Professor Benedicta Egbo: The Minister of Education Nigeria Urgently Needs

Dr. BENNETH JOSHUA KINGSLEY writes from Abuja

Few days ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made one of the most interesting interventions in the education sector. He signed into law the student education loan scheme to guarantee credit facilities for students.

What this scheme seeks to achieve is increased access to tertiary education for a larger number of Nigerians regardless of their social and economic status.

In effect, the student loan scheme, when mainstreamed into the economy, will create in the now, and even in the future, a reliable pool of Nigerian experts, hopefully, for all sectors.

According to Uche Nwosu, former Chief of Staff to the Rochas Okorocha’s administration in Imo State, the new student loan scheme is commendable in the sense that it is better to have more Nigerians educated, than what is obtainable in the present situation.

He also believes that in the short and long run, the scheme would have helped in reducing crimes and violent anti-social behaviours among the country’s youths who form Nigeria’s active demography.

But as laudable as the idea of the scheme is, it presents an organic problem, and one that must be tackled even before the takeoff of the initiative.

On this, it is instructive to realize that it is not enough to build specialised vehicles. Drivers must be trained to man them. And it takes one experienced in the mechanics of such specialised vehicles to train other drivers.

The new student loan scheme has thrown up two major challenges that need to be addressed immediately, and these are the problems of who will be the Minister of Education with the required experience and expertise to midwife the initiative and ensure the government achieves its intended goals.

Alas! This groundbreaking effort by the Tinubu administration is not one to be spearheaded by a politician or one that is not abreast with the dynamics of modern education. It has to be a technocrat who has initiated similar policies in the education sector, as it has to be somebody with the technical know-how on repositioning and revolutionalising an ailing education system for better performance and productivity.

This is very key, as any mistake in appointing who will implement this policy could see to the end of this milestone which is the driving force behind the industrialization and growth of Western economies, and their societies.

Professor Benedicta Egbo Ph.D. (Emeritus), a renowned educationist, has increasingly provided much needed evidence from research in rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa that show the value of literacy in increasing the life chances of women.

Her research has increasingly provided insight into macro and micro level policy options that are necessary for critical (re) construction of women’s lives in the region and elsewhere.

Her research interests and disposition towards education cover Educational Administration, Policy and Leadership, Comparative and International Education, Critical Pedagogy, Sociocultural Contexts of Education, Education and Social justice and Gender and Education.

Her relentless effort to add value to the Nigerian educational system is well documented with the donation of her books, “Education and Sustainable Development in 21st Century Nigeria”, to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State as part of her personal social responsibility geared towards contributing to the quality of education in Nigeria.

A Professor, Ph.D. (Emeritus) from the University of Toronto, Egbo’s academic achievements include a Masters of Arts also from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Education from University of Alberta and a Diploma in Education from University of Alberta, all in Canada.

Her work “Education and Sustainable Development in 21st Century Nigeria”, which she donated to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, is a 9-chapter book which was written from an interdisciplinary perspective, and it covers a wide range of topics on education and sustainable development within the context of a competitive 21st century global arena that demands innovation, creativity, adaptive skills, multiple literacies, environmental stewardship and responsibility.

If the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is to succeed in its drive to reposition the nation’s ailing education system, it must quickly search for, and find this female Professor to as a matter of urgency, bring her wealth of experience into changing the narrative in Nigeria’s education sector to a better one, so that the system is placed at par with global industry best practice.

From 2008-2012, she was also the Director of the Joint PhD Program in Educational Studies which is jointly offered by a consortium of three Canadian Universities, even as she holds a PhD in Educational Administration (Policy, Planning and Leadership) from the University of Toronto, Canada; an M.A. from the University of Toronto; a Bachelor of Education (French) from the University of Alberta, Canada.

Added to this impressive resume is a post-graduate Diploma from the University of Alberta and an N.C.E. (English/French)
from the former College of Education, Abraka (now Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria).

She worked extensively in various areas of education. Earlier in her career, she worked in Nigeria as a secondary school teacher and then as a Senior Inspector of Education (Oredo LGA, Benin-city; 1984-1988) respectively.

She has published widely and her books and other publications are used in universities globally.

Her recent book on Nigerian education titled “Education and Sustainable Development in 21st Century Nigeria” (2014), provides strategic and practical solutions to the challenges facing Nigeria in the areas of education and socio-economic development.

Another book Teaching for Diversity in Canadian Schools (Pearson Education, Canada) is currently used as upper undergraduate and postgraduate level textbook in universities across Canada and other developed countries e.g., the United States, Australia etc.

The 2nd edition of this very successful book was published in 2018, in Canada.

She is the Founding Editor of an acclaimed international academic journal: The Journal of Teaching and Learning.

No doubt, the erudite Professor Egbo has been involved in various development and educational capacity-building initiatives in Nigeria.

For example, in 2010, at the request of a State Government / Ministry of Education, she organized and visited Nigeria with a team of Canadian professors to re-train some of that state’s teachers.

For nearly an entire month, the team provided intensive short courses, workshops and professional development training to 300 mathematics and science teachers in the state.

