NEWS ARTICLES OF JONLAC

UBE AND THE MASS MEDIA: STRIKING A GOLDEN ACCORD I.S. POPOOLA Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Akoka Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: GSM 08023405801. E-mail: tayonigeria@yahoo.com ABSTRACT “The basic goal of the media is fact-finding and fact-giving”, so quipped renowned communication scholar, Alfred E. Opubor. In other words, it is the statutory duty of the mass media, as trustee of the public, to determine what is, and saying that it is; and saying so publicly. The question is: Could this be said to be what the mass media in the country have been doing with regard to the implementation of the Universal Basic Education Programme (UBE)? What should be the role of the mass media in a democratic, multi-party Federal State like Nigeria, where the goal of some state authorities under the control of another political party whose goals are at variance with that of the government at the centre is to thwart and frustrate the implementation of Federal programmes designed to uplift the people? This is the thrust of this paper. To dissect the role of the mass media in the implementation of the UBE scheme thus far and prescribe how the media could strike a 'golden' accord with Federal authorities in order that the lofty objectives of the scheme could be realized. The study is carried out through Content Analysis method of conducting research. 1.1 INTRODUCTION Education is a light to every human being. Just as it's practically inescapable to avoid having contact with light in our day-to-day activities, in the same way, education remains an inescapable path to human greatness. This explains why it is often said that an educated nation is a wealthy nation. Nigeria is still by and large a country with a large proportion of illiterate population. The Federal Office of statistics (FOS) in a (1995: 45) study revealed that 33.6 percent of the children ages 6-11 never attended primary school. In addition, Nwaigwu (2001: 186) states that education statistics for 1996 showed that only 14.1 million children were enrolled in primary school out of the 21 million children of school going-age”. Apart from various literacy programmes of several States of the Federation put together to address the problem, the current Peoples. Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government believes in tackling the problem from the grassroots and thus introduced the Universal Basic Education programme (UBE) with its official launching by President Olusegun Obasanjo on 30th September, 1999. To some analysts, the UBE is a re-incarnation of the defunct Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo when he was in the saddle as military Head of State between 1976 and 1979. Whether it is seen as a new wine in old bottle or new wine in a new bottle, the fact remains that the UBE scheme reflects the thinking and concern of a Nigerian leader to secure a good future for Nigerian children, our leaders of tomorrow. What are the objectives of the UBE? How has the Mass Media carried out their traditional functions with regard to the UBE? How could the Mass Media help in the attainment of the lofty objectives of UBE? These are some of the issues thoroughly treated in this paper. The paper has a heroic mission of advocating a golden accord between the UBE scheme and the Mass Media. 1.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK i MASS MEDIA: Leading authorities in the field of Mass Communication had at one time or the other variously conceptualized the Mass Media. According to Uyo (1987:1) “the Mass Media are the engine of Mass Communication”. Thus, in the context of Uyo, the various avenues through which an undifferentiated set of people could be reached at any point in time through a complex mechanical device, both print and electronic are the organisations involved when we talk about the Mass Media. In the words of Akinfeleye (1988:89) “Mass Media simply refer to the print Media. That is, the newspapers, magazines, newsletters etc. they also refer to the radio, television, cinematography and flim” ii UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION: Fondly referred to by its acronym- UBE, the Universal Basic Education scheme remains the most ambitious scheme of any government of the federation since independence with a heroic mission to universalize access to basic education, engender a conducive learning environment and eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria within the shortest possible time. Prior to the launching of the UBE scheme by President Olusegun Obasanjo on September 30th, 1999, the programme had existed at microscopic level in the country in the past. For instance, in 1952, the defunct Western Regional Government developed a UBE blue print, which took off in 1955. In 1954, the defunct Eastern Regional Government rolled out a programme of free primary education, which led to the implementation of its UPE scheme in 1957. In 1976, the programme was introduced in the Northern Region Periscoping the various UPE schemes, Popoola (2001:222) states that: All the regional and federal UPE schemes have similar goals, objectives, curriculum content and organizational arrangements similar to the newly introduced UBE scheme. In other words, the UBE is an extension of UPE. It is however instructive to note that while the UPE scheme was nationally introduced 26 years ago, primary education is yet to be free and compulsory for all Nigerian children. 2.0 OBJECTIVES OF UBE SCHEME The implementation guidelines for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme (2001:2) succinctly outlined the objectives of the scheme thus: To develop in the entire citizenry, a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment for its rigorous promotion. To provide free, Universal basic education for every Nigerian child of school-going age. Reduce drastically, the incidence of dropout from the formal school system (through improved relevance, quality and efficiency). Cater for the learning needs of young persons who, for one reason or another, have had to interrupt their schooling through appropriate provision and promotion of basic education. Ensure the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for life-long learning. 2.1 MASS MEDIA AND THE UBE SCHEME A famous German communicator, Bertolt Brecht, in a (1987:1) publication asserts “even God is guided on world affairs by newspapers”. Brecht stated this while emphasizing the role of the press in the modern world. Another great communication scholar, Georg Lichten-berg (Ibid:1) stresses that “lead changed the world more than gold, especially, the lead in printing types rather than in bullets”. A renowned political thinker and statesman, Thomas Jefferson, speaking in the same fashion declares that: Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter (Koch & Paden 1944:1). Jefferson was therefore of the opinion that society cannot do without the Mass Media. The pertinent question to then ask is: How has the various Media establishments in the country carried out their statutory-cum-traditional functions, especially, that of education, information and enlightening the citizenry with regard to the implementation of the UBE scheme? Prescribing the statutory obligation of the Mass Media, Article 22 of the 1999 constitution states that: The press, radio, television and other agencies of the Mass Media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people. It is however questionable or debatable if the Mass Media have worked in this direction. Whereas, in a democracy, according to Akpan, (1985:253) “the air waves belong to the people”. In a democratic society such as ours, the press as whole is expected to be a market place of thoughts. As a matter of fact, the media exist to serve the information needs of the citizenry. Hence, Mass Media practitioners as a whole work on the principle that the public is entitled to all the facts in a political situation and that on the basis of these facts, it can make its own decision. A major clog in the wheel of Nigerian progress since independence has often been that of opposition parties controlling states working against laudable programmes of the Federal Government under the guise of politicking. For instance, during Nigeria's Second Republic, (1979-1983), the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) controlled states worked against the laudable housing programme of the then National Party Nigeria (NPN) controlled Federal Government. The UPN states apart from deliberately delaying the release of land for the building of the housing estates also frustrated the implementation of the project. Whereas, if they had co-operated with the Federal Government in the implementation of the scheme, the project would have helped in ameliorating the problem of acute shortage of houses, especially, in the cities in the country today. As it was then, so it is at the moment in some of the AD controlled states as the AD controlled states are not only hostile to the scheme but also working against its success. In Lagos State for instance, the State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Idowu Sobowale, was quoted by The Post Express newspaper edition of June 19, 2002 page 14 as saying “the UBE scheme is not relevant in Lagos state” adding that “while we have been implementing our own UBE from May 29, 1999, the Federal Government's version although launched in the same 1999 has not taken off”. As far as I'm concerned, this is an unfair report. It is simply one-sided. Mere adding a sentence that “the Honorable Commissioner failed to add that his government contributed to the late take off of the scheme in the state by not releasing land for the building of the six block of classrooms for the take off of the scheme in Lagos State would have given readers a true picture of the matter. The crux of the matter is that as far back as 2001, the Lagos State Government had unmistakably demonstrated its opposition to the scheme under flimsy excuses. 2.2 UBE IN THE WEB OF “DIRTY” POLITICKING As hinted above, a number of states, especially, states under the control of opposition parties are either playing dirty politics or hide and seek game with the UBE scheme. The Lagos State Government for instance, while applauding the UBE projects as “ Complimentary to its own programme of free, qualitative education” said in a 3-page letter dated 24th March 2001, signed by the Chairman of State Primary Education Board (SPEB), Alhaji Mukadas Fujah, to the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, that in spite of the fact that the project is laudable, two problems deserve what he called “urgent attention.” “There is problem of land scarcity in Lagos State. Secondly, your consultants’ estimates of N5, 019,205.34k as a unit cost of the recommended three classrooms, a store, office and VIP toilet is twice the going price in the construction market in Lagos State. “The State government is understandably unwilling to compound the injudicious use of land with an even more grossly inefficient use of funds.” Fujah further claimed that the project could lead to what he called “an industrial disharmony in the local construction industry as a result of this highly extravagant unit cost”. Investigation however revealed that the initial demand of states was that the federal government should release the money meant for the construction of the classrooms to them but when the federal government rejected the demand on the account that the state could divert the money elsewhere, the states resorted to playing all sorts of hide and seek game. The national co-ordinator of the UBE, Prof. Pai Obanya said it all while deflating the various issues raised by the Lagos state government for its lukewarm attitude to the project. In a letter dated 15th April 2001 addressed to Alh. Fujah and the governor of Lagos State, Sen. Bola Tinubu, Prof Obanya said “it is not a hidden fact that SPEBS have disdain for 'centrally directed' construction of schools and that it would prefer decentralization by which the resources would be made to them to execute the projects. This is a policy matter and a political one”. On the cost of construction of the classrooms per block, Prof. Obanya said “bills of quantity for school projects submitted to us by Lagos SPEB… showed that some of the rates in use by our consultants in the year 2001 are even less than some of the rates used by Lagos SPEB. If the SPEB wishes to stand by its claims, it will mean that they have been over-invoicing in their bills of quantities… to maximize resources from the National funds”. On the allegation that the cost of the building would cause industrial disharmony, Prof. Obanya dismissed the claim saying “the fear is unfounded, alarmist and purely political in nature with the singular aim of leaving no options to the outright release of the entire funds to the SPEB”. The UBE co-ordinator therefore warned “the Lagos SPEB should be told in non-equivocal terms to desist from holding federal government to ransome by delaying further the construction of the classrooms”. While the Lagos state government was opposed to the project for selfish reasons, opinion leaders in the north are of the view that government made mistake by focusing first on the children instead of the parents. According to Alh. Mohammed Bello, Chief Executive/Director-General, Borno State Mass Literacy Agency:- Government should have concentrated on educating the parents first to create the basis for the successful take off of the programme. Unfortunately, the concentration of the government was on children first which made the parents to withdraw their subjects after a year or so, turning the programme to failure in the past three years. There is no way you can force the parents to take their children to schools if they are not interested. So, the issue of compulsory UBE should not be there at all without adult education. (Vanguard newspaper, 13th June, 2002. pg 22) The Borno State Agency For Mass Literacy boss was so categorical that “UBE will end up a failure like the former UPE if the large majority of the illiterate parents are not properly enlightened or educated through the non formal education schemes (Ibid: 22). 