Following his advocacy for policy and programmatic solutions in the education sector, Follow The Money Campaigner and CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, has been listed as a Malala Fund Education Champion with 57 others from around the world to accelerate progress towards girls’ secondary education.

Hamzat Lawal was named alongside other notable Nigerian campaigners: Olabukunola Williams, Executive Director, Education as a Vaccine (EVA) and Benjamin John, Programs Manager, Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI).

This announcement was made by the Chief Programmes Officer at Malala Fund, Maliha Khan, on the Malala website. According to Khan, as COVID-19 threatens to force millions more girls out of school, Champion-led programmes and advocacy work is now even more important. 

Reacting to the announcement, Lawal said “it is an honour to be listed to contribute to the fight for a right to education, especially for the girl child in Africa. The increasing number of out-of-school children especially in Nigeria’s North, continues to be an issue of great concern. Statistics show that for every 100 boys of primary age out of school, 121 girls are denied the right to education, worsening gender-based discrimination and putting girls at a disadvantage. Issues of water, sanitation and hygiene, and in many cases, insecurity affecting the delivery of education in conflict affected areas, are also factors driving children – particularly girls – away from the classroom.

Lawal will use CODE’s Follow The Money model to train and launch citizen-led teams to identify barriers to girls’ education in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria. The team will advocate for and track the State’s spending on education and encourage government officials to invest in gender-responsive school infrastructure in creating conducive learning and safe space for girls to reach their full potential in life. 

Education has remained one of Follow The Money’s focal thematic areas, through which the initiative has facilitated the provision of several school amenities and infrastructure across grassroots communities in Nigeria (through several social accountability mechanisms). It also led civil society campaigns for the amendment of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act. Hamzat Lawal has also championed and co-organized other key campaigns for girl-child education in Northern Nigerian stressing that even during crisis, Education cannot wait for girls. 

Event Focus:

The picture of basic public service for the average person in Nigeria is bleak.

Every year, the Nigerian government budgets millions of naira on constituency projects, yet there is little to show for the improvement of public service delivery. A large portion of the budget (which funds sectors like healthcare, education, youth employment, etc) is believed to be syphoned by corrupt government officials, creating a huge trust gap and leading to citizens apathy. How taxpayer’s naira is actually being spent is a large mystery. The average citizen has very little visibility into where taxpayer money is going.

This situation has prompted a new look at the role of trust, as well as its relationship with governance and ways of restoring and rebuilding trust in different contexts.

Trust is the mechanism that makes society thrive. Nigeria’s institutions are suffering from a sharp decline in public trust. In times of disconnect and distrust between citizens and governments, the importance of trust is only increasing. But can we truly reach it? How can governments interact better with their constituents?

The event sparked deeper conversations about the culture of mistrust in the Nigerian system built over decades and began a conversation on charting a way forward to rebuilding trust in government institutions.

Speakers:

• Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe
• Senior Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Amina Salihu
• Board Member, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Joe Abba
• Investigative Journalist, Mr Fisayo Soyombo
• CODE’s Chief Executive, Mallam Hamzat Lawal.

The Webinar was moderated by Kevwe Oghide, CODE’s Communications Lead (CODE).

Quotes from Speakers:

Dr Hadiza Balarabe: (the role of Government)

The issue of trust in public institutions is not peculiar to Nigeria alone as many countries around the world are also under pressure to meet rising citizens expectations. She however stated that the Kaduna Government has rebuilt trust by providing functioning primary healthcare centres, laying-off incompetent teachers and revamping the education system in the State. She noted that signing up with the Open Government Partnership has also fostered the state’s culture of transparency and accountability.

Dr Balarabe noted that trust has been rebuilt because young people are at the fore-front of industrialisation in Kaduna State and they have been delivering enormously for the State. Adding that because of the level of trust built, Kaduna has attracted over $500,000 in investment. Kaduna also publishes her annual audit report yearly, organises town hall meetings to get feedback from the people.

The impression that citizens have of government officials keeping public funds for themselves is quite unfortunate. In Kaduna, we are trying to dispel this misconception by reforming the public sector, and entrencingh merit in our recruitment process of public officials.

“We will continue to restore confidence and rebuild this trust in our people by committing to being reliable, responsive, transparent and having better regulations.

Dr Amina Salihu (on the role of Civil Society)

Trust is earned as a result of being accountable, responsive and capable and civil society organisations are strategic pathfinders who need to enable citizens to recognise their right to access basic needs and improved public services and how they can use their voice and actions to drive change.