In 2013, she conducted a study on women and education in four communities within the FCT (Abuja) area.

In 2012, she served as a resource person/consultant to both the 2nd SouthSouth Economic Summit which held in Asaba, Delta State, and the SouthSouth Education Summit that was held in Port Harcourt, River State, Nigeria.

Recall her memorandum / paper on elearning and educational reform in Nigeria, which she presented to the Senate Committee on Education, earning her a letter of commendation for the presentation.

She is a member of several professional organizations/associations, as she has received awards, honours and recognitions for her work and contributions to knowledge, research, education and social development.

As a globally renowned scholar, Prof. Egbo has contributed significantly to education, nationally and internationally.

Over the past several decades, she has vigorously and constructively engaged in the development of the talents, skills and intellectual powers of the schooling and working population worldwide through her intellectual work and publications.

She has trained many educationalists including policymakers, educational leaders, teachers, principals and development experts.

She has also taught, supervised and mentored many postgraduate students (Masters and PhD levels).

A well published author, her books and other publications are used in educational institutions world-wide. And as noted above, she is the Founding Editor of an academic journal, The Journal of Teaching and Learning.

Despite working in Canada, she is regularly in Nigeria where she’s been involved in many educational and societal improvement initiatives in Nigeria.

Records show that in 2015, she was in Nigeria to launch her book titled Education and Sustainable Development in 21stCentury Nigeria, which was written to serve as a blueprint for reform of the country’s ailing education sector.

This book examines and provides strategic and practical solutions to the challenges facing the education system in Nigeria (and Africa in general).

In recognition of her scholarly / intellectual achievements and, her contributions to education and development globally, Professor Egbo has received awards, honours and recognitions nationally and
internationally.

In 2010, she was named (and received an award) as one of the top fifty US/Canada
based Nigerians in celebration of Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary (Empowered Newswire Top 50 US / Canada Based Nigerians).

In an April 25, 2018 interview with the NTA, the renowned educationist provided solutions to the graduate unemployment problems in Nigeria, as she did the same in a May 15, 2015 interview where she told the country through the same TV channel the strategies for improving education in Nigeria.

The records are there also of her well documented roadmap contained in the Punch newspaper of September 5, 2010, where she showed the government of the day how to end the decline in the country’s education.

This intervention must have accounted for the Sun newspaper publication of 30 August 2011, wherein the respected daily described her as “Woman of the Sun”.

Add this to her interview with People’s Daily newspaper of March 10, 2010, on sanitizing the nation’s education system.

But her efforts to redirect the drift in the education system is not restricted to media interventions.

She has published widely on such topics as: Governance, Institutions and Development in Nigeria, Teaching for Diversity in Canadian Schools, Education and Sustainable Development in 21st Century Nigeria.

Others are, Making Education Count: Critical Educational Practice and the Life Chances of African Canadian Children; Education of African-Canadian Children: Critical Perspectives, Language Education and Gender in Keith Brown, as the Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, Second Edition, volume 6, pp. 400404. Oxford.

Yet others are, Women’s Education and Social Development in Africa; Issues in African Education: Sociological Perspectives; Female Literacy and Life Chances in Rural Nigeria; Selected Articles In Journals and Conference Proceedings; and What should pre-service teachers know about race and diversity? A critical knowledge base for teaching in 21st century Classrooms (Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education), Vol. 6 (2).

Similarly, she has in her kitten such remarkable and groundbreaking achievements as papers presented at international conferences, as well as her contributions in journals, to include, Teacher Capacity Building and Effective Teaching and Learning: A Seamless Connection- Paper presented at the International Conference on Teaching and Learning organized by African Association for Teaching and Learning (AATL), Federal College of Education (T), Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria: (September 58, 2011- Conference Proceedings).

Democratizing Leadership: Sustaining Diversity in Education through Diversity Oriented-Leadership (International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations (Vol.8. Pp.43-49); Exploring the Link between Eclectic Leadership and Just Educational Practices (proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Economy and Society, Paris) France July 17-19, 2008.

Transformative Learning in a Changing World: Guidelines and Strategies for Practice (Sixth International Conference on Transformative Learning. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Oct 68, 2005); Knowledge Construction in an Emergent Global Order: Towards Eclectic and Transformative Teaching Practices. UNESCO / Institute for Educational Research (University of Jyväskylä, Finland. June 15-18, 2003); Femanomics: Women, Literacy and Economics in sub-Saharan Africa (Equal Opportunities International 19 (2/3/4) 816).

She is a recipient of multiple research grants and funding, both individually and in collaboration with others throughout her career.

Nigeria cannot afford another mismatch in this area. The country’s youths must be prepared for a future that is increasingly looking bleak to a lot of them due to years of successive mishandling of this critical sector of the economy.

Professor Egbo, as evident, will be coming from a clime where such a loan system operates. As such, she’ll be swimming in familiar terrain.

Her intervention in the fate of women not just in Nigeria, but in Sub-Saharan Africa considering her literary expose’s which continue to give breath to the often taken-for-granted assumption on the impact of literacy on women’s lives is doubtlessly worthy of note.