EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATE SYNDROME IN NIGERIA: AN IMPLICATION ON THE QUALITY OF NIGERIAN GRADUATES

The Nigerian education sector has witnessed tremendous transformation over the years from small-scale missionary venture to post colonial enterprises. The policy changed from 7-5-4 in the 70's to 6-3-3-4 in the 80's and now 9-3-4 system. Today, education institutions (primary, secondary and tertiary) could be found in every nooks and crannies of the country. In the early 80's some higher institutions in Nigeria had distinguished themselves at international standard. The quality of education was high and employers used to troop into campuses to recruit work force for their workforce. When the society became materialistic in the 90s coupled with outright neglect of the sector, the value orientation change from acquisition of knowledge to certification as a meal ticket, the various achievements disappeared. The current situation is such that the employers of labour believe that Nigerian graduates are poorly trained and unfit for the job demand. The country is producing fewer leaders, managers, teachers and other professionals but mass-production of miscreants, soma, the disaffected and the rejected; the misdirected, the unlearned, the wrong and the hopeless. The paper recommended that unless there is value re-orientation of all and sundry in the sector, achieving vision 2020 through, the instrumentality of education is a mere illusion.