2.3 UBE AND THE MASS MEDIA, STRIKING A GOLDEN ACCORD It could be seen thus far that a lot of things are happening behind the scene. There are subtle and overt plots by states to abort the laudable objectives of the UBE scheme earlier outlined in 2.0 above. Till recently when the Supreme Court ruled that the control of primary education is placed on the doorstep of States, several States of the Federation made frantic efforts to frustrate the implementation of the scheme. The mass media so far have shown a sort of lukewarm attitude to the UBE scheme and that is why some States could be bold enough to overtly work against its success for selfish reasons. A lot of issues worth reporting are either ignored by the mass media or poorly treated. Thus, according to Uyo (1996:59), “the press in Nigeria is not doing enough, or can do much more than it is doing now towards righting what is critically wrong with the civil society”. The basic goal of the media is fact-finding and fact-giving. That is the function of news operations; determining what is, and saying that it is, and saying so publicly (Opubor, 1985:230). It would be a fundamental contribution of the mass media to the sustenance of the current democratic experiment when societal ills as well as anti-people attitudes of those in government are exposed. The point could be made that the excesses of some of the states with regard to the implementation of the UBE scheme could have been checked if the media had risen to the occasion. For instance, is it not funny and unbelievable that while the Lagos State Government claimed shortage of land for the UBE scheme, at the same time, the government never complains about land to construct its LSDPC houses across the state? The media should condemn such attitude through news, news analysis, features, editorial, cartoons, documentary etc. The argument of land scarcity is not only offensive but also absurd because the constitution even allows acquisition of private property in the interest of the public. This is where the golden accord between the mass media and the UBE scheme is necessary. The media should see the UBE as their project because as trustee of the public, whatever involves the entire children of Nigeria involves the entire citizenry. Recently, Education Minister, Prof. Babalola Borishade, disclosed, “the Federal government has expended over N3 billion on the UBE. The Minister who spoke while addressing airport correspondents in Lagos said the amount was spent on the construction of four blocks of six classrooms in each of the 774 local councils in the country. This report, when viewed from the angle of two of the six major determinants of news, otherwise called the 5Ws & H of news reporting: magnitude and the personality who gave the information should have made the story a front-page material, but most newspapers, somewhere inside, buried it. In a related development, the Star FM radio station in Lagos quoted the Hon. Minister as saying 18 million children registered for the UBE scheme in the current school year. This figure was two million more than the original projection. The story was not listed as one of the major stories in the bulletin when it was aired. The newspapers also treated it poorly inside their pages. Whereas, according to Nwaigwu (2001:186) education statistics for 1996 revealed “21 million Nigerian children are of school-going age”. Therefore, juxtaposing the 18 million children who registered with 21 million school going-age of our children makes the story a big one worth front-page treatment or inside page lead, unfortunately, it was equally shabbily treated. The truth of the matter is that if the media do not attach importance to certain stories, the public cannot be expected to attach seriousness to such story. That is why the media are reputed to be an Agenda setting institution. According to Folarin (1998: 68), Agenda setting implies that the mass media pre-determine what issues are regarded as important at a given time in a given society. Agenda setting theory does not ascribe to the media the power to determine what we actually think; but it does ascribe to them the power to determine what we are thinking about. 2.4 CONCLUSION This paper has made the point that the country's mass media are not doing enough to support the implementation of the UBE scheme. The paper also calls for a change in attitude so as to enable our leaders of tomorrow secure their tomorrow firmly today through adequate education. It also charged the media to expose and discourage dirty politicking by state governments who often times selfishly opposed federal government's policies for political reasons. This, invariably, is the golden accord advocated by the paper with regard to the implementation of the UBE scheme. Conclusively, it is hereby suggested that to enlist the support of the mass media in the implementation of the UBE scheme, there should be regular parley between media executives, editors and education correspondents where government would enlighten them about the objectives of the programme and also enlist their support. Secondly, the bureaucratic concept of anonymity, which forbade civil servants from speaking to newsmen, must be jettisoned if the media are to lend support. There should be accessibility of the media to information about activities of the scheme. Alternatively, a Public Relations Officer (PRO) who would liaise with the media establishments could be employed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Akinfeleye Ralph (1999), “Mass Communication Education and Human Resources in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects” in Contemporary Issues in Mass Media for Development and National Security, Unimedia Publications Ltd. Akpan Emmanuel (1985), 'Broadcast Journalism in a Multi-party state', in Mass Communication in Nigeria, A book of Reading (ed) Onuora Nwuneli; Fourth Dimension Publishers Baskakov Edward (1987), Information and Nuclear Free World, Allied Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi,. FG Spends N3bn on UBE, This Day newspaper, 29th October, 2002. Folarin Babatunde (1998), Theories of Mass Communication: An introductory Text, Stiring-Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd, Ibadan,. Implementation Guidelines for Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, (2000). “Net Primary School Enrolment of Children Age 6 11”, in Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos (1995). Nwangwu Rosemary E. (2001), “Implications of Implementing the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme for non formal education in Nigeria”, in Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 1, NO. 2. Opubor Alfred E. (1985)., “Public Communication Policies and the Mass Media in the New Nigeria”, in Mass Communication in Nigeria; A book of reading (ed) Onura E. Nwuneli, Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugus Peden William and Adrienne Koch (eds) (1944), The Life and Standard of Thomas Jefferson, New York: Modern Library. Popoola Timothy O. (2001), “Nigeria Universal Basic Educational Scheme, Learning from Universal Primary Education Experience” in Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 1, No. 2. Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Government Press (1999) Lagos. The Post Express newspaper edition of June 19, 2001. “UBE will fail like UPE”, Vanguard newspaper, 13th June, 2002. Uyo O. Adidi (1987), Mass Communication Media: Classification and Characteristics, Civiletis International, New York,. Uyo Adidi (1996), “The press and civil society”, in Nigeria: The Mass Media and Democracy. Civil Liberties Organisation, Lagos, CULTURAL DEPRIVATION AND COMPENSATORY EDUCATION: THE UBE ATTEMPT (PANACEA). OKWECHIME OKEY Department of English and Literature University of Benin ABSTRACT The Universal Basic Education (UBE) is quite popular and appears widely accepted partly because it appealed in different ways to separate political ideologies. Liberals see it as an attempt to be more egalitarian, providing equality of opportunity, developing potential talents and helping the underprivileged. Conservatives see it as means of social control, preventing discontent and riots and imbuing middle class virtual. This paper posits that UBE is a compensatory programme because it attempts to reach out to millions of young Nigerians lost in a gray world of poverty and neglect., especially those circumstances have stranded on an island of nothingness and emptiness. It also provides a viable opportunity for redressing the girl child education problems in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION From the dawn of civilization through the ages, education has had an altruistic function. It has always provided basic skills for something that society or a segment of it considered important. Compensatory Environment Compensatory education is defined here as services provided to students (pupils) who had been denied or deprived of the chance in the first instance to appropriate formal education. It is therefore a remedy provided by government to fill up the gap. Recognizing the imperatives for change, the promoters of UBE, got engaged in a process of reflection and debate on how it could most effectively contribute to development in the society. The UBE programme is no doubt a vital first step in an evolutionary process that will reshape and refine education in its role as the essential tool of national development. To achieve this point, UBE is succinctly seen as “Empowerment through knowledge”. This view is predicated on the explicit relationship that exists between knowledge and development and in the conviction that empowerment through knowledge is the key element in the development of nations, people, communities and individuals. Education or its process provides the means for the acquisition of appropriate knowledge and, hence, for development. The provision of the facility for knowledge therefore, is a necessary plight for empowerment. The UBE programme is dedicated to creating, maintaining, and enhancing capacity building in developing the nation nay individuals. It will also help in response to needs that are determined by the people in the interest of equity and social justice. As a remedy UBE provides a new perspective on development. The political, economic, social, cultural and environmental changes in our country have created an entirely new context for developing indices. The rapidly shifting political environment has produced some positive results. The predominant feature of the post military era that brought in democratic civil rule of balance of power has gradually began a process of civil transformation knowledge is being appreciated better than ever before. Totalitarianism is in retreat in the country as democracy and political pluralism spread and take hold more political parties were recently registered. Repressive policies meet with increasingly vocal protest and often-international sanctions. Cultural and Environmental Deprivation Cultural deprivation incorporates nations of cultural pluralism and special needs. Underlying these is the pervasive sense of cultural harmony, which overlooks the prime goals of equality of opportunity and equality of condition. Population growth has resulted in an increase in rural-urban migration. Rapid urbanization has created huge demands for housing, sanitation, transportation and energy supply. This adds unmet urban needs and wide spread urban poverty to the deprivation that characterizes rural populations throughout the country. Over population also leads to unemployment and under employment, which have emerged as two of the most troublesome and dangerous phenomena in the country. This creates not just the poor, but also the culture of poverty. Cultural and environmental deprivation equally affect, inform and influence policies and thinking about development. Among the most pervasive of the many cultural problems are religious values, ethnic allegiances and the rise of fundamentalism. In several parts of this country, these phenomena constitute the predominant influence on the lives of people and communities. They are complicated when the wish to preserve cultural identity, comes into conflict with the tendency of the mass media to promote a “foreign” culture. The first implication is the need to rethink what we mean by “development”. The underlying notion that development is a linear process is no longer valid. According to Yesufu (1996:32) development means people and its rightful essence is the welfare of the people. In the view of Egudu (1999:24) there must be a “moral component” to the human dimension of development before it can be meaningful. This human essence of development inevitably implies not just the holistic idea of economic advancement (betterment), it is by and large the advancement of greater human dignity, justice and equity, Okwechime (2002:203). More and more, the term empowerment captures the true essence of what development should be. Granted that it cannot and should not be imposed upon a society from outside, development should mean above all giving people the power, defined in terms of adequate knowledge and capacity, to decide what is best for them and to act accordingly in fulfilling their own destinies. The second implication for the UBE programme as compensatory to be deprived is the generation, dissemination, and application of knowledge will become even more important in the development process. Indeed, one can say that the essential difference between developed and developing, rich and poor is the knowledge gap the capacity to generate, acquire, disseminate and use scientific and technological knowledge. The UBE is based on the explicit understanding (philosophy) of a full intellectual partnership with states to the recipients. The Federal and State Governments define plans and priorities jointly. Gender and Educational Inequality A very big gap exists between males and females in opportunities for access to education in Nigeria. Family, religious, culture and economic factors are the main determinants of the relatively low access of women to education. Nwagwu (1998:126) has suggested