On the role of citizens; Citizens have a role to play by not being cynical when actual progress is being made, paying attention to politics, participating, rejigging our federalism and changing the electoral system. “We need to give a lot more chances to women and expand the space to change how Government is structured.

Dr Joe Abah (on the role of citizens and other issues):

The decline in trust is traceable to a number of things and reasons, and issues like the current corruption allegations in NDDC awarding billions to themselves in so called COVID- palliatives will continue to dispel public trust.

He opined that leaders must take initiative, rise to the occasion of responsibility and show examples for people to start believing in the system, stressing that there is the need for public officials to openly declare their assets.

Government constantly going against its laws and policies is a breach of trust. For example; the recovered funds from Abacha loots were shared without a clear identification database where citizens can see how it was being shared.. What’s worse is that it was shared in cash which goes against the government’s rules on cashless banking.

On the role of the citizens in building trust,; “You can only rebuild trust by trusting, it is important for citizens to hold the government accountable and monitor them. Even if you don’t trust the government, we need to continue to engage and also put in mechanisms to make it difficult for people to breach trust”.  

Mr Fisayo Soyombo: On the role of the media

Although the media has a huge responsibility to play, the Government has the bulk of the job. He added  that people who want trust have to earn it.

Most of the things that we consume as news are actually PR. This shows that journalists are being manipulated especially because they are not well paid. Government must be responsible for providing better governance, the media must ensure that public institutions are not deceiving citizens by engaging more investigative reporting. While stressing the need for more investigative reporting, he called on the public to support good journalism especially with funding. “If we want a media that is more alive, people have to support good journalism.” He also encouraged journalists to be objective in their reports.

He noted that we need a value-reorientation in this country.

Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive, Connected Development:

In 2019, what we learnt engaging government MDAs post elections informed our overall objective at Connected Development (CODE), which was to begin a campaign that was intended to increase trust among citizens and government. CODE’s strategy was to create platforms for informed debate between public institutions and citizens and also advocate for more government agencies to leverage digital communications to foster trust, increase transparency and ensure better accountability. This has led us to organise this conference that seeks to increase conversations and raise citizens and government’s consciousness towards rebuilding trust.

Kevwe Oghide, Moderator’s Conclusion based on Deliberation:

Building Stronger institutions ultimately increases trust and When trust is higher, behaviours become more constructive; people are more willing to cooperate and support government’s initiatives.

 We therefore need to consider how development goals can be achieved when systems work and faith in institutions increases. There is a role for everyone in rebuilding trust and we hope that this conversation can snowball into bigger discussions in smaller or larger groups so people can consciously think about trust – in their interactions with the society and their role in building it, trust is key.

 It may not be a total cure; transparent and accountable governance offers a glimmer of hope against the flood of public mistrust. Constant communication has the possibility of opening public institutions to greater public understanding and appreciation.

2019 Annual Report: Rebuilding Trust in Institutions

In 2019, what we learnt engaging with government Ministries, Departments and Agencies a year before informed our objective for 2019, which was to begin a campaign that was intended to increase trust among citizens and government. CODE’s strategy was to create platforms for informed debate between public institutions and citizens and also advocate for more government agencies to leverage digital communications to foster trust, increase transparency and ensure better accountability.

We hope that we can contribute our quota to increasing citizens and government’s consciousness towards rebuilding trust.

– Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive, CODE

Click here to read full report.

2019-Impact-Report-Upload-2

Researchers and Consultants at Connected Development – Girls’ Education Research Study

OVERVIEW:

The North-East (NE), Nigeria has remained one of the least developed regions in the country.  As of 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the poverty rate in the region was above 71%, the highest in the country, while as of 2020, 60% of Nigeria’s 13 million out of school children are in the region. The region also has the lowest literacy rate across the country at 34%. Girls are most affected in the region education-wise. Most of them are out of school and cannot complete primary and secondary education following so many factors including inherent traditional societal barriers, early marriage, continuous insurgency in the past decade, as well as issues of affordability, availability and accessibility to schools.

To address the barriers to girls’ education in the region, CODE is currently implementing the project, “Increasing Girl-child Primary and Secondary Education Enrolment and Completion in Adamawa State,” which is funded by The Malala Fund. The project aims at facilitating girl-child education enrolment, access and completion through activating accountability channels for gender-responsive service delivery in schools, addressing traditional/cultural barriers to girls’ education and high-level governmental engagement on improving girls’ education.

