Desempeño profesional del docente (análisis global)

Science and technology play a very important role in the development of any nation. Much accomplishment have been made in medicine, engineering, communication, transport, business, education, and other areas of human needs globally through the progress made in science and technology.By its ability to touch on every area' of life science and technology according to lizcnui (2002) has been viewed as “the panacea for mankind ills”. Continuing he noted that nations strive for technological mastery as being technologically advanced is often equated (to strength and greatness in modern times.

Citing that this explains why such technological giants as the USA, Russia, Japan, China, Germany and Great Britain decide what happens in the world today politically and economically.

However, Jegede (2002) described Nigeria as a nation where technology has failed. According to him Nigeria boasts of the best brains in Information and Communication Technology (1CT) in the world, with 90 percent of them residing out of the country. Yet he states that our communication policy, the implementation of our telecommunication system especially with respect to mobile and digital technology and computing and information technology has never been more plan less and riotous. In the words of Ezema (2002) Technology means development, good and long life. This i s wh y citiz ens of t echnologi cal l y advanced nati ons have ever yt hi ng that makes life comfort able.

They enjoy good roads, effective and efficient means of transport, well equipped hospitals, quality schools, comfortable and durable homes, abundant supply' of food and modern infrastructures.Then technology is best, described as wholesome failure in Nigeria. To the question why technology seems not to work in our nation Jegede (2002)

implicates the lack of commitmentand corporate spirit. Noting that even when we had the general direction we arc bogged down at the implementation level.

It is in the light of the above failure that the researcher believes that (time has come for us to invoke religion as an instrument of creating the much-desired ethical foundation necessary for building technological greatness.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE QUEST FOR POVERTY ALLEVTION IN ANAMBRA STATE 5.1 The Challenges of Poverty in Anambra State

Nigeria had a period of prosperity and boom between 1973 and 1978 following the transition from a peasant export crop-oriented economy to one based on petroleum. The period which was Udoji National salary and wage increase of 1974/1975, was fondly remembered as that of petro-dollar boom‟ which according to the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, the Nigeria problem then was not money, but how to spend it.

But Nigerian economy, according to New Nigeria (1979), starts indicating general poor performance with General Obasanjo‟s budgets of 1979. He had taken N32billion

„Jumbo‟ loans from the International Capital Market (ICM). In order to meet the conditionality of loan capital, IgweCalistus (Personal communication, 6/5/18)General Obasanjo announced austerity measure in the form of budgeting, fiscal and monetary controls like the harsh income guideline, new credit lines, new uniform tax law and permanent wage freeze in 1978/79. Some luxury export goods were banned, staff from grade level 07 and above had their annual salary increases stopped. The austerity measure essentially touched on welfare and state public services like the withdrawal of school and hospital fees in government owned schools and hospitals.

The measures inevitably sparked off reactions from university students, industrial workers, journalists and the democratic forces in the country and states had to repress the uprising and revolts. Thus the Nigeria Security Organization (NSO) was set up.

Demonstrating students of the Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos University were shot in 1978. Some lecturers alleged to be radical and behind the student‟s action were dismissed in the University of Ibadan. The National Student Union body(NANS) was banned. And irate union leaders, workers and journalists were detained or sacked and the

national labour body was re-organized from 896 existing registered scattered unions to 70 unions under the central control of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for government easy manipulation. The situation is an index for the scope of poverty in Nigeria.

However, the economic aspect of the predicament (which of course is the - basic) increasingly became gloomier. The revenue of the state started to decline progressively as can be seen in the fall in oil revenue from about N38billion in 1980 to less than N5billion in 1984 (UBA monthly Business and Economic Digest, September 1989). The budget deficit rose from N2.6billion in 1978 to N12.4billion in 1988.

The foreign debt went up from N1.2billion in 1977 to over N150billion in 1988.

So was the debt servicing which jumped from one percent of country‟s income to about 50%. Thus the huge country‟s earnings that could be used to ensure sustainable human development were diverted to payment and servicing of foreign debt. For instance, the federal government in its 1990-91 budget allocated the sum of N39.7billion (over 42% of its total annual expenditure) just to pay interest on external debts. According to Bala (1990) “this whooping amount, it has been calculated “is equivalent to 21 state governments and half of the total allocation to the local governments from the federal accounts” (p.10).

Thus consequent on the above and other factors, including embezzlement, mismanagement and misappropriation of national resources, the Nigeria situation is eventually a case of obviously collapsed welfare state. The government has not only failed to extend social services even to the most needy, but even the existing hospitals and schools have deteriorated in terms of the services they render, with money now being fully commercialized. The health crises caused by Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) has led to complete destruction of hospitals and healthcare delivery in the country. In fact, it has been reported that all over the country, “the diseases that had been wiped out since the

colonial era like cholera, yellow fever guinea-worm and several diseases related to food and deficiencies have returned” (Alternative August- Sept. 1989). Hundreds of thousands of poor and sick Nigerians who cannot afford to buy medical services die daily and many have resorted to use of religious, fetish and traditional medicines and other forms of mysticisms.It is estimated by the World Bank that over 15million Nigerians are dangerously starving, while over two-third of the population have no access to adequate and clean water, shelter' and clothing and average life expectancy of a Nigerian has gone down (UNESCO, 1989).

There has been a massive collapse of industries, companies, and enterprises resulting in many Nigerians thrown out of jobs. Even state and federal government civil services have been forced to retrench their staff, so are state owned companies, parastatals and organizations. For example, between 1983 and 1987, Guardian (1989) says the Nigerian Railway Corporation retrenched over 20,000 of its workers. Even those who were supposedly employed did not find it easy.

As a result of massive devaluation of„ Naira, sky-rocketed inflation, Government‟s systematic withdrawal of subsidies on fuel, fertilizers, and food, the situation had also become for the workers what many Nigerians had described as „Hell on Earth‟. On the whole, the Nigerian poverty situation is a complex one. It is not simply a case or condition of lack, but mainly a deprivation.It could be observed that thedeprivations according to P.

Orji(personal communication, May 1, 2018)are not just about human sufferings; there is also poverty in terms of injustice, oppression, and denials of human rights and access to opportunities for advancement.

This is especially as ours is a society in which, on one hand, there are huge material and natural resources at our disposal, as inequalities and uneven distribution. The above situations have been too worrisome that successive governments have seen it as a

great challenge. We shall now examine the various approaches to poverty reduction in Nigeria.