that Adult Literacy, bursaries for women financial inducement, compulsory primary and free junior secondary education among other factors or incentives should be employed to help check inequalities in Nigerian educational system. Research has shown that women's educational potentials has been delimited and not fully realized in Nigeria due to socio-cultural prejudices and practices. These disadvantages place women in what may be deemed or regarded as sub-ordinate position (UNICEF 1990; Alele-Williams 1991; Ojogwu 2000). Education is central to development, freedom and human rights in any civilized society. It is equally one of the basic social services provided from taxpayers' money by the government. The justification behind the UBE, no doubt is to empower the people in this country for a better life. The scheme which is aimed at making education free and compulsory for the first nine years beginning from primary class one and terminating in J.S.S. 3 was launched in September 1999 to help produce better Nigerian citizens. It is essentially meant to provide equal opportunities to all sexes. It is a widely held national opinion that education is an important tool for sustainable national development (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1998:5-8). Ukeje (1986:4) states that education is universally accepted as one of the catalysts for social, economic and technological development. Until recently, the education of women in Nigeria was considered as a big waste; in short it had little or no relevance (Amali 1991:10). Education if effectively employed could help in mobilizing Nigerian women for national development (Nwaubani, 2000:14). This will be achieved when the society has been rid of stereotypical thinking hinged on patriarchal thinking. In this paper, equality of educational opportunities is both a constitutional and educational policy. We have also identified three levels or areas that the UBE can help achieve equality. · Equal right to education without gender bias. · Equal right to receive equal treatment during education (process). The same content, skills, procedures and processes and activities should be made available to both sexes. · Equal right to equal opportunities to succeed in and through education giving maximum opportunity to each person as a person without any stereotypical treatment. Open equal avenues for each individual to acquire the highest operational intelligence at the person's pace (Izuwa 1998:65). We wish to acknowledge Eheazu's (1998:149) observation of some fundamental issues that bother on differences inherent in human situations that will inevitably make equality of educational opportunities impracticable. For example genetic endowment and dispositions, both negative and positive cultural background and social class barriers also affect gender issues. This paper however asserts that the UBE programme as a compensatory philosophy provides a mean, a springboard and a level playing ground as it were for all participants without bias. Nature's distributive role is also noted, but, then, the UBE will ultimately take care of gray areas world of poverty and neglect. It will surely offer hope to the hopeless and sight to the blind academically (See The Song Of The Educated Man at the end). Akinpelu (1981) and Fagbamiye (1997) expressed similar view. Emphasis should be placed on the education of the girl child because, that would help reduce the number of illiterate Nigerian women. Participation in the UBE programme will enable them acquire basic functional literacy and numeracy. This knowledge will logically lead to improvement in their various occupations. The acquisition of the basic knowledge of education will definitely raise their intellectual outlook in life, and improve their emotional, physical and psychological health. DEFINING BASIC EDUCATION Basic education is the provision of essential, basic literacy and numeracy to all and sundry. Our attempt to define what will be considered as basic education further, will lead us to priority levels as follows: · Pre-primary, · Primary · The handicapped · Nomads and disadvantaged occupational groups · Women, · Out-of-school youths · Illiterate and neo-literate adults. In providing the basic literacy and numeracy knowledge, the emphasis should be on relevance and equality. The focus also should be on the learner, to make him or her more productive and more responsible citizen. In addition to the acquisition of literacy and numeracy, the basic education will also provide opportunities to develop problem-solving skills and to acquire values that are in consonance with positive development of the societies. It will also enable recipients to acquire attitudes and broad cognitive competencies. The practice and outcomes of education are determined essentially by social and economic factors. The phenomenal increase in population, the pernicious influence of growing drug abuse, and high crime rate along with environmental degradation, globalization and the pressure to modernize society have all produced different effects on the populace. The provision of basic education will go a long way in bringing back some form of sanity into our society. Some critics or cynics have pointed out that the assumption that once UBE is provided free, that of itself would create a demand for education, had become a miscalculation. To hold tenaciously to this view is to deny the gradual but steady increase in educational awareness. It will also amount to attempt to give a lie to the obvious political awareness of the people due to the effect of education. In spite of the systemic weakness that may be associated with the execution of the UBE, its advantages cannot be overemphasized. Mistakes of the past have taught that for a sustained and effective education programme, on such a massive scale, certain pre-requisites must be put in place. For example, strategic plans for basic education cannot depend solely on annual budgeting. A guard against unstable economies and unstable political environment can be in form of laws legislation. The sheer size of the basic education concept makes it compelling for options to be based on facts not on intuition. In fact, there should be a needs assessment research. SOCIAL SYSTEMIC FAILURE The socio-political system along with leadership problem in the country makes the UBE programme most compelling as a panacea. This is so because the vicious circle of poverty, which ensures a self-perpetuating and ineradicable culture of poverty, can only be dealt with through knowledge acquisition. Due to poverty most deprived children appear to suffer essentially from economic hardship of their parents. The damage to the children occurs early in life and appears inseparable. By the age of six or seven slum children have absorbed the basic values of the sub-culture and are not psychologically geared to take full advantage of changing conditions. What is more, compensatory education at this point faces the problem of genetic factors. The development of IQ is affected by environmental factor and the development of IQ often occur pre-natally and in the first year of the life associated mainly with the nourishment of the mother and child. The home factor cannot be overlooked. The home and family help in perpetuating the gray world of these children. There is inadequate mothering, mothers who do not talk to their children, mothers who go out to work, have no time be with the children. Separated parents or singled parenting has its untold effect on the children. Lack of books in the house, and absence of a stimulating environment contributes to the cultural deprivation of the children. Visually, the urban slums (shanty) and the overcrowded houses offer the child a minimal range of stimuli. Be that as it may, compensatory education is based on levels of needs to be met. A language deficit is also prevalent in these deprived children. What is lacking is the use of language to explain, to describe, to inquire, to analyze, to compare, to deduce and to test. And these are uses that are necessary for academic success. As a result, the UBE, as an academically oriented programme covering activities from pre-school to J.S.S. is offered as compensation to the deprived children - to teach these poor children language skills. The syntactic structures of the children from deprived homes and the rural populace are quite different from that of the middle-class children. The argument that as children they have the same basic vocabulary, posses the same capacity for conceptual learning and use the same logic as anyone else who learns to speak and understand English is nothing short of presenting a truncated view, because it amounts to denial of the obvious advantages of the good home to the children. Indeed, the deprived children do not hear or speak enough well formed sentences in Standard English. This verbal deprivation affects their social reality The need for strengthening the UBE programme is dramatized by the continuing gap in performance between economically disadvantaged students and others in measures of academic achievements. The interest is in improving the effectiveness of the compensatory education programme, which offers supplementary instruction to children (deprived) group that is disproportionately economically disadvantaged. ENHANCING THE COMPENSATORY EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR DEPRIVED STUDENTS The formulation and development of compensatory education programs is informed by the belief that deprived students will benefit most from a less challenging curriculum. In that sense, the emphasis is on basic skills in reading and mathematics, vocational rather than academic programs. More often than not, there is a lack of clarity about the purpose of compensatory education services based on divergent perceptions of the recipients. For example, reading is often taught as an unrelated skill i.e reading of reading texts not as a skill needed for other learning and study areas. To enrich the UBE programme, there should be congruence between curricula what are to be taught, in what order, and using which materials and between the methods of instruction. It should be pointed out that conflict could arise when the reading strategies taught and learned in one setting are radically different from those in the second setting. So, the process should be sequential and chronological. Standard educational programme provides for learning opportunities in both cognitive and affective areas, in skills of learning how-to-learn and learning how to be a disciplined students. The curriculum and instruction for the deprived should deal more with developmental rather than remedial learning. A variety of cognitive strategies such as goal setting, comprehension, problem-solving, elaboration, planning and self-questioning should be taught and the programme should emphasize their development by encouraging teaching, thinking skills to allow the deprived students to create the scheme necessary for the mind to store, order, and make sense of various observations, facts, and events that they are exposed to. Literacy does not begin and end with a concept of basic skills or minimum competency. A literate person has an approach to language that transcends the medium of print. The programme should ensure that attention is paid to integrating the reading, writing, and oral language elements of literacy and comprehension. The improvement of the teaching of mathematics is as expressed by Romberg (1986). The compensatory programme in mathematics should fall into three broad categories: (a) Enrichment programme that provides low-income children with experiences and intellectual challenges that the middle-class have. (b) Differential programme, which treat deprived students differently from middle-class children. It consists of mastery learning that uses computers and other aids as management tools and standardized tests as assessment instrument. (c) Direct drill methods that teach arithmetic skills by emphasizing right answers rather than appropriate processes and developmentally based programmes, which are geared to the level of a child's conceptual thoughts after his or her cognitive functioning has been determined. It is our opinion that mathematics should be taught in the compensatory programme as a language and science that orders the universe, as a tool for representing true-life plights, defining relationships, solving problems both abstract and concrete and as a subject for thinking. The curriculum for compensatory education should not be limited in scope to instructions in reading and mathematics. It should be as comprehensive, rich and balanced as that provided in regular school schemes. Success on basic tests of reading and achievement is important, no doubt, but such minimal competencies are only a part of the total package of educational goals and objectives for all students. Deprived learners need access to a sound core curriculum of reading and language arts, writing, mathematics, social studies, science, fine arts, health, physical education and if possible a second language. They equally need access to vocational and technical curricula and a copious variety of electives. This will ultimately lead to a psychological development that will emphasize the social nature of intelligence as against genetic theories. Finally to achieve enhancement in the UBE programme, it should be pointed out that the skills, knowledge, understanding and insights that constitute a general and common education (most especially at the elementary level) are essential for all children and all engaged in the process of knowledge acquisition. CONCLUSION In this paper we have broadened compensatory education to include gender and other forms of diversity. Those who are from poor homes and lacked access to education early in life or dropped out midway from school are defined or classified as culturally deprived. Culture is not used in the anthropologist sense of the word. We looked at culture as a way of being, thinking and feeling. It is considered as a driving force animating a significant group of individuals united by common tongue and sharing the same customs, habits