Download Request for Proposal

Policy Brief: Strengthening the Office of the Auditor-General

Nigeria’s inability to transform its resources as shared wealth and prosperity for all, is making it difficult to block financial leakages, as a large chunk of its earnings are being pocketed by a few and transferred illegally to other countries.

Despite the nation’s huge resources, Nigeria loses $18b annually to illegal movements of money or capital from the country– especially through the oil and gas industry, yet very little attention is paid to this illicit financial flow.

Read our Policy Brief on why the Nigerian President and the Senate need to assent the Federal Audit Bill that will enhance the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to sanction government agencies that default audit policies.

Download Here

The Federal Republic of Malabu

Charles E. Uche

Once Upon a Time… 

The scandal that surrounded the award of the OPL 245 to Malabu Oil & Gas Limited continues to have a negative impact on Nigeria 22 years after its occurrence. This outrageous breach of law and fiduciary duty has been brought to international limelight – before the comity of nations – where it has further marred Nigeria’s reputation as a nation where corruption is championed from the highest political offices. This has led to a financial downfall and a near unsalvable reputational disaster which affects Nigeria’s GDP and its ability to attract foreign direct/portfolio investment. The impact doesn’t just end there and like any other corrupt practice, it has a significant effect on the standard of living and welfare of the masses. Below is an abridged timeline of “events”:

1998: On April 24, 1998, an oil company by the name Malabu Oil and Gas Limited was incorporated. This company had no legitimate place of business; no employee nor asset.

Just 5 days later, on April 29th, this company was awarded a lucrative Oil Prospecting License ‘OPL 245’ – to one of the most lucrative oil fields in Niger Delta, estimated to have about nine billion barrels of crude oil, and worth about half a trillion dollars.

This grant of license was made without a bidding process; without a formal application process “stating willingness to comply with provisions and conditions that will be imposed, and giving information about the proposed methods of developing the block” pursuant to the Petroleum Act of 1969; and without the full payment of a signature bonus fee of $20 million to be made within 30 days of the grant.

How much was actually paid by Malabu?

$2 million (out of the required $20 million).

What is a Signature Bonus?

A signature bonus is a one-time fee for the assignment and securing of a license, paid irrespective of economic success for the contractor or licensee.

How was this Possible and who were the True/Beneficial Owners of this Faux Company?

Malabu Oil and Gas Limited was (caused to be) incorporated by Chief Dauzia ‘Dan’ Loya Etete “Dan Etete“, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources under the then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, using a false identity so as to award himself (since he has the power to award licenses) and his cronies.

Etete’s Cronies: the owners of this faux company included; Mohammed Sani (alias for Mohammed Abacha, son of the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha); Kweku Amafegha (a fictional character created by Dan Etete, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, responsible for the award of the license; and Wabi Hassan (wife of Hassan Adamu, a close friend of General Sani Abacha and one time Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States of America). Etete himself was neither listed as a director nor shareholder of the company. He, however, used nominees and had beneficial and ultimate ownership and control of the company.

Who is a Beneficial Owner?

• A person who holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares or voting rights in the company; or has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the company’s board of directors.
• A person who takes all or most of the returns of a property’s equity or monetary gains.

2001: In 2001, Malabu conceded 40% participation interest to Shell on the agreement that Shell would pay the Federal Government the outstanding $18 million. That same year, Malabu’s license was revoked and was awarded to Shell after a bidding process.

2002: Subsequently, in 2002, Malabu petitioned the house of representatives which then conducted a public hearing into the transaction and concluded that the revocation of the block from Malabu and reallocation to Shell was done mala fide (in bad faith) and declared it null and void.

2003: The House of Representatives, therefore, passed a resolution in 2003 that the block should be returned to Malabu. The Federal Government did not comply with the resolution of the green chamber.

2006: Malabu went to court and there was a series of litigation between Malabu and the government until sometime in 2006 when they entered into an out-of-court settlement which was subsequently reduced to a consent judgment of the federal high court, Abuja. As a result of the agreement and all the conditions set out to be met by all parties, Edmund Daukoru, who was then the minister of state for petroleum resources, wrote on behalf of the federal government, and on behalf of Obasanjo to convey the decision to return the block 100% to Malabu in accordance with the terms of settlement.

