QUESTION What are some of the problems confronting social institution in Nigeria? Offer solution to the problems. ANSWER Health Issues in Nigeria The environmental and health standards of Nigeria are in a bad state. In 2013, Amnesty International reported that Nigeria experiences hundreds of oil spills per year in the Niger Delta, largely due to pipe erosion, sabotage, and neglect by oil companies. Oil spills weaken the micro-organisms and the soil nutrients, and this weakening harms communities who fish and farm the Delta as well as the overall economy. Littered waste is scattered all over the roads and streets in Nigeria. Improperly disposed garbage contributes to the spread of disease. The health system in Nigeria does not adequately serve the population. The average Nigerian life expectancy is 38.3, according to the World Health Report, one of the lower life expectancies in sub-Saharan Africa. Infant mortality has been on the rise side the 1990s, and the maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. The Nigerian health system is poorly funded, and this lack of resources creates a “brain drain”: talented doctors and nurses find jobs in developed countries, leaving Nigerian hospitals in the hands of their less-talented colleagues. Within Nigeria, good doctors are disproportionally concentrated in cities, leaving rural areas underserved. The government needs to play a bigger role in providing proper waste disposal systems and better healthcare, particularly in neglected rural areas. Environmentally sustainable disposal practices, like recycling, should be adopted. Those who vandalize oil pipelines should be pursued more aggressively and punished for causing oil spills. Bush burning must be limited so that the micro-organisms that promote crops output can thrive. Hospitals need better funding. The state must take steps to keep qualified young doctors in the country, perhaps by giving them more important roles in public health administration. Problems in Educational System There is also a lot of corruption in the Nigerian educational system, particularly universities. Lecturers are known to collect money from students in exchange for good grades. Some say they have to bribe university administrators in order to have their exam results compiled and submitted to the (required) National Youth Service Corps. In August 2014, Nigeria’s own Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) reported that corruption was endemic to Nigerian universities, due to continual failure to make violators accountable for their actions. The Chairman of the ICPC’s University System Study Review, Professor Olu Aina, said there was a lack “political will” to deal with corruption violations, few internal checks and balances in universities to prevent corruption, and little external oversight of corrupt practices. Beyond political corruption, the Nigerian education system suffers in other ways. It compares poorly not only to those of developed Western nations, but also to other African countries like Ghana and South Africa. In 1997 and 2000, federal government expenditure on education was below 10% of the overall budget. The money appropriated to the education sector in the 2013 budget was ₦426.53 billion which amounts to only 8.67% of the total budget (₦4.92 trillion). The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends that the education sector accounts for 26% of national budgets in order to impact national development. Religion isuess Basically, Nigeria is a plural society and heterogeneous in virtually all the facet of life. The custom and tradition of Nigerians is so diverse to the extent that Nigeria as a country is now confronted with the problem of religion and ethnicity towards their political stability. The origin and history of ethnic conflict (societal wars and violence) can be traced from eternal (internal) state rivalry to external (physical). And its root cause is not very far from power competition and decision making over economic resources and other important human factor, like position. The implementation process has always involved more than one or two persons. In general concept, the author of this work traces conflict back to the first and early Patriarchal of human history and ever since then, there has been an increase (in various dimensions) of Conflict in the face of human world. Some are personal (internal) conflict, family, community, and group, intellectual, state, national and international in nature, to mention but few. In conforming to this idea, Badawi (2006) in his statement titled “World Apart” stated thus, “indeed the greatest discord today is among the descendants of Abraham. These are the people of the book, the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who had in fact shared a common beginning in the religion of Abraham”. In shedding more light in the above statement, Badawi statement goes far beyond religion, rather, he was tracing one of the earliest source of conflict which Badawi mentioned the off-springs of the said Abraham. Even before Abraham, there had been conflict, so it is as old as human history down to the Abrahamic period, to ancient kingdoms, Dukes, and Kings. SOLUTIONS EDUCATION: First, there should be adequate funding of the education sector. Although the 2013 budgetary allocation to the education sector is higher than those of other sectors, it still falls below the recommended standard. While UNESCO recommended that 26% of