and experiences. What unites all (groups) recipients of UBE programme is not just common culture but common exposure to manifold discrimination and being an “outsider” non-literate. We have demonstrated that the UBE programme is a manifestation of compensatory education based on empowerment through knowledge. Resources alone are not sufficient, people should be empowered by knowledge to determine and meet their own needs without damaging their neighbour or their children's prospect of doing the same. The increase in child abuse, plus the acknowledged need for additional aid to help deprived students to read and write indicate that the compensatory education will in the final analysis be one of the most effective means of reducing educational inequalities. We therefore, align with the interest in continuing to improve the effectiveness of the compensatory education which offers the possibility of giving children of low-income parents the educational preparation they will need to be able to function successfully in life and support themselves and their future families through rewarding and productive work. The philosophy to guide the UBE programme should be to do the best possible for every child left behind due to societal circumstance. Just because of the luck of birth, some people get, and some do not. Compensatory education as a form of supplementary instruction designed to meet or bridge previously lost grounds should follow a systematic procedure for annual programme evaluation. Record keeping must be emphasized to ensure maintenance and improvement of the programme. The demoralized and delinquent can find redemption in the UBE scheme. The programme will also help reduce gender inequality in terms of education and cultural stereotyping. Because persons of the same ethnicity can have very different beliefs and practices once given education as an enlightenment tool. The UBE programme is essentially designed to repair the child not necessarily the school. But the school must supply a compensating environment for the UBE pupils. We have to end the separation of home and school. Too much is at stake to let the foolish lack of communication between both to persist. The programme will in the final analysis bridge the gap between them and us the literate and non-literate. RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations are put forward to enable the scheme achieve greater efficiency. · There should be a sharper programme focus to meet the dynamic nature of society. · A (re) structuring of the programme should be aimed at to maximize the impact of available resources. · There should be perseverance in the executor's efforts. · Greater efficiency in programme execution and administration should be pursued and the promoters of the programme should aim at flexibility and agility to adjust as conditions and experience dictate. · Most importantly, the scheme should not be inadequately funded. Finally, as a panacea, the UBE programme is at best a metaphorical lifeboat strategy, helping not just a handful of talented youths but the majority left behind in a sinking system of ignorance and deprivation as it were. Note: The Song of the Educated Man You no sabi Read and write You blind - oh! You wear big agbada Under dignity, You no complete If you sabi read and write And speak good English Na him make you Complete person. Radio Jingle REFERENCES Akinpelu J.A. (1981) An Introduction to Philosophy of Education, London: Macmillan. Allele-Williams G. (1991) “Women Education and its Implication for Development”, Keynote Address at the International Conference on Women Education and African Development. Institute of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Amali E. (1991) “Developing Nigerian Women Managers for the Socio-Economic Transformation of Nigeria” Management in Nigeria Vol. 27, No.6, pp.6-13. Egudu, R.N. (1999) “Poetry and Development in Africa” Paper Presented at the 1999 Symposium of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Lagos. 11-13 August 1999. Eheazu (1998) The Roles of Parastatals and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO's) Organised Private Sector in Fostering Equality of Educational Opportunities in Nigeria. JENDIC Vol.2 No.1 July. 1998. Fagbamiye D.E. (1997) “The Future in the Instant, Managing Nigerian Education for Development” Inaugural Lecture Series, University of Lagos, Press. Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998) National Policy on Education, Lagos: Government Press pp.5-8. Izuwa L.G. (1998) “Towards Micro-teaching in NINLAN Language Teacher Education Programme and Equal Education Opportunity” JENDIC Vol.2, No.1 July 1998 Nwagwu C.C. (1998) “Inequalities in Nigerian Education: The Case of Women Participation” in Advances in the Field of Education. The Nigerian Experience. S.O. Oriaifo and R.O. Olubor (Eds) Benin City Nigeria. The Institute of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. pp.124-133. Nwaubani O. (2002) “Women Education and National Development in Nigeria” in Aloy Ejiogu and R.A. Alani (Eds) Emergent Issues in Nigerian Education Lagos: Mukugamu (Nig) Company. Ojogwu C.N. (2000) “Women and Discipline in Informal and Formal Systems of Education” in Benin Journal of Educational Studies Vol.12 and 113, No.1 and 2, January and July, 1999 & 2000. Institute of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. pp.165-189. Okwechime, E O. (2002) “Women's Empowerment, Equality and Development” In Afolabi Ojo ( Ed) Women and Gender Equality for a Better Society in Nigeria. Lagos: Leaven Club International. Romberg T.A. (1986) “Mathematics for Compensatory School Programme” In B.I. Williams, P.A. Richmond, and B.J. Mason (Eds). Designs for Compensatory Education: Conference Proceedings and Papers. Washington, D.C. Research and Evaluation Associates, Inc. Ukeje B.O. (1986) School and Society in Nigeria Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers. UNICEF (1990), The Girl Child: An investment in the Future, New York. FORMATION OF AN INFORMED CITIZENRY FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH UBE: THE LIBRARY FACTOR CHIDI NWOSU (MRS.) DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IMO STATE UNIVERSITY OWERRI ABSTRACT The paper explains the concept of UBE as the free education of the Nigerian child for the first nine years of schooling. It identifies its goal as the formation of an informed citizenry which in the view of the author is of great value in national development. It highlights some ways in which an informed citizenry will affect national development. The paper further argues that the library as a collection of books is central to the achievement of the aims of UBE as books contain varied knowledge beneficial to the child in ways identified. It regrets that the library has not been given its pride of place in the UBE programme and suggests that government should urgently attend to the library needs of children especially by providing money for equipping the school library and the relevant sections of the public library in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION: Universal Basic Education (UBE) in very simple language means free education for all Nigerian children for the first nine years of their schooling i.e. from primary one to junior secondary school (JSS) III. The idea of free education is not new in Nigeria. Its antecedents can be found in the defunct Universal Primary Education (UPE) of the late 1950s and early 1960s in Awolowo controlled Western Region and the nation wide UPE of the 1970s which offered free education to children in the areas covered, up to primary six. These earlier programmes were viewed by their sponsoring governments as excellent ways of extending educational opportunities to all children within the areas of coverage in order to eradicate illiteracy and its scourge. It was thought that the basic education so acquired would act as a springboard launching the beneficiaries into further adventures either in education or in other spheres of life. Today, the beneficiaries of the programmes remain grateful to the initiating governments and are all over the country contributing their bits to national development. The current initiative of the Obasanjo led Federal Government aims beyond the eradication of illiteracy; the period of benefit has been increased to nine years in order to give the child a wider scope of knowledge. The project is in line with the Seventh Principle of the United Nations (1979) Declaration of the Right of children which states: The child is entitled to receive education which shall be free and compulsory at least in the elementary stages. He should be given an education which will promote his general culture, and enable him on the basis of equal opportunity to develop his abilities, his individual judgement, and his sense of social and moral responsibility and be a useful member of his society. UBE is thus, a seed project for an informed Nigerian citizenry. An informed citizenry is an immense asset to the nation. Government has demonstrated her understanding of this by her willingness to invest so much on the education of the Nigerian child through UBE. To undercut the excuse of inability to acquire basic education due to costs, government working through the UBE programme undertakes to bankroll all educational expenses no fees, free textbooks and exercise books, etc. This, at least in principle, is a laudable programme. The Value of an Informed Citizenry in National Development: National development is the cumulative of progress in all facets of our national life Education, Politics / Government, Agriculture, Medicine, Law, Commerce/Economics, Culture and Socials. There is no such thing as one stop shop for national development; rather, it is a progressive transformation of the Nigerian nation from an extreme state of backwardness to a developed state. A nation's level of development will generally be assessed by the presence of the following :- improved infrastructure, respect for the rule of law, order, discipline, value for hygiene, poverty reduction and better living conditions for the people. The more these factors are in place in a country, the closer that country is to development state. The quest for national development in Nigeria demands the collective contributions of citizens. An informed citizenry will certainly boost national development because it has all the potentials to do so. Informed citizenry is a collectivity of individuals with knowledge and skills in diverse spheres which can be put to use to engender development. An informed citizenry, in contrast to an ignorant citizenry, is better equipped to appreciate the values of peace and harmony conditions necessary for progress and will therefore create an environment in which they will thrive. Violence, vandalism and other vices are the attributes of barbarians and symptoms of ignorance, which draw development back. The more enlightened the society becomes the less likely it is to perpetrate these vices. Also, an informed citizenry will promote democracy. Basically, the people become better aware of their rights and roles in a democracy, channel their demands for their rights properly and play their roles well. Altogether, this will push the nation forward. It may be important to also state that the more enlightened a people become, the more likely they are able to solve both personal and societal problems. An enlightened person will certainly impact positively on the society. Government spending on UBE is therefore an investment in the right direction. The ultimate goal of this investment is the production of an informed citizenry who will bring development faster to the nation at large. THE LIBRARY FACTOR IN UBE The library is a collection of books and other information media organized for use. If the goal of UBE is the making of an informed citizenry, then the library must be given a pride of place in the programme. Education at all levels requires copious use of the library for therein lies the treasure of knowledge sought for. Long ago, Thomas Carlyle recognized this fact and made a statement that has continued to be referenced: “But the place where we are to get knowledge, is the books themselves! It depends on what we read, after all manner of professors have done the Their best for us. The true University . . . Is a collection of books”. Although Carlyle was addressing a situation in higher education, the truth of his statement is applicable to lower levels of education. After all manner of teachers have done their best for the children, how much real knowledge a child has acquired will be decided by how reading he has done. No longer tenable is the educational system which Fayose (19995) has described as follows; “Many teachers in the Nigeria school system still see themselves as the beginning and end of teaching and learning. They come into the classroom with their 'notebooks of facts' which they drum into the ears of the children. The children are assumed to have the same abilities, the same socio- economic background and in fact all forty or so children are assumed to be one single child. The children sit in fixed positions in the classroom all day long and every day listening, perhaps out of compulsion to the teachers recitals. A pupil is good if he follows all the rules and regorges all that the teacher has given out . . . “ She has also informed that: “international trends in education have suggested a break from teacher-oriented, whole class instruction where the textbook reigns supreme and the pupil is passive, to a pupil-oriented situation where the individual child learns actually from a range of experiences arising from an environment rich in learning stimuli.” The library affords such an environment. Fayose's report on global trends in education is confirmed by Thompson's observation as follows :- “Modern system of teaching, not only in schools but right through the educational strata to university level tend to place more weight on the individual's own use of libraries and resource centers. In most schools, a rigid structure of class lessons has been abandoned in favour of heuristic methods; and in universities similarly, there has been a movement away from the formal lecture as the chief means of learning, towards the intimate and informal guidance provided by seminar and tutorials.” Time has come for Nigeria to cue into this global style of education which implies heavy use of books and libraries. Time has come for the condemnation of the new trend in schools (especially in private schools) where children are kept in school up to 5.00 p.m. 