It was part of the terms of settlement that Malabu would pay to the Federal Government within 12 months $210 million less the $2.04 million already paid. This was not done. Furthermore, the then Attorney General of the Federation, Bayo Ojo, was actively involved in the negotiations and settlement. It is alleged that the terms of settlement were reached by corrupt means.

2011: After series of negotiations between Shell/Eni and Etete through Emeka Obi, an investment  banker, the federal government revoked OPL 245 from Malabu, whose beneficial owner was Etete and Abacha and awarded it to Shell and Eni (Agip) consortium after a payment. Both companies purchased the rights to the OPL 245 for about $1.1 billion and the transfer was made “through” the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian petroleum minister, Dan Etete. From accounts controlled by Mr Etete, about half the money ($520 million) went to accounts of companies controlled by Mr Aliyu Abubakar “AA Oil”.

Senior officers of both Shell and Eni were closely involved in these series of corrupt negotiations and sanctioned the acquisition of OPL 245 and the companies are indicted through the principle of vicarious liability as the senior officers were agents of their respective companies. Both companies also knew or ought to have known the fraudulent and corrupt nature and history of the grant of OPL 245.

Abubakar Aliyu and Emeka Obi, amongst others, are alleged to have acted as “middlemen” for top officials of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and Etete in the scandal. Also, it appeared that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the then Attorney General, Adoke, and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani, facilitated the papers for the agreement and transfer of the said sum from the Shell/Eni to a Federation Account and finally to accounts controlled by Etete. 

2017: In March 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, filed fresh charges against Aliyu Abubakar, along with Mohammed Adoke, a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Dan Etete, a former Minister of Petroleum, for involvement in the $1.1 billion Malabu oil scandal. They are being prosecuted alongside two international oil giants – Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company, and ENI, as well as Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Rocky Top Resource Ltd, Imperial Union Ltd, Novel Properties & Dev. Co. Ltd, Group Construction Ltd, and Megatech Engineering Ltd.

2020: As of March, 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] were prosecuting 8 defendants in the Malabu case on 47 count charges bordering on fraud, bribery, abuse of office, money laundering, unlawful obtainment, and so forth. As of the last court hearing “arraignment” on March 4th, two of the defendants denied ownership of some companies also being prosecuted in the charge sheet. The matter was adjourned to March 17th and 18th pending confirmations from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) before prosecution can begin their duties in earnest. This is 22 YEARS LATER!

The Malabu Scandal, alleged to be Africa’s most controversial and corrupt oil deals has indicted top Nigerian ex-officials such as; Former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke; Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alison Deziani, Dan Etete, and so forth, and has set off a series of multifaceted litigations and criminal prosecutions against the litany of local and foreign actors in several jurisdictions including Italy, France, Netherland, Switzerland, United States and Britain. Some of these foreign courts have also indicted Shell, Eni and convicted few Nigerian actors including Emeka Obi in Italy.

It is noteworthy that the entire transactions “Malabu deal(s)” emanating from the grant of OPL 245 was built on a shaky, fraudulent and illegal foundation and thus, neither Etete nor Malabu acquired legitimate rights to OPL 245, as it is a common legal principle that one cannot benefit from his own wrongdoing “Ex turpi causa non oritur actio“. 

In conclusion, the Malabu Scandal isn’t a Scandal. “Scandal” does not do justice to what transpired over 13 years, and managed to be lingering 22 years later without a single conviction of the perpetrators in Nigeria. What happened was a national sellout. Akin to how the Royal Niger Company sold the territories now Nigeria to Britain for £865,000. This time, it’s not the white man; it’s our leaders who hold their offices and manage our resources in trust for the Nigerian people.

Furthermore, it is my firm belief that the outrageous wrongdoings in the Malabu case are of a magnitude such that should stimulate the national consciousness and outcry of the Nigerian people, and actively mobilise them against corruption of any scale and kind. In addition, it is my firm belief that this consciousness and mobilisation, alongside the instrumental provisions of the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill would strengthen the regulatory frameworks and institutions against corruption, bring Nigeria in tandem with global anti-corruption and extractive best practices, thereby deterring similar future occurrence. 

