In my elementary school days, especially in secondary school, my friends and I always looked forward to taking part in our school’s debate and quiz competitions. We did our best to always make the enviable list of those to represent the school in most inter-school academic competitions. Making any of such list was like bagging a scholarship. Also, missing out on any of the competition was like failing in an examination.
It was a thing of pride to appear in our plain white shirt and blue trousers with a blue beret to match at any competition. So, we studied and prepared hard to always be among those to represent our school. For us, achieving academic excellence through such competitions was all we knew.
With time something unpalatable began to unfold after every successful outing. While we repeatedly won laurels and placed our school on Abuja’s map of A-list schools, little was done to reward our brilliant, excellent and exceptional performances. We were never given any tangible or encouraging gifts. What we got most times were Principal’s Handshake on the assembly ground, writing materials and English dictionary. That was all. Neither cash nor intangible reward like a tuition-free academic session was ever mooted. But we never protested, not even for once.
Ironically, while we got little ‘recognition’ in terms of gifts items as rewards for bringing honour to our school, our schoolmates who featured in fashion parade, dancing, singing and rapping competitions were always accorded more recognition than us. Apart from receiving cash rewards, they were the darlings of the school management. They were literarily pampered and nicely treated.
I believe this is not an isolated experience as most of us must have encountered something similar while growing up.
Dear reader, the true life scenario I highlighted above has not changed for the better, Instead, it has gone worse and bizarre in our present day Nigeria. The situation has become so bad that undeserving characters are daily decorated with medals meant for men and women of honour. Our reward system is a complete mockery of our national ideals.
Our country is about one of the few places across the globe where little or nothing is done to honour citizens who imbibe sterling virtues of hard work, excellence, probity, accountability, discipline and transparency in both their formal and informal engagements. Our reward system is awkwardly structured and doesn’t make provision for the best among us to shine.
It is designed in such a way that a school dropout would get the front seat in a public gathering, while a first-class graduate is hardly recognised. The same thing is currently playing out in our political parlance. Qualified and competent people are rarely given the opportunity to aspire for public office. The system favours crooks, touts and charlatans more than men of honour.
Sometimes last year we saw pictures of the convocation ceremony of the University of Nigeria Nsukka on the social media where the best graduating student from the institution’s medical college got a cash reward of 100,000 only! What a system! It is in this same country where people walk away with millions of naira for taking part in dancing competition. A case in hand is the recently concluded Big Brother Naija T.V. reality show where the overall winner, Miracle Igbokwe “won” the sum of N45Million for just staying in a particular house for 85 days!
I doubt if we still have serious and engaging quiz and debate programmes aired on our local media stations anymore. The only one that has remained consistent for such a long time is the Cowbell mathematics quiz competition on NTA. I understand students who take part in the programme are awarded scholarships covering their university education. Why can’t other multi-national companies introduce similar initiative?
I’ve lost count of the number of T.V. Reality shows introduced and sponsored by telecommunications companies in Nigeria. All these initiatives are targeted towards developing the nation’s entertainment industry, which in itself isn’t a bad idea. But same gesture should be extended to other sectors, especially the education sector which is the engine room of development.
The long and short of it is the need to put an enduring and encouraging reward system in place, a reward system that encourages hard work, excellence and ingenuity. Our children should be told in clear terms the need for them to shun acts and vices capable of making them useless in the society. There is honour in doing the right thing all the time.
The National Orientation Agency has a lot to do in this regards. It should come up with an advocacy drive that will highlight the benefits of doing the right things as citizens. Also, this advocacy should be included in our primary school curriculum. The surest way to secure the future of our children is to introduce them to noble practices today.
Mr Profwill can be reached via: teewills56@gmail.com