'learning.' This denies them the opportunity to read books other their class texts. A well-stocked library for the children will help them maximize the opportunity of UBE. Books facilitate the mental development of the child. A child that has been introduced early to reading becomes mentally ahead of his mates. This is because reading exercises the mind; just as physical exercise keeps the body fit, mental exercise of reading keeps the mind alert and ready for impression. Early reading sharpens a child's understanding and develops his ability for critical reasoning. It helps a child acquire vocabulary with which he can communicate effectively even with adults. A reading child is apt to be more articulate than other children who do not read. According to Fayose (1995), “Books can add in no small way to emotional, cultural, educational and psychological development of children and young people. Books have always been a source of information, comfort and pleasure for the people who know how to use them. In this respect, recreational reading is particularly useful.” Children's literature is by design usually didactic. Its varied lessons have been proved over the years to be helpful in solving growing-up problems in children. As a child reads, he identifies with the experiences of characters he meets in the book and this to a great extent can help him cope with and/or solve his own problems. Too often also, fictional characters read in books form role models for children as they desire to achieve the feats which those characters achieved in the books. In this way, children's literature becomes a source of challenge and inspiration for the growing child. At some other times, a book character comes into the court of the young reader who judges him and condemns his actions. This helps to develop the child's sense of judgement. Usually, after reading a fictional story, a child begins to ask himself “what would I have done if I had played the role of X in this book?” or better still, “what will I do if I find myself in a situation similar to that in which X found himself?” He will take a position based on his assessment of how well or how poorly the character played his part. The child is therefore, developing a sense of positive value from reading. Books broaden the outlook of the child. As the child reads literature foreign to his environment, he comes in contact with the cultures of other people and begins to appreciate what is good in those cultures. This in itself is an immense education. Younger adolescents find it pleasurable reading certain types of books that offer them a pip into adult life. These satisfy their emotional needs and prepares them for adult roles. Apart from fictional books, there are children's books that serve purely utilitarian purposes and they are very important for the self-development of the child. Such books in the “Teach yourself” series “Teach yourself Cooking,” “How to make soap,” “Teach yourself Cake Making,” “How to Give First Aid” etc provide invaluable lessons to children willing to learn how to do things for themselves. So far we have been trying to expose the many ways in which the book contributes to the development of the child. The following words of Fayose (1995) will serve as summary and conclusion to this segment of the paper: - “One of the main purposes of children's literature is to stimulate their tastes. A wide variety of reading materials will develop children's literary and aesthetic tastes. The many characters, situations and experiences encountered in books will nurture and deepen children's understanding as well as widen their interests. Imaginative literature provides its own education. Children can read and learn from other people's mistakes. They can also learn through their readings what are the accepted social norms. This will enable them fit better into the society in which they will function. Books are tools for socializing children into the Inherent values, assumptions and beliefs of the society in which they are produced”. The Problem It is easily discernible from the foregoing that adequate provision of library services is a sine qua non to the realization of the ultimate goal of UBE. Although Government appears to recognize the value of libraries in education, it remains to be demonstrated in concrete terms that this recognition is real. The attitude of Government toward the matter of school library development in Nigeria could be interpreted as lip-service as there is yet no matching action to support Government statements on it. The National Policy on Education (1981) states: “Libraries are one of the most important educational services. Every State Ministry of Education needs to provide funds for the establishment of libraries in all our educational institutions and to train librarians and library assistants for this service.” It presupposes that being adjudged “one of the most important educational services” the school libraries should rank high in the priority list of the States Ministries of Education. The painful reality however is that the States Ministries of Education appear encumbered with so much that they hardly feature the school library at any vantage point in their scale of preferences. Hence, our school libraries remain a sorry sight, betraying fund starvation and general neglect. In 1992, The Minimum Standards for School Libraries in Nigeria was issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, lending further credence to a possible concern for functional school library services by government. Ten years after issuance, this document has still not come into force. In fact, the picture of the school library in Nigeria today is still the same as it was painted in 1992 by Fafunwa A. B; while writing the “Foreword” to the Minimum Standards … as the then Federal Minister of Education, he had remarked “Despite their inestimable importance, school libraries in Nigeria are still clearly in their embryonic stage of development, displaying inadequacies in funding, staffing, collection, furniture, equipment and services provided.” But should the situation be allowed to persist ad infinitum? The way Forward One feels that now is the right time for government to gear up to its responsibility for school library development in Nigeria. With UBE now in place government should be seen to be willing to make it a success in all ramifications. Universal Basic Education without adequate library services is like the proverbial child sent to the farm without the basic tools. His achievement in the farm would be greatly limited. Government should without further delay take the following steps: 1. Commission a team of experts to (a) Study the library needs of school children and their teachers (b) Assess the library services currently available to them both at school and in the public libraries. 2. Release adequate funds for equipping the school libraries as well as the children and young adult's sections of the public libraries 3. Ensure the proper staffing of the libraries 4. Ensure that the States Ministries of Education keep faith with the provisions of the National Policy on Education in relation to library development. 5 Enforce the Minimum Standards for School Libraries in Nigeria which was issued in 1992. 6 Place sanctions on any authority that embezzles or misappropriates fund meant for the libraries. Adequately equipped libraries hold great potentials to help actualize the goals of UBE as they supplement classroom lessons as well as encourage the self-development of the child. On their own part, parents and lovers of children should understand that the issue is that of enhancing accessibility to books by children because of their inherent values. They should therefore think beyond provision of basic texts for their children and begin to develop private collections of varied reading materials for them. They could start by giving books as gifts to mark occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter, a brilliant performance at school, in games, or cultural activities. REFERENCES Carlyle, T. Quoted in Pool H (ed.) (1977) Academic Libraries by the year 2000: Essays Honoring Jerrold Orne, New York: Bowker, P. 50. Fafunwa, A. B. (1992). Foreword to Minimum standards for school Libraries in Nigeria, Lago s: Federal Ministry of Education, P. 7 Fayose, P. O (1995). Nigerian Children's Literature in English. Ibadan: AENL Education Publishers, P. XI Fayose, P. O. (1995), School Library Resource Centers for Educational Excellence, Ibadan: AENL Educational Publishers, P.1. National Policy on Education, Revised Edition (1981), Lagos: Nigeria Educational Research Council Press, P. 432. United Nations, The Rights of the Child, (1979). CAN NIGERIAN LANGUAGES TRANSMIT MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURES Okeke Vincent O. Imo State University, Owerri SUMMARY It is the general belief by experts (Okonkwo: 2002;Kizerbo, 1966; Fishman: 1984, etc.…) that the mother tongue is the best medium for the child to acquire knowledge at school. The child is more at ease in understanding and tackling problems in the language he is used to than in the one that he hardly has a good grip of. It takes years for a Nigerian child, long after even he has finished his secondary education to have a mastery of the English language, so that one can logically conclude that all the knowledge dispensed in earlier years at school have simply been half understood. Now, to what extent can the option of using the mother tongue be viable in the acquisition of modern technological cultures? Can Nigerian languages be structurally adequate in dispensing higher knowledge in science and technology? Our paper agrees that they are all structurally capable to transmit these higher cultures but under certain conditions of rehabilitation and greater attention by stake holders. No language is superior to another from the linguistic point of view so that what one can do, others can equally do provided there is determination and hard work. INTRODUCTION History has it that Africa was at the forefront of the race for technological development and has contributed immensely to world technology. Egypt's contribution cannot be overlooked as she started the race before giving the baton to other participants. But following the slave trade and the subsequent European / Arab colonization that sapped Africa of its dynamism, traditional values were relegated to the background. Though, generally speaking, oralcy was primarily the traditional vehicle for African cultural and intellectual development, African peoples had their own technologies which eventually paved the way to the present scientific and technological cultures of the Western world and their modes of expression. Indigenous languages had in the past adequate provisions of vocabulary and grammar to express emotions, thoughts, points of view and ideas in Science and technology. But these technologies were smashed by colonial ruthlessness. The languages used to express them were made to stagnate for want of adequate sustenance, as a result of which some went into oblivion. European cultures set in, subjecting the traditional African ones to dormancy and neglect. These new technologies were adapted to the ideology and culture of Europe and the indigenous users were subjected to the cultural styles and ideological practices of their European producers. As a result, industries were constructed to produce economic results which tended to satisfy ideological objectives. By right, technology is supposed to solve problems, taking into account the people's environmental and social factors. Experience has however shown that some of these imported technologies do not solve our problems; they rather tend to destroy the socio-cultural and economic balance of recipient countries and even constitute serious dangers to the lives of the citizens. The Union Carbide disaster in India serves as a good example of this situation. Not only are Western technologies elitist in nature, the gap which they create between the developed and developing countries is now a matter of grave concern. The overwhelming superiority of imperial powers in their application forces us to a position of perpetual consumers and parasites. These are the present problems of the globalization process which the third world tends to snob. However, we cannot for that reason fold our arms and watch progress in modern trends elude us. We must have to participate. All we need to do is to be masters of own fates, to acquire technology once again (foreign or indigenous), operated by us to solve our problems of hunger, clothing, shelter and disease in order to: Reduce the alarming high rates or morbidity and mortality, improve life expectance, longevity and productivity of the African peoples. (Moyibi Amoda, 1958: p. 150) Though European languages are at present the medium of science and technological knowledge in most third world schools, there is a general feeling that these forms of knowledge could be more suitably assimilated if they were taught in maternal languages. In fact, many of the researches on education in developing countries suggest the use of vernacular languages for early primary science. We feel obliged, while we talk of technology, to talk equally of science because training in basic sciences as a prerequisite to the learning and development of technology, is an imperative approach to realistic technological growth. HAVE LANGUAGES PARTICULAR VOCATIONS? The generally accepted theory in language use in Medieval Europe was that Greek, Latin and Hebrew were the languages of culture whereas others were seen as languages of emotion and daily life. Greek was considered to be the noblest form of human speech, while Latin, by its precision and force became attractive in any setting and no