By Chekwube Nzomiwu
Late literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, in his influential book “The Trouble with Nigeria,” identified failure of leadership as the single core problem of Nigeria. In the 68-page book, first published in 1983 by Fourth Dimension Publishers, Achebe argued that there is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land, air, climate or the average character of the Nigerian citizens, rather, leaders are unwilling or unable to rise to the responsibility of true leadership.
At the time the book was written, the key issues with Nigerian leadership identified by the author were bad leadership, corruption, tribalism and nepotism, cult of mediocrity, lack of patriotism and indiscipline. The book heralded the military coup in December1983 that truncated Nigeria’s Second Republic.
Nigeria later witnessed an aborted Third Republic, which ended with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by military junta, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) It was widely believed that MKO Abiola won the annulled election. The country later overcame the crisis that trailed the election and moved on.
Although Nigeria has witnessed 27 years of unbroken democracy since the beginning of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, the leadership shortcomings identified by Achebe 43 years ago are still rife today. Our situation has even been compounded by the hypocrisy of the contemporary Nigerian leadership. Leadership hypocrisy is bad because it destroys public trust, creates double standards and hurts the people.
A clear manifestation of contemporary Nigerian leadership hypocrisy is the manner our political office holders brazenly celebrate academic milestones achieved by their children overseas. I will use two notable political figures in Nigeria who recently celebrated the graduation of their daughters from universities in the United Kingdom (UK) as our reference point.
First, the controversial Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, rolled out the drums to celebrate the graduation of his daughter from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Wike, a former Governor of Rivers State, hosted friends and family to a dinner in UK in honour of his daughter who bagged University of Southampton Bachelor of Laws. The media published photographs of the event, credited to his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka.
A few days after Wike celebrated the graduation of his daughter, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, celebrated the graduation of his daughter, Oduko Soludo, from the University of Nottingham, with a First Class Honours degree in Neuroscience. Professor Soludo, his wife, Nonye Soludo and other family members joined Oduko at the convocation ceremony.
Let us look at the cost of studying in these two universities in the United Kingdom. Based on information in public domain, to study law in the University of Southampton, an international student pays about £24,000 a year. Barring unforeseen circumstances, studying for a law degree in the university takes three years. Altogether, to get a law degree in University of Southampton costs £72,000 (approximately N131 million).
By inference, the amount Wike paid for his daughter to earn a law degree in the UK is more than the amount he earned as the Governor of Rivers State for eight years and his earnings so far as a Minister in the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. According to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the total annual compensation package for each of the 36 state governors in Nigeria is N11, 540,896. This amount covers basic salary, regular statutory allowances and packages. Hence, a former Governor like Wike who served the constitutionally allowed two terms of four years each, earned approximately N92.3 million in eight years.
A substantive Federal Minister in Nigeria like Wike earns a total regular package of N7, 801,640, according to RMAFC. By August 21 this year, Wike must have served three years as a Minister. If we should add his August salary, it means that he has earned about N23.4 million since his assumption of office as the Minister of FCT. If we add the amount he earned as a governor and his earnings so far as a Minister, it will sum up to N115.7 million, which is still N15.3 million less than the N131 million he paid for his daughter to get a law degree in University of Southampton.
In University of Nottingham where Soludo’s daughter graduated, an international student pays £33,000 per year to study Neuroscience. Baring unforeseen circumstances, getting a B.Sc. in Neuroscience in the university takes three years for full time study. In total, to get a B.Sc. in Neuroscience in University of Nottingham costs £99000 (N180 million).
Curiously, Soludo said during his second anniversary as Governor of Anambra State in March 2024 that he had not collected any salary since assuming office on March 17, 2022. If truly that was the case, how did he manage to pay N180 million for his daughter to get University of Nottingham degree in Neuroscience?
Ironically, the same people sending their children to study overseas often pay lip service to the development of education in Nigeria. For instance, Wike had on a number of occasions publicly claimed that during his era as the Governor of Rivers State, the state never allocated less than 30 percent of the budget to education.
However, official records show that allocations to education during his administration hovered around 20 percent of the total budget. For example, in the 2020 budget, his government proposed N49. 471 billion for education (representing 20 percent of the total budge), which his administration cited at the time as the highest allocation to education.