Other Salient Issues Connected to Malabu:

• A President’s alleged ignorance of the overt acts of Senior Cabinet Officials of his administration – who represented the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the “Scandal”.
• Lack of Public Beneficial Ownership Data/Register, especially with regards to Private ‘LTD’ Companies, as the provisions are directed to Public “PLC” Companies. Private Companies are not bound by Beneficial Ownership obligations of Sections 94-98 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). Guess what? Virtually all companies in the extractive sector today are Private LTD Companies. The NEITI Beneficial Ownership Register recently launched still has a long way to go to address this.
• Excessive Powers of the Minister for Petroleum Resources. The current Petroleum Industry Bill that was refused assent by the President still gave enormous, discretionary powers to the Minister of Petroleum Resources. 
• Arbitrary and Discretionary Grant of Licenses by the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
• Weak Petroleum Regulatory Frameworks. Many of the laws around the Extractive Industry are very outdated. The Petroleum Act; NNPC Act, including the CAMA, to mention but a few, are antiquated; providing fines such as 25 to 2000 Naira.
• Weak/Limited Audit Capabilities of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation. The Auditor General of the Federation has no special, comprehensive statutory, enabling enactment (besides Section 85 of the Constitution) that empowers him to audit statutory agencies, corporations, commissions and bodies. He also has no power to sanction MDAs who default in submitting their annual audit reports. However, while the current Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (which was also refused presidential assent) gives the office much of these audit powers, Section 85(3) of the constitution, including specific clauses of the Bill prohibits the office from conducting audit on statutory corporations, agencies, commissions and bodies. Perhaps, if the office had the required audit powers, the Malabu Scandal would have been detected a longer time ago.

Ultimately, Malabu Scandal is possibly one case out of a number; and if all the aforementioned issues are not adequately addressed, there might just yet be another massive, perhaps, worse Malabu in the Federal Republic of Malabu.

Charles E. Uche ESQ. is a Staff Attorney at Connected Development [CODE]. He holds a degree in Public and Private Law from Afe Babalola University, and the Nigerian Law School, Abuja. 

The Impact of COVID19 on Nigeria’s Economy

Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious challenge to the world, necessitating countries around the world to adopt stringent measures such as complete or partial lockdowns in order to contain the spread of the disease and this has had adverse implications on national economies and rural livelihoods. The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) had to close its land, sea and air borders and implemented a total lockdown in states and cities with very high infection rates across the country.

Consequently, state governments have followed suit. These measures have had its toll on individuals, households, micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) and large corporations. In order to cushion the effect of the pandemic on the citizens, the federal government had announced a number of responses: N500 billion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund, 50 billion Naira CBN intervention fund for households and MSMEs, 20,000 Naira four months conditional cash transfer to the country’s poorest, reduction in price of fertilizers as subsidy to farmers etc. 

Approvals have been granted by the National Assembly and the International Monetary Fund for Nigerian government to borrow 850 billion naira domestically and $3.4 billion respectively to help finance the 2020 budget and reduce the impact of the severe economic shock the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the Nigerian economy. Experts believe the palliative measures introduced so far by the government are not enough considering Nigeria’s estimated 200 million population. The continuous decline in oil prices which is Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner and the subsequent dwindling of the country’s foreign exchange reserve has put the country in a very difficult economic position at this time. 

It is important for the government to diversify its MSME sector to develop in all areas of   agriculture, manufacturing, entertainment, technology and services as each of these sectors will continue to be very relevant to the overall GDP growth as well as employment generation in the country post COVID-19.

The budget should be revised downwards basing the revenue benchmarks and assumptions on realizable thresholds and estimates to ensure optimum budget performance. Government must at this time cut the cost of governance, reduce unnecessary expenditures and channel available resources into empowering MSMEs and stimulating the economy. Efforts should be made to limit importation and to encourage local manufacturing of most of the medical supplies such as facemasks, hand sanitizers, ventilators etc as to conserve our forex. The cash transfer palliative to the country’s poorest should be inclusive and there should be transparent, comprehensive and universal social protection systems to mitigate against the prevalence of poverty. 

This report analyses the implication of Nigeria’s level of preparedness to combat COVID19 on its economy; the impact of the extremely decline in oil prices, and the influence on Medium and Small Enterprises in the coming months.

Download Full Report here

https://www.main.connecteddevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Economic-Implications-of-COVID-19-on-the-Nigerias-Economy.pdf

Inclusive Education for Children in Marginalised Communities in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Why education should be prioritised in marginalised communities in the era of COVID19

By Blessing Akpevwe Uwisike

As of the first week of May, The Spectator Index confirmed over four million positive cases of the Corona Virus globally and at least 200,000 deaths. As the virus continues to spread its tentacles across countries, threatening human existence, human lives are being changed in unprecedented ways. As the pandemic affects nearly every sector of human interaction ranging from economic to social, health, education and commercial to mention a few; we are forced to make quick adjustments and life choices to prevent further spread.