where more appropriate than in the work of a scientist (Savory, 1967). It was even in the 19th century that languages like English and French were emancipated from the grips of these prestigious and classical tongues, though still a great quantity of specialized expressions reminiscent of their imperialism are still indelibly entrenched in them. Primitive societies were not even considered apt to possess languages. Their speeches were only made up of jargons and noises which would certainly not be considered fit to vehicle any serious thought. Thanks to anthropologists and linguists of this 20th century, these 'vituperations' of the primitive man have been found to be languages, just like those of the civilized man and these languages have been found to be structurally adequate to transmit all pre-occupations of their native users. Every language disposes of a finite set of rules which permit it to generate an infinite number of correct sentences (Chomsky, 1963). In this regard therefore, all languages are equal by their natural dispositions. There are however, a certain number of particularities that distinguish language groups from each other. Their preoccupations, social and physical environments are not the same and their tenets are expressed by quite different sets of lexicon. According to Whorf (1976), the world in which we live is seen from different focuses and these are determined by the languages we speak. In his doctrine of linguistic determinism, Whorf proposes that there are differences in cognition associated with the languages we speak. If we were to tow the lines of these arguments, we would give a 'NO' response to the question raised by our title. From the cultural point of view, the world is presently conceived from two (cultural) perspectives: the western scientific and the technological cultures which are now tending to be universal and other regional and group limited cultures. We live therefore in two worlds of different cultural values. Many countries of the third world never had a powerful secular literary tradition and only came in contact with writing through their colonial ties and through the same, came to experience another world view of science and technology. All while living at the same time in these two different worlds, the third world citizen is grappling with the relationship between language and certain aspects of cognition. He finds that his survival lies in his adopting in toto the cultural imperatives of his former colonial master, now that his own has been devalued. In this, western counterpart is, of course, far ahead being the originator of those values. The African in his predicament is bent on catching up. He wants to acquire the modern cultures of science and technology. Most of the tenets of this culture, as we have seen, are abstract to him, though he needs to know them in order to survive. They would perhaps be better understood if translated or transmitted in indigenous languages. Of course, yes. In the words of Hyder (1966), “By passively accepting English as the medium of intellectual activity, we are unwitting ly placing a barrier to the intellectual development of our peoples (…) being always incapacitated to undertake any serious thinking in our languages” Using the example of Igbo (out of other African languages) which was defective in serious creative writing, writing per se was not an African cultural activity, though it started in Africa, (specifically in Egypt). At the present moment, writings in our languages are limited to religious tracts, simple school textbooks, folktales and proverbs, though serious effort is underway to generate lots of creative works and literature. Summarizing our topic, our question can be thus re-framed “can Igbo language, language of oral tradition, possess large enough vocabulary to satisfy the degree of specificity required of a language of science and technology?” We would answer an outright “yes” because if our people are capable of assimilating a culture which is foreign to them, their language would equally be able to accommodate any degree of specificity required of it. In the words of Sapir (1968), “language is a complex inventory of all the ideas, interests and occupations that take up the attention of a community ”. Originally, most of the scientific and technological concepts now used in our community did not take up the attention of our people, but now, they constitute a way of life for most of our people, and they live by these experiences. The underdeveloped countries of the world had particular cultures to express, not necessarily the same as western countries. The important point is that, using the words of Fishman at al (1968) underdeveloped countries were not living in tabula rasa waiting virginally for western ideas to be inscribed. We had original cultures. The problem now is that emphasis has shifted from one area to another, so that if our culture had received universal acceptance as did those of some European countries, the reverse would have been the case and the Europeans would have been struggling to catch with our own languages for the acquisition of a culture which would equally have appeared too abstract for them. HAD AFRICANS ANY TECHNOLOGICAL PAST BEFORE THE ADVENT OF EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGY? Africans had their own traditional technologies and basic sciences which they applied in the building of bridges, houses, and agricultural based industries. They were advanced in pottery, sculpture, smithing and architectural technologies. They constructed their own agricultural tools. The indigenous languages disposed of all the necessary tools to express all these. The need did not arise to borrow any term for expressing any concept whatsoever. Instead they continued generating new vocabulary in the face of newer developments in these sciences. But alas, colonization and the attendant imposition of a completely new life perspective halted the onward advancement of our people in the direction of their science and technology. In the domain of medicine, a lot of advancement was already attained. We had Doctors specialized in gynecology and obstetrics, who performed successful surgeries and administered drugs, all of which had names. All the above mentioned surgical tools had names, most of which have gone into extinction from sheer neglect. If our people had mustered all the courage and violent disposition needed to go into colonial adventurism and then colonized the Western nations, thereby imposing our model of science and technology, Europeans would be looking up to us for innovations in those areas originated by us. Modes of administration would be different and in our own vocabularies. Thus, the inability of indigenous languages to transmit Western models of science and technology derives from this relegation of own values for a foreign visionary pattern. Briefly said, Africa made a solid contribution to world technology, as exemplified by the advanced technologies of Egypt. Besides, the architectural patterns in Africa testify to this uniqueness. STRUCTURAL DISPOSITIONS OF ENGLISH AND IGBO From the structural point of view, Igbo language is syntactically and phonetically adequate to transport any realities at all, including those that fall outside her realms of cultural influence, just like English [Okeke, 1989]. But when it comes to transmitting two different cultural realities, the shortfall derives only from the lexical cum semantic nature. Quite a number of languages have a large chunk of vocabulary for concepts which others express with fewer terms. The fact that Eskimos have far more terms to express the concept of snow than English (Sapir, 1967) does not make it superior; English can satisfactorily express snow to her speakers who would not be interested in the menu precision which an Eskimo would expect. In the words of Charles Hockett (1954), the difference between languages is not so much as to what can be said in them but rather as to what it is relatively easy to say. In other words, all those terms which we find in English, as our people learn the sciences, can equally be expressed in Igbo though with perhaps not as much ease as in English. That is why our major concern in research seminars, is that emphasis has very often been placed on finding terms which would translate concepts with greater ease and precision. We shall therefore delve into a comparative analysis of both languages especially as concerns the generation of new lexicon. We shall, by this medium discover why Igbo is finding it more difficult than English to cope with the ever-growing technical register. Is it a problem of intrinsic structural properties and to what extent can they be overcome? Every language has the means of generating terms for new concepts and experiences. Words can be borrowed from a foreign language and adapted phonemically into the system of the recipient language. They can equally be coined to meet the new needs; they can be borrowed from ordinary speech and be given a new semantic interpretation. A new concept can also be translated with paraphrases. These procedures vary with languages though some are more generally applied than others. In English, the radical has been the major source of lexical innovations for science and technological terms. With its derivational cum flexional attributes, the radical stands out to help generate other grammatical categories whose meanings the language user can easily sieve from basic forms. Thus, the use of prefixes and suffixes are primordial in generating new expressions in English. To illustrate this statement, seven other expressions can be generated from the word “origin”: Aborigine, original, aboriginal, originality, originate, originally, origination. Any competent speaker of English would have no difficulties understanding what they all mean, based on the meaning of the source term. This has the advantage of combining both logic and the economy of means. Also, 44 compounds are understood to have emerged from the sole term thermo-; 54 scientific terms from phono-, 57 from tele-. Even the verbs that serve to express these new concepts can be formed in English from substantives and other grammatical categories can thereupon be formed from the same. From the word, “oxygen”, one can get: oxide, oxidation, oxidize, oxidizer, oxidizable, oxygenate, whereas in Igbo, for example, each of these new expressions would require a separate paraphrase or at best a new word. The use of prefixes and suffixes is characteristic not only of English but also of other languages like French, Spanish, German which are presently used to vehicle technology. It constitutes a great advantage for the users of the languages vis-à-vis their Igbo counterparts who only sparingly can enjoy incidents of flexion in their language. This use of separable extension of the radical to modify meanings and generate fresh lexicon is not conducive in the logical development of Igbo. The speakers most often have to go through the description process of tortuous paraphrasing Igbo expresses most of her meanings in vague and general terms. The terms: water, fluid, liquid, wet, river, pool, humid, watery, swamp, rain, drizzle, mucous can all be expressed by the term “mmiri” or “mmiri-mmiri” (for adjectival forms). The tenets of science and technology demand precision and accuracy. Besides, naming a thing is not the same as describing it because more than one concept can have a similar description. The name for pen “mkpisi e ji ede ihe” can satisfy the same description for others like bic, pencil, marker, nib. Thus, until specificity is attained, the speaker of Igbo will continue to have a vague perception of facts and not until this time will the language be viable to express science and technology. We are not however saying that the language is incapable of expressing knowledge in these areas. Words are for the most part polyvalent in Igbo as can be illustrated by the examples that follow: Leader, Chief, Director, Commander, can all be translated by the word Onye-isi Foreman, Supervisor This does not mean that equivalent and more specific terms cannot be devised. On the realization that a name has the simple role of identifying, a fresh word does not need to be descriptive. After all, nothing in the word ulo (house) indicates its function of giving shelter. The disadvantage of always describing a concept is that where this concept is not culture based or is abstract, translation becomes somewhat difficult. Judging from the volume of such alien and foreign concepts that are more often abstract in the expression of science and technology, one has to admit that meta-language activities are seriously under challenge. The trend can only be reversed by a more tenacious and conscious approach. APPRAISING THE NIGERIAN LANGUAGES SO FAR As the people's horizon of experience widens, the need arises to formulate linguistic terms for new lexical needs. Whatever new experiences take the people's attention must have to be expressed in one way or the other, through a number of strategies - intra-language borrowing, loan blends, phrase derivation and a series of adaptations. The Igbo society is a limited society living only in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The environment which the Igbo language expresses does not go beyond the confines of South-Eastern Nigeria and its tropical environment. Taking this language as an example, we would not be comparing it with English which is spoken everywhere in Britain, America, Australia, Canada, all of which constitute different geographical, social and cultural environments. The particular experiences in these locations help foster the growth of English. A concept which is difficult for the English man from Britain to formulate may perhaps be easier for the American or Australian to evolve in the same language. As there is no desert, for example, in South Eastern Nigeria as well as in Britain, one would expect the expression of terms related to the desert to be equally difficult for the two peoples. But since this environment exists in the USA, the British speaker of English only needs to look up into his dictionary to discover an already made