the total budget be assigned to education, the N426.53billion allocated to the sector takes only 8.67% of the proposed total budget of N4.92trillion. The management of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria are in consensus that these institutions are under-funded. Evidence exists pointing to the degree of dilapidation that characterizes the primary and secondary school buildings in various parts of the country. If funds channeled into these institutions are properly managed and utilized efficiently it would improve the educational sector and help check the drop–out syndrome. Second, regular payment of teachers’ salaries and allowances is recommended. Frequent strike has become the order of the day as a result of non-payment of teachers’ salaries and allowances. This in turn results in the parents’ or students’ loss of interest in education after an unreasonably long period of strike. Therefore, timely payment of teachers’ salaries and allowances would help reduce the rate at which children drop out from schools. Also, free and quality education for all should be embraced as provided under section 18 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution. Due to the poor economic condition of the country, very few parents can afford to educate their children by enrolling them in schools. Therefore cost of acquiring qualitative education should be as low as possible to encourage such parents to enroll their children in schools. More so, if the education is free, this makes it easier for them to develop interest in it. This way, the rate at which children drop-out of school as a result of financial incapability will be reduced. The only way Nigeria can solve its many problems is by giving the youth more opportunities to participate in the government, economy, and society. Young people are the prime beneficiaries of school improvement, and the percentage of youth in higher learning institutions is currently very high. If young people were in charge, the educational system in Nigeria would not be in its current state, and unemployment would be reduced. At the same time, young people shouldn’t wait for good things to come to them, but need to take individual initiative. Youth empowerment and initiative will improve life for all Nigerians. Nigerian government officials and other elites need to share power with the country’s youth and listen to young peoples’ ideas for how to better the country. The young men and women of Nigeria are tomorrow’s elders and, if included, could transform Nigeria. Without the energy of youth, society will decay and perish. HEALTH: • Government should contribute at least 10% of the annual budget and the fund should be managed by an independent government agency on behalf of the people. It would be extremely ill advised for the government to manage the national health insurance scheme in a manner that gives the politicians control over the health insurance fund. This would be a disaster. One does not need extraterrestrial intelligence to figure out that the current crops of politicians in Nigeria would just treat the money the way they have treated all other resources at their disposal. The first thing must be to protect the health insurance fund from political corruption and take it beyond the reach of those who may be tempted to steal from it. Nigeria must act to reflect the way our leaders have behaved in the past. We know that past behaviour predicts future behaviour irrespective of what people say, think or believe. One does not give the key of one’s new door to a neighbour who had stolen from one in the past. Nigerian must not trust the NHIS fund in the hands of politicians. The NHIS must become an independent organization owed by members but subsidized, regulated and guaranteed by government. The government should then organize the local Government areas into health trusts or associations, with a number of registered general medical practices which can be provided in a variety of ways. Each citizen should be required to register with a practice or health centre and obtain a NHIS card which should entitle the person to emergency health care anywhere in the country, and routine general medical care at the practice the individual is registered. The people would form health associations which would play a role in the health care delivery and management. There are several examples which Nigeria can copy. The only way Nigeria can solve its many problems is by giving the youth more opportunities to participate in the government, economy, and society. Young people are the prime beneficiaries of school improvement, and the percentage of youth in higher learning institutions is currently very high. If young people were in charge, the educational system in Nigeria would not be in its current state, and unemployment would be reduced. At the same time, young people shouldn’t wait for good things to come to them, but need to take individual initiative. Youth empowerment and initiative will improve life for all Nigerians. Nigerian government officials and other elites need to share power with the country’s youth and listen to young peoples’ ideas for how to better the country. The young men and women of Nigeria are tomorrow’s elders and, if included, could transform Nigeria. Without the energy of youth, society will decay and perish.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:01:42 +0000
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