What Manner of Education? 3

By Msonter Anzaa

Having examined the various areas we have problems with our education, let us proceed to consider the ways we can revive it and make it relevant to our needs.

We must address the fundamental essence of education – development of our ideas. This is a very promising dimension we can tap in to improve our socio-economic situation. Instead of forcing foreign stuff into our minds, we need to liberate our thinking process. We must expunge the uncountable impossibilities established around us. It costs nothing to think. We dream for free. Why should it be impossible to dream certain dreams just because of the prevailing opinion? Solving this problem will not come easy, and will involve a series of practical steps that will have to be taken and nurtured over a long time for the benefits to mature.

Matters Arising as Bakassi goes to Cameroon Today

By Msonter Anzaa

The Bakassi peninsula along the Southern Nigerian border with Cameroon, hosting Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State, has finally gone to Cameroon. The Federal Government has announced it will not be applying for a review of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) judgement delivered on the 10th of October 2002. It is obvious that following the expiry of the deadline for filing a review today October 9, whatever hopes Nigeria had of reclaiming Bakassi through the ICJ have crashed. What are the implications of this moment and how can the Federal Government of Nigeria ensure that the people of Bakassi find justice and peace at this trying period of their life?

What Manner of Education? 2

By Msonter Anzaa

“My father taught me to work. He did not teach me to love it.”
– ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Education teaches discipline. Discipline entails doing what is right because it is right even though we may not actually enjoy doing it. Discipline means controlling ourselves from within. It imposes sufficient inner checks on our natural instincts, which is why we are different from animals. An educated individual should be able to modify his behavior to conform to the norms and values of the society in which he lives. The most easily noticeable evidence that most of us have received an aberrant version of education is our time culture. It is annoying and often embarrassing, when individuals who are respectable by reputation fail to keep to time for no good reason. It is disorderliness. In Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, it has become a status symbol. The big man comes late as a mark of his position in the society. Unfortunately – and as a further proof of how poorly educated we really are – some of us admire this trend and even try to copy it! It’s not just madness; it is sickness of the kind that stands out a society in serious trouble.

The Mubi Murders: What were we doing?

By Msonter Anzaa

It was 10:00pm that night. Nigeria had just become 52. It was not their fault that they were Nigerians, or students, or human beings, or resident in the town of Mubi, or indeed, anything that made them the focus of attack by the night monsters. Yet, 40 of them; right in their rooms, in the land of their fathers, within the vicinity of their school, were murdered in cold blood. Students who had left their mothers and fathers, their beloved, serene homes to study; not in an enemy land, but in the country they call their own; their fatherland. It happened in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Why has the Nigerian state become so insecure and unpredictable? Why also, do we seem unable to predict when security breaches are likely? What must we do to restore security and order and enjoy peace in the land of our fathers?

What Manner of Education? 1

By Msonter Anzaa

“In school, teach him. It is far more honorable to fail than to cheat to pass. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas even if everyone tells him they are wrong.” – ABRAHAM LINCONLN, 16th US President.

Recently, there has been an increased clamor for education of almost every kind. From children to adults, people of almost every age are seeking more educational opportunities for themselves and their families than ever. Education services have also increased in quantity as evident by the countless number of schools within our communities. But what really is the essence of education and how can it be made to bear on the education sector in Nigeria?