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Good news coming out of Nigeria seems a scarce commodity these
days especially with the daily onslaught of the Boko Haram insurgency and the
usual corruption scandals that make daily headlines. However, reading an online article about a recent survey that confirms that Nigerians in the US rank topsin terms of higher educational attainment gave me something to cheer about. My analysis
of the data shows that 54% of Nigerians in the US holds a Bachelors degree or
higher. What the data didn’t mention was the areas of study where these degrees
were obtained and more importantly the working experience the holders of these
degrees have.
I'll be interested to see what the results would look like, if a similar research
is conducted in the UK, where I also suspect Nigerians will not be far off when
it comes to higher educational achievements. In many respects, the results
don’t surprise me especially with our love affair with educational achievements.
I remember growing as a child and education was the only thing we were
encouraged or should I say pushed to aspire to achieve.
Whilst this achievement needs to be applauded and credit
given where it’s due, we also need to put this in context. In the pursuit for
educational excellence, are we actually seeking knowledge that we can apply in
the real world or a mere collection of accolades to massage our egos? I guess
we might need another research to convincingly answer this question.
The other thing I find quite interesting about the research
results is that less Americans are seeking higher educational pursuit. That can
only suggest to me that quite a large proportion of the rest of the indigenous population are perhaps taking
up other vocations that don’t necessarily involve getting a degree. Sadly from
my experience growing up in Nigeria, there seems to be an apathy towards those
whose educational achievements fall short of a university degree.
Regardless of what lies beneath the surface of these
supposed achievements, the reality is that Nigeria is blessed with highly
qualified professionals both home and abroad. Any nation that is serious in developing,
needs to tap into the resourcefulness of its citizens. This is the catalyst that
will bring about growth and development and not necessarily oil or any other
natural resources for that matter.