If Wike truly invested in education during his era as the Governor of Rivers State, why did he not send his daughter to the Rivers State University, his alma mater, where he bagged his own law degree? The Faculty of Law in Rivers State University is 45 years old. It was established in 1981, a year after the birth of the university. It is unbelievable that the university cannot offer quality legal education after all the “massive” investment made in education in Rivers State during Wike’s era as the Governor.
Soludo’s case is bemusing. Why did I say so? He attained the level of a Professor in the Nigerian university system in his thirties and consulted for the World Bank, before opting to serve in the public service, first as the Chief Economic Adviser to the President and later, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). So, I do not think that any Governor in Nigeria is better positioned to know the importance of education more than him.
When the Professor of Economics was campaigning for the office of the Governor of Anambra State in 2021, he promised to make Anambra State the “Dubai-Taiwan of Nigeria.” When it started becoming obvious that his promise of making Anambra Dubai-Taiwan in his first four-year tenure was a pipe-dream, he recanted, saying he never meant building skyscrapers everywhere. He described access to quality education as the road to the destination. So far, he has not matched his words with action.
In the 2026 Appropriation Law of Anambra State, education got almost 50 percent of the total budget of N757 billion, which according to Soludo, is far above the 15 to 20 percent recommendation made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Five months to the end of this fiscal year, nothing is on ground in Anambra State to justify the humongous allocation to education in the budget.
Lecturers in the Anambra State owned Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) are still among the least paid academic staff in the Nigerian university system. I leave it as a discussion for another day.
The same people in government denying attention to our university system, while sending their children to study in very expensive foreign universities, are the ones often shedding crocodile tears about the billions of dollars and pounds that Nigeria lose annually as a result of education tourism abroad. When our leaders do not have faith in the institutions within the country, what do they want us, the followers to do?
There are about 312 universities in Nigeria today. The breakdown consists of 168 private universities, 77 federal universities and 67 state universities. Some Nigerian universities are showing notable progress. In the Times Higher Education Ranking for 2026, Nigeria is the most represented country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a record 24 Nigerian universities making this year’s ranking.
Unfortunately, our leaders do not appreciate what they have. They prefer to send their children abroad to study, while reserving for them at home the best job placements in choice government establishments, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), among others.
The unfortunate graduates of Nigerian universities continue to roam the streets jobless. To add salt to injury, the same politicians who abandoned our education system to rotten, often turn around to accuse Nigerian graduates of being unemployable. What else is double jeopardy?
However, I do not intend to hold the entire political class in Nigeria responsible for the mistake of the majority among them. Nigerians have seen some exceptions. For example, when Senator Chris Ngige served as the Minister of Labour and Employment under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, he celebrated the graduation of three of his children from Nigerian universities.
Dr. Ngige’s children, two males and a female, read medicine like their parents. Although the former Governor of Anambra State was at daggers drawn with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while in office as the Minister of Labour and Employment, the union praised him for having faith in the Nigerian university system.
Similarly, the Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke was seen recently celebrating the graduation of his daughter, Adebukola Josphine Adeleke, who earned a degree in Mass Communication from Adeleke University, Ede Osun State. I therefore passionately appeal to the rest of the political class in Nigeria to emulate their colleagues who have displayed their faith in Nigerian universities.
On another very disappointing note, while concluding this article, I read that the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, celebrated the graduation of his twin children from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. The same Umahi spent billions of Naira from tax payers money to build a university in Ebonyi State when he was the Governor of the State. The Federal Government took over the university and named it David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Ebonyi State (DUFUS). He ignored the university named after him to send his twin children to University of Sheffield.
On a final note, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is known for taking tough decisions. The same way he removed the fraudulent subsidy regime, which unfortunately made Nigeria the poverty capital of the world, let him initiate a law, prohibiting political office holders in Nigeria from sending their children to study abroad. That is the only way to compel them to pay attention to education in Nigeria. They will fund education when they know that their children will benefit from the system.
• Dr. Nzomiwu (MNIPR) is a media and communication scholar, public affairs analyst, media consultant and journalist. He writes via chekmma@yahoo.com
The post Celebrating foreign education: Hypocrisy of contemporary Nigerian leadership appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
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