repertory. His Igbo counterpart would be racking his head, trying to generate the vast vocabulary that is associated with the desert and its features. Thus the richness of English today is the aggregate of the many sided efforts and innovations brought about by the culturally different speakers of the language. Appraising the situation so far, one would say that Igbo and other Nigerian languages have not yet got vast enough linguistic resources to express the new world view of science and technology. Not enough research has so far been done at providing adequate literature in that domain, notwithstanding the fact that some effort has been recorded in that regard. Quite a number of bodies charged with the promotion of indigenous languages (especially the three major languages) are relentless in efforts to generate technical terms, through sponsoring seminars and metalanguage workshops but the impact is not being sufficiently felt. This is because there is no science literature in indigenous languages, the constant reading of which would put the subject in constant touch with scientific thought. As a result, native speakers are obliged to think in English for new technical ideas and in local languages for ordinary day to day activities. Added to these is the fact that grossly inadequate publicity is given to new derivations in the language by language committees; also Government is very passive to the development of indigenous languages. Well-to-do / eminent Nigerians hardly endow a kobo for research in these languages ( Elugbe: 1990, p. 17). They hardly see any need for that and their prejudices hamper the growth of vernacular languages. The great interest shown by Americans as a whole to science is fostered by the steady availability of scientific literature of all kinds. Apart from the normal flow of “official and sponsored pamphlets, bulletins dealing with the problems of agriculture, forestry, nutrition and health and all the many manufacturing and commercial processes that have their foundation in pure science” ( Savory: 1967). The average American is thus in contact with the science of the day and its literature. The contrary is the case with the Nigerian in own indigenous language. In the face of the so many shortcomings of the vernacular languages, as exemplified by Igbo vis-à-vis the other languages which have been privileged by circumstances in the transmission of science and technological thought, quite a number of measures need to be taken. Otherwise, if the situation remains as it is actually, our languages will never be able to transmit higher technological cultures. CONCLUSION Judging from the half efforts already made to equip Igbo with the wherewithal to transmit science and technology, one would lose hope to say that vernacular languages are not viable to transmit higher cultures of science and technology. At present, there seems to be an unending igbonization of English expressions and if the rate of these processes of lexical acquisition were allowed to continue unchecked, Igbo and other Nigerian languages would lose their autonomy and quasi totally espouse the structure of English. Looking back at history, we discover that many language groups have already achieved these aspirations. The Japanese language, a few years ago, could not transmit these higher thoughts, especially in the domain of medicine. German served them as resource pool. For years, they borrowed from German and sat on the indigestible heap of foreign concepts, but gradually domesticated them by sheer commitment. (Herbert Passin). Nigerian languages have today a high number of undigested English vocabulary. Events in history may force us one day to fall back on these languages which we frustrate with reckless abandon. Finally, faced with the immediate necessity to transmit modern science and technology in them, Igbo and any language at all can transmit these higher cultures though the process has to be gradual with steady hard work. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chomsky, Noam (1965): Aspects of the theory of Syntax, Cambridge Mass, MIT Press. Elugbe, Ben O. (1990 “ National Languages and National Development” In Emenanjo, Multilinguism: Minority Languages and Language Policy in Nigeria, Central Books Ltd., Agbor Emenanjo E.N, (1990): Multilingualism: Minority Languages and Language Policy in Nigeria, Central Books Limited, Agbor. Fishman J. et l (1968): Language Problems of Developing Nations, John Viley & Sons Inc., New York Hyder Mohamed (1066): “ Swahili in the Technical Age” East African Journal, 11.9. Moyibi Amoda (1978): Festac Colloquium and Black World Development, 3rd Press Internl, New York Sapir Edward (1967): Anthropologie, Editions de Minuit, Vol. II Savory T. (1967): The Language of Science, André Deutsch Whorf B. L. (1976): Selected Writings, Language and Thought, by Carroli J. B., MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. EMPOWERING SCHOOL LIBRARIES FOR THE CHALLENGES OF THE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION (UBE) PROGRAMME: A TREATISE. CHUMA O. NNADOZIE DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IMO STATE UNIVERSITY, OWERRI. ABSTRACT The paper highlighted previous efforts, especially the UPE Programme aimed at providing free and functional primary education by various governments in the country before the formulation and introduction of the UBE programme. A synopsis of the objectives and scope of the UBE programme was provided. The roles which the school library should play in the on-going UBE programme were identified and briefly discussed. Recommendations were made on ways to equip and position the school library for the discharge of the additional responsibilities which the introduction of the UBE programme has thrown up. Introduction Several scholars, among them Ejimofor (1987) and Fafunwa (1991) have pointed out that the educational system and infrastructure bequeathed to Nigeria by the colonial officials were tailored to the production of indigenous personnel needed to administer the colonial civil service. However, since the end of colonial rule, efforts have been made to create an educational system that will meet the developmental needs of independent Nigeria. This national aspiration has led to the articulation of policies and establishment of institutions with the aim of liberalizing access to basic education. The snag is that due, largely, to pervasive poverty, qualitative education remains outside the reach of an average Nigerian. Whereas the quality of education available at the public schools leaves much to be desired, the cost at reputable private schools within and outside the country remains prohibitive. As a result, only the affluent businessmen, technocrats and politicians can afford to give quality education to their children and wards. Of course, provision of qualitative education remains a social responsibility of government. And to be saddled with a mass of illiterate populace is a potential danger, which any government would keep at its own peril. The foregoing narrative partly explains the decision of the present Federal Government to introduce the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme. Highlights of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme. Education remains a veritable instrument for intellectual liberation, social transformation and technological development. These positive multiplier effects of an enlightened citizenry have emboldened successive governments in Nigeria to design ambitious policies and programmes aimed at widening access to and enhancing the quality of education in the country. In all these the interest of the Nigerian child remains paramount, as children are the future leaders. A trip down memory lane would reveal that the dream of free and functional education for Nigerians is not a new phenomenon. In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the government of the defunct Western Region introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) which was the first project of providing free education in any part of the country. The military which took over the reins of government in the mid-1960's truncated the fledging UPE programme only to repackage and re-introduce it as a nationwide programme in the late 1970's. The lack of continuity in government policies led to the scrapping of the repackaged UPE programme during the Second Republic. When democratic government was inaugurated in Nigeria in 1999, the Federal Government pledged to revitalize education and make same qualitative, functional and affordable. In addition to other measures taken to revive the almost comatose education sector was the launching of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme on the 30th September 1999 at the Shehu Kangiwa Square, Sokoto. The UBE Programme, in a nutshell, represents an effort by the Federal Government to arrest the downward slide in the standard of education, by making the education of the Nigerian child free at the primary and junior secondary school levels. The objectives of the UBE programme as enshrined in the Implementation Guidelines (2000:11) include: · Developing in the entire citizenry, a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion; · The provision of free, universal and basic education for every Nigerian child of school going age; · Reducing drastically, the incidence of drop-out from the formal school system; · Catering for the young persons who, for one reason or another have had to interrupt their schooling as well as other out-of-school children/ adolescents, through appropriate forms of complementary approaches to the provision and promotion of basic education; · Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literary, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills as well as the ethical, moral, and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for lifelong learning. The Implementation Guidelines (2000) further show that the UBE Programme has a very wide area of coverage, encompassing: Ø Programmes/initiatives for early childhood care and education; Ø Education programmes for the acquisition of functional literacy and life skill, especially for adults (persons aged 15 and above); Ø Special programmes for nomadic population; Ø Outof-school non-formal programmes for up-dating the knowledge and skills of persons who left school before acquiring the basics needed for lifelong learning; Ø Nonformal skills and apprenticeship training for adolescents and youths who have not had the benefit of formal education; Ø The formal school system from the beginning of primary education to the end of junior secondary school. The UBE programme will provide for the educational needs of the following groups of beneficiaries: q Pre- primary age children; q Primary age children; q Junior secondary school students q Adults and outof school adolescents in mass literary, adult and non- formal education q Nomads. The Federal Government is taking steps to ensure that the UBE programme does not suffer the fate of the earlier Universal Primary Education (UPE) Programme which was characterized by inadequacy of funds, facilities, personnel and haphazard implementation. Already, about N250 million has been set aside for the provision of books for the training of teachers, administrative staff and other resource persons. Government anticipated an upsurge in school enrolment to the tune of about 1,120,000 new pupils in the first year of the programme. And in order to meet the stipulations of 40 pupils to one classroom, government is currently building about 28,000 classrooms throughout the country. Because of the additional number of teachers required in the UBE programme, arrangement has been concluded with the National Teachers' Institute for the training of about 40, 000 in the first year of the scheme through the Pivotal Teachers' Training Programme (PTTP). A closer look at the raison d'etre of the UBE programme reveals that it re-echoes the ideas of functional, learner-centred, skill oriented, self-guided, resources-based education which have been beautifully encapsulated in the various National Policies on Education (1977 and 1981) which has, in the words of Dike (1993) “brought the school library from periphery to the centre of education.” The foregoing highlights on the UBE programme provide fertile grounds for further reflection and introspection. For instance, what are the available facilities for the effective implementation of the UBE programme? Is there any role for the school library in the programme? How can we equip, and so empower, the school library to make it central to, and relevant in the UBE programme? Role of the School Library in the UBE Programme. School libraries are founded to support academic activities at the kindergarten primary and secondary levels of education. This claim finds buttress in the words of Kolade (2001:34) : The school library media centre is the intellectual development unit within the school system that provides an organized collection of books and non-book media specially collected to support the teaching and educational work of the school from early childhood, to primary junior and senior secondary levels. The school library, therefore, nurtures the preliminary stages in the scholastic life of the child. As educational policies and programmes have changed so have the content and designation of the school library. The changing role of the school library has attracted to it diverse nomenclatures all of which are used interchangeably, viz: learning resource centre (LRC), school media resource centre (SMRC), educational resource centre (ERC), media resource centre (MRC). Learning Laboratory (LL). The ideal school library should have the full complement of decent accommodation and competent staff. Omolayole (2001:18) mentioned other resources including books, magazines, recordings, maps, films, photographs, paintings, computer terminals, cameras, projectors and tape recorders for school projects. This is why the school library is among the educational infrastructure; which the Implementation Guidelines for the UBE Programme (2000) refers to as “the physical and spacial enablers of teaching and learning”. Other