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| A typical classroom in a low income school in Lagos. Photo Hannah OJO |
There
is a fascination to the story of Nigeria’s soaring mushroom schools which are
often housed in cubicles and dilapidated structures.
If
there is a place where a stubborn sense of hope defies the logic of reality, it
is Adenike Memorial Nursery/Primary School, Bariga, a private school in Lagos,
Nigeria. The vision of the school
contained in a cardboard pasted on the wall in the drab looking office of the
head teacher reads: “To ensure that our
pupils are best in school academic throughout Lagos state. Also, to prepare our
pupils for future(sic).”
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| Vision of Adenike Primary School, Bariga. Photo: Hannah Ojo |
To a
visitor calling on the learning facility for the first time, the state of the
structures did not seem to synchronize with the school’s avowed vision. The infrastructure needed for the
implementation of the lofty ideals needed for the avowed vision of the school
is simply not in place. The
classrooms were partitioned with planks. The fans were not working and there
was little space for children to play.
Another
Lagos community where low cost schools thrive as a result of lack of a school structure
is Otodo-Gbame in the high brow Ikate area of Lagos. Theirs is a case of
poverty in the midst of plenty as there is no government school to cater for
the over 2000 children living in the community.
Other
than poverty and diseases, many of the children in Otodo-Gbame are also missing
out on education. On the two occasions the writer visited the community, many
of the children who are of school age were playing around their home
surroundings. Those in the early teens
were seen at the shore of the lagoon struggling to catch some sea food.
Despite
the huge population and the large expanse of land in Otodo-Gbame, only two run
down schools cater for the educational needs of the children. For those who are privileged to attend
school, they do so in tattered uniforms with no sanders or stockings. One of
such school is Olutimi International School, a low cost nursery and primary
school where children pay N50 daily for tuition.
Mr
Olamide Edun, who founded the school two years ago said parents are beginning
to show interest in sending their children to school as a result of the influence
of the fine houses and cars they see when they go out to the community to
transact businesses. He however,
lamented that the enthusiasm is not backed by purchasing power, since some of
the parents find it difficult to pay the N50 daily tuition fees.
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| A school in Otodo-Gbame |
According
to UNICEF, Nigeria’s exponential
growth in the last decade has put immense pressure on the country’s resources and
overstretched public services and
infrastructure.
“With
children over 15 years of age accounting for about 45 percent of the country’s population,
the burden on education and other sectors have been overwhelming. Forty percent
of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the
northern region recording the lowest schools attendance rates in the country”,
a quote on the UNICEF website on Nigeria reads.
Nigeria
is said to be one of the countries with the highest number of out-of-school-
children. With an economy going into recession and lack of purchasing power
which left parents patronizing sub-standard schools in order to save cost,
there is no doubting the fact that many more children could be faced with a
bleak future.
Can tax justice help? Yes is the answer!
It has
been said that a fair tax system could enable the unavailability of public services
and social protection like schools and hospitals.
A fair
tax system can also reduce inequality. The availability of quality education is
one of the weapons that can fight inequality. With quality education, people
are able to reach to the height of their potentials and create wealth to
alleviate the suffering of their immediate families. That way, more people
would be empowered and the cycle of poverty can be broken.
Already,
Africa has had enough of wastage and underdevelopment which is brought about by
the tax incentives given to businesses and investments operating on the African
soil. ActionAid, an international organization leading the fight for tax
justice estimates that elimination of corporate tax incentives in developing
countries could raise over US$138 billion. If US$138 billion is invested into
our educational system, imagine the effect on a continent which hosts the
greatest number of the world’s out of school children?
Recently
some Nigerian politicians were listed in the #Panama paper leak. This further
serve to give credence to the reality of tax avoidance and evasion, one of the
evil tactics used by a privileged few to further impoverish our continent.
ActionAid peg the money lost in tax avoidance and
evasion in developing countries to be between US$120 and US$160 billion a year.
This is more than what developing countries receive in aid.
If it
is indeed true that the over US$138 billion (the amount currently given away in
corporate tax incentives) could pay for the education of 57 million children
currently not going to school, there is no denying the fact that Africa can be
set on a better future if both the government and the citizenry pay more
attention to tax justice.
Education
is a right, not a privilege!
Sincerely,
Hannah Ojo