While grappling with this new reality, a major change the world has had to make is maintaining social distance. To ensure compliance, the government at the state and federal level enforced a lockdown order where virtually all social activities came to a screeching halt. As expected, education was not excluded, giving that it became imperative to shut down education facilities across Nigeria and many other countries to prevent the pandemic from affecting children’s education and more importantly, their health. 

This move affected 1.3 billion students globally and has forced the government and members of the society to see the shortcomings of the education system in Nigeria. The most glaring of these is the unpreparedness of the system to embrace online and digital learning strategies, and if well attended to, it also gives a laser focus on specific areas of improvement and innovation.  

As COVID-19 widens the margin of education and access to the basic learning amenities, my volunteer experience with OneAfricanChild has enabled me to see first-hand, how children in low-income communities are forced to share rickety desks and uncomfortable wooden chairs, manage their very few books for many subjects, and enjoy internet connectivity/laptops only when we are able to organise our monthly digital classes. With the break of the  pandemic, their learning is currently in a state of hiatus as their main motivation is derived through the school system and informal learning opportunities we provide them. With this disruption, the children are exposed to anxiety and panic alongside learners facing similar struggles. The social skills, emotional well being and educational aspirations of these children are put on the line, worse still if they are enduring these challenging times in a community that undermines the value  of education.

Despite the world tilting towards technocracy, public schools in Nigeria are still grossly underfunded and there are no considerations for digital learning tools. At this point it is difficult to measure Nigeria’s effort towards the Education 2030 agenda aimed at “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Several children are still learning under conditions similar to the system their parents’.  While the future of education is progressing exponentially, ours seem to be moving at a slow pace. Education in this part of the world is still largely monolithic and children are not being adequately prepared for the world they are expected to lead.

A risk factor of the pandemic is the possibility of a high school drop-out rate, especially in low-income communities. Deliberate efforts are required to reintegrate children in these communities back to school. According to the World Bank’s “Learning Poverty” indicator, the percentage of children who cannot read and understand at age 10 stood at 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries – before the outbreak. While the situation can still be salvaged, a proactive move by the government will ensure a successful transition back to formal education post COVID. 

Innovation is required to provide quality and sustainable education to learners, and teachers cannot be left behind in this campaign. Understanding that learning can happen anywhere and in different forms, teachers must be trained to embrace this new reality, and as a matter of urgency, be provided with practical materials on how to meet learners where they are. Digital skills training to make learning accessible as well as emotional intelligence and creative teaching styles workshops need to be prioritised for teachers so that they are able to create safe spaces and assume the role of mentors and guides for learners. 

This period, providing content like interactive videos, soft copy materials, class activity, and lectures on websites where teachers can easily access will help them to prepare for a robust teaching-learning experience after the pandemic is over. But while it persists, partnerships with media houses like radio and television stations, to air educational programs for primary and secondary schools like some states in Nigeria have adopted are positive steps in the right direction.

Teachers must also be made to understand the Education 2030 goals as this has not been adequately communicated to them, only when they understand it are they able to run with it and ensure its actualisation. Workshops and materials to enhance this understanding should also be provided, with realistic benchmarks set in place to achieve it.

OneAfricanChild Foundation in partnership with Learning Equality, organises digital skills training for children in select marginalised communities in Nigeria. Through Kolibri, a digital solution developed by Learning Equality to provide offline access to a variety of learning materials, we provide quality education for children in low-income  communities on a broad range of global citizenship education topics such as media literacy, internet safety, fake news spotting, and lots more. We have had virtual learning sessions with students from other countries to share knowledge and exchange experiences. This exposes learners to blended learning that combines digital skills with offline learning. With support from the government and key stakeholders, and the welcome involvement of an  NGO like Follow the Money, which focuses on tracking government spending to ensure transparency and accountability, we can successfully scale this project and double our impact. 

To further ensure inclusive education for marginalised children, learning styles need to be diversified to include project-based and personalised methods so that the children are more engaged, involved and enthusiastic to learn. Their emotional well being needs to be prioritised and the school must be a safe space for them to heal from the instabilities that came with the pandemic. 

As the world around us changes torrentially, it presents opportunities to embrace technology, innovate and improve our education system to be more sustainable and to accommodate the changes that come with this new world, together with its industrial revolution. If other sectors are constantly improving to meet up, the education sector must not be left behind, because in this space, leaders are groomed.