roles of the school library in the UBE Programme include the following: Providing conducive environment for study and research: Most Nigerian homes are not conducive for the pursuit of scholarship. The alternative to the pupil/student is to avail himself of the facilities of the school library; whose primary function is “to provide an environment which will encourage and support teaching and learning within its spaces”. (Woolls, 1988: 42). The school library, therefore, lends itself to the pupil/student and teachers alike. It affords the student the chance for self and guided study while materials for further research and the preparation of lessons are brought to the reach of the teachers in an organized and conducive environment. This helps to enhance the standard of education. Acquiring information materials: Because of the cash-crunch occasioned by economic hardship in the country, the possession of books and other learning media have become a luxury which most pupils/students cannot afford. Since the availability of books has a leading role to play in the success of the UBE programme, the school library, therefore, acquires books and other information materials and thereby relieves Nigerian parents, guardians and teachers of the costly responsibility of purchasing books and other educational media required for study and research. Inculcating reading habits: About a decade ago, Krashen (1993) developed the premise that “we learn to read by reading” Udofia (2001:84) describes reading as “the spring-board on which learning takes off”. As a result of early exposure to library and books, through the instrumentality of the school library, children acquire the habit of reading which helps to sustain lifelong education which is one of the aims of the UBE programme. Re-inforcing information literacy: Amucheazi (1998) described information literacy as “a set of skills and strategies which include the ability to recognize a need for information, to retrieve the required information and to evaluate and utilize it effectively to solve a particular problem”. The relevance of the school library to the sustenance of information literacy and implementation of the UBE Programme becomes evident when we remember that the school library provides children opportunities to hear stories, meet friends and borrow books for leisurely reading and assignments. The school library therefore assists the child to develop an enquiring mind and lifelong habits that will stand him in good stead to put knowledge to good use. Teaching the use of library skills: The school library may be the child first encounter with a library of any sort. As a result, most children exhibit traces of ignorance of how best to put the library to good use. The school library comes to the aid of such children by organizing periodic use education programmes. These programmes take the forms of instructions in the use of catalogue; classification schemes; information materials; library rules and regulations; or guided tours of nearby public libraries. All these help children to appreciate the library and become better citizens in their adult life. Arranging inter-library co-operation: Inter-library loans, and exchange of materials are under the aegis of library co-operation. Co-operation among libraries arises because no library, no matter how well-endowed, has all the materials required by its clients. In realization of this fact, school libraries design, implement and co-ordinate collaborative arrangements thereby making their respective information resources available to participants in the UBE programme Equipping The School Library For The U.B.E Programme The role of the school library in the proper education of the child is not in doubt as can be inferred from the brief discussion above. W hat is doubtful is the availability of relevant facilities and resources and the preparedness of the school library to discharge its responsibilities satisfactorily. This section contains suggestions on how to position, equip and empower the school library for the challenges, which the introduction of the U.B.E programme presents: Adequate funding: The success of any worthwhile venture is inextricably tied to availability of funds. The school library should be adequately funded for it to make the desired impact on the implementation of the lofty ideals encapsulated in the U.B.E programme. Money is needed to develop or reconstruct accommodation for the school library; procure facilities and resources; and employ personnel for efficient running of these libraries. In addition to donations, bequeaths and government grants to school libraries, the possibility of charging some money for library development can also be explored in order to increase the money available for the running of the school libraries Provision of facilities; For the school library to contribute meaningfully to the success of the U.B.E programme, it must have the basic facilities and resources: There must be a the functional school library building complete with ceiling fans, air-conditioners, shelves, lighting and furniture. The regulatory authorities should consider enacting a legislation making school libraries mandatory components of the master-plans of primary and secondary schools. Deliberate efforts should be made to develop a collection of books to support education at the primary and secondary levels. Obanya's (2001:3) reminder that “the exigencies of the 21st Century requires that school libraries handle a lot more than print materials. School library with designation as teacher-librarians. Holders of OND or NCE (Library Science option) should be employed to man primary school libraries while those with HND or B.Ed (Library Science option) should preside over secondary school libraries. Obviously, the teacher- librarian cannot run the School Library alone. Thus, Kolade (1998) has recommended and designed job specification for the following personnel needed for effective running of the school library: Library assistant, technician/audio-visual specialist, student helper, adult helpers, school library committee, typist, cleaners, and security staff. Creation of a mobile (outreach) arm of the school library: The UBE Programme is not limited to the formal school system. Infact, the Implementation Guidelines (2000) spelt out that the programme covers, among other things, “education programmes for the acquisition of functional literacy and life skills especially for adults,… and specific programmes for normadic population.” This means that the project of extending functional literacy, which the UBE programme aims at, would continue even at the residences and work-stations of the target beneficiaries. Extending library services, no matter how skeletal, to these far-flung theaters of academic activities therefore becomes inevitable. It is in this scenario that mobile library service should makes its entry in the UBE programme. School libraries should brace up for the provision of mobile library and extension services whereby vans/vehicles would be used to take books and other relevant information materials to the remote study centres. Really, establishment of mobile library as an appendage of the school library will make library services available to all facets of the UBE programme. Networking: Since no school library can have all the information materials required for the discharge of its statutory responsibilities, the school library administrators should explore the possibility of networking with neighbouring libraries for the exchange of available information materials and acceptance of genuine referral letters. Also, donor agencies and trans-national organizations like the World Bank, European Union, UNESCO, UNICEF, USIS, British Council et al, could be approached for assistance. Credible local NGOs could also be contacted for possibleassistance. Modalities should be worked out with the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) for the production of relevant educational resources which the school library is expected to procure and provide in support of the UBE programme. Generally, networking will help improve the finances and resources available at school libraries. Implementation of existing standards for school libraries in Nigeria: Bright policies for the development of school libraries are not in short supply in Nigeria. For instance, the Guidelines for Legislation on School Libraries (1978) National Policy on Education (1981). Minimum Standards for School Libraries in Nigeria (1992), among others, were articulated to aid the development of school libraries in Nigeria. What is lacking is the will-power and resources to implement these laudable programmes. The authorities should establish workable machinery for the implementation of the existing policies for schools library development in order to place the school library in a vantage position for a central role in the UBE programme. Conclusion The efforts to liberalize educational opportunities in the country without sacrificing standards has led to the formulation of various educational policies. One of such programmes is the UBE programme which aims at providing free and functional education to Nigerians from primary to the end of junior secondary school. As a result, the provision of school libraries to support the on-going UBE programme becomes not merely desirable but necessary. This is because of the various services, which the school library renders especially in this 21st century where emphasis has shifted to resource-based and learner-centred education. But the reality is that school libraries in the country are in a sorry state which makes it impossible for them to play their expected leading role in the implementation of the on-going UBE programme. This paper, therefore, explored quite a number of salient issues and made reasoned contributions to the search for ways of empowering the school library for the challenges of the UBE programme. References Dike, Virginia W. (1993 ) . Library Resources in Education. Enugu : ABIC . Ejimofor. C.O. (1987 ) . British Colonial Objective and Policies in Nigeria. Onitsha: Africana FEP. Publishers. Fafunwa, B. A. (1991). History of Education in Nigeria. Ibadan : NPS. Educational Publishers. Kolade, H. K. (1998) . “Personnel Requirement for Nigerian School Library Media Center “. In : Elaturoti, D. F. Nigerian School Librarianship : Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Ibadan: NSLA 189- 200 pp. Kolade, H. K. (2001 ). “Universal Basic Education Programme in Nigeria : Implication for the Teaching Role of the School Library”. Nigerian School Library Journal . 4 (1&2): 33-38. pp. Krashen: S. (1993). The Power of Reading: Insight from Research. Eaglewood, Colorado ries Unlimited. Nigeria (1981). National Policy on Education. Revised Edition. Lagos: NERC Press. Nigeria (1992) Minimum Standard for School Libraries in Nigeria. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Education Nigeria (2000). Implementation Guidelines for the Universal Basic Education (U.B.E) Programme. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education. Obanya, Pai (2001) “Library Development for UBE”; Nigerian School Library Journal 4(122):1-4 pp. Omolayole, O.O. (2001). “The Role of the National Library in the Provision of Effective Library Services in Support of the U.B.E. Programme in Nigeria”. Nigeria school library Journal. 4(1&2);15-22pp Udofia, E.P. (2001) “The Modern Library and the Universal Basic Education Implementation”. Nigerian School Library Journal .4(1& 2); 78-87pp Woolls, Blanche.(1988) Managing School Library Media Programmes .Eaglewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited

MORE NEWS ARTICLES THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE SUCCESS OF THE UBE SCHEME IN NIGERIA Rev. Fr. John. I. Obilor PhD Imo State University, Owerri ABSTRACT Religion is at the heart of every human development. The understanding of religion in our context must include both the implicit and explicit notions of religion. This implies both the natural dimension of religion and the acquired dimension. This paper concerns itself more with the natural dimension of religion which is that aspect of religion which represents the essential attribute of mankind as Homo Religiosus. It is noted in the paper that the problems associated with religion in Nigeria are caused by the exaggerated emphasis on the explicit dimension of religion which represents the religious institutions, their teachings and modus operandi. The paper argues that for a successful implementation of the UBE in Nigeria, there is the need to eschew emphasis on this explicit dimension of religion, while promoting the implicit dimension. There are five main areas of concern in the execution of any scheme like the UBE. (a) The political will on the part of government. (b) The financial resources available for the scheme. (c) A good plan of action. (d) A conscientious implementation personnel. (e) The enabling environment which includes peace and stability in the country. Each and every one of these five areas of concern need the input of religion. INTRODUCTION Religion needs the UBE scheme and the UBE scheme needs religion. Religion remains the bedrock of every human development. As Obilor (1999:115) opines : The greatest duty of religion is to create harmony among various forces and activities. The UBE programme is a good opportunity to expose pupils and teachers to the correct ideals of religion and of religions. The success of the UBE Scheme begins with the caliber of teachers trained for the job. Teacher education is the most important aspect of the UBE scheme. Nothing can replace the value of a well trained teacher. In our context, teachers for the UBE must be educated and instructed about religious matters in Nigeria. They must be well trained on the principles of Dialogue, Ecumenism and Inculturation. The last one (Inculturation) is relatively a new terminology in the academic circle. The term Inculturation means the “on-going dialogue between faith and culture”. According to Obilor (2001:41) In our context however, we define Inculturation as the on-going dialogue between faith and culture with the view to create an