains the need for an education financing model that prioritizes the sector’s needs over the political inclinations of leaders.

Recommendations

  • Education Vision Revitalization

The educational vision of Nigeria requires revitalization to align with the realities of the 21st century and to place the opinions and diversity of the Nigerian populace at the forefront. This necessitates an extensive, collaborative process between policymakers and the diverse Nigerian population to redefine a vision outlining the characteristics of an educated Nigerian, their abilities, and how they can contribute to the nation, the African continent, and the global community. A preliminary step could involve revising the existing version of the National Policy of Education through a model that actively involves the public.

  • Nonpartisan Autonomy for Education Sector

The education sector must undergo a redesign that decentralizes political influence. The sector requires a nonpartisan sense of autonomy, where decisions are guided by clear, independent guidelines stemming from a renewed vision of education. This autonomy should also be maintained outside the full control of the political landscape.

  • Continuous Capacity Building for Educational Leaders

Beyond establishing transparent processes for selecting education administrators based on demonstrated educational leadership capacities, it is imperative that administrators commit to ongoing professional development. Education leaders must embrace opportunities for training, workshops, and collaborative initiatives that foster not only administrative acumen but also a deep and current understanding of the dynamic landscape of education. By prioritizing continuous learning and growth, education administrators can effectively navigate the complexities of the sector, implement innovative strategies, and contribute to the sustained improvement of the education system.

  • Clear guidelines for funding allocation

The education sector urgently requires enhanced financing, accompanied by clear and impartial guidelines for education financing that transcend individual political interests. This call for clarity is not novel, as certain aspects of education financing have already benefited from such transparency. For example, basic education is distinctly financed through concurrent contributions from the three tiers of government—federal, state, and local government authority, each with specified financing mandates and responsibilities for each tier. The federal government provides 50% and the state and local government as 30% and 20% respectively.

Extending such clarity to other areas of resource mobilization for education is essential. For instance, adopting a concise model to guide education budgetary allocation at all levels, regardless of the prevailing political landscape, would foster stability and consistency in funding. This model could establish predetermined percentages or criteria to allocate resources, mitigating the impact of political fluctuations on education financing.

References

Adaralegbe, A. (1969). A Philosophy of Nigeria Education. Ibadan: Heinemman

Adeoye, M (2009). A Leadership manager in Nigeria . Pearl publishing

Akanbi G.O and Abiolu O.A. (2018). Nigeria’s 1969 Curriculum Conference: A practical approach to educational emancipation. Cad. Hist. Educ. Vol.17 no.2. https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v17n2-2018-12

Dan-Asabe, A.U. (2009). National Policy on Education for Economic Reliance and Rehabilitation. Global Academic Group

Mckinsey (2022): What is leadership? Accessed online on 20 February 2024. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-leadership

Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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