NIGERIAN POLITICIANS: After benefiting from quality primary and secondary education, why remove the ladder for those coming behind?
By ABANIKANDA OLUMORO (UK)
It is painful to see leaders who benefited from relatively strong public education systems now sending their own children to expensive private schools, sometimes abroad, while millions of Nigerian children are left to struggle with poorly equipped public institutions.
There is a question that Nigerian politicians must answer honestly: Why did you remove the ladder after climbing it?
Many of today’s political leaders passed through public primary and secondary schools where they received quality education, enjoyed functional infrastructure and were taught by committed teachers. Those institutions, in many cases, provided them with the foundation upon which they built their careers and eventually rose to positions of influence.
But what happened after they got to the top?
Instead of strengthening the same system that helped them, many leaders have allowed public schools to deteriorate. Classrooms are dilapidated, teaching facilities are inadequate, teachers are poorly motivated, and many children are forced to learn in environments that make quality education almost impossible.
It is painful to see leaders who benefited from relatively strong public education systems now sending their own children to expensive private schools, sometimes abroad, while millions of Nigerian children are left to struggle with poorly equipped public institutions.
This raises a fundamental question: If the ladder was good enough for you to climb, why should it be destroyed for those coming behind you?
Leadership should not be about personal advancement alone. It should be about creating opportunities for the next generation. Every political office holder should remember that the child sitting in a public-school classroom today could become Nigeria’s president, governor, minister, professor, engineer, judge or business leader tomorrow.
Unfortunately, when public education is neglected, the ladder of social mobility is effectively pulled away from millions of young Nigerians.
We cannot continue this way.
Politicians must understand that education is not merely another item in the annual budget. It is an investment in the future of the country. Quality primary and secondary education determines the strength of our universities, workforce, economy and democracy.
Those who benefited from good public schools should therefore become their strongest defenders. They should demand better classrooms, libraries, laboratories, learning materials, teacher training and decent welfare for teachers.
The question is not whether every politician can send his or her children to private schools. The real question is whether they have the courage and commitment to make public schools good enough for every Nigerian child.
Nigeria needs leaders who will leave the ladder stronger than they found it—not those who climb to the top and pull it down behind them.
That is the true test of leadership.
