PERCEPTIONS OF SHAREHOLDERS ON THE ORGANIZATION OF ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

 

This study was conducted to seek Perceptions of stakeholders on the management of Adult Education Programme in Gombe State, Nigeria. The six objectives of the study are to examine the perceptions of stakeholders on the management of instructional facilities, find out the perceptions of stakeholders on the condition of infrastructural facilities, identify the perceptions of stakeholders on record keeping among others. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, six research questions and six null hypotheses were formulated in line with the objectives. Related literature were reviewed along with four (4) empirical studies. Descriptive research design was used for the study. From the total population of 10,133, comprising of 691 staff of Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency, 199 staff of Non-Governmental Organisations and 9,243 Adult Learners, a total of 370 respondents were sampled through stratified and systematic sampling technique. It comprises 110 staff of Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency, 40 staff of Non-Governmental Organisations and 220 Adult Learners. A structured questionnaire designed on five point Likert scale was used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected were presented in tables and  analysed using weighted mean to answer the research questions. The Six hypotheses were tested using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha level of significance out of which two were rejected and four were retained. The major findings of the study reveal that; there is proper management of instructional facilities in adult education in Gombe state; the condition of infrastructural facilities in the learning centres was not conducive and not adequate for adult education programme; it was identified that adult and non- formal education agency adopts both new and old modern methods of record organization and preservation; The following recommendations were made; The agency should closely walk with the international donor agencies to make provisions for more instructional facilities; It should work with the community leaders and members through communal effort in making the available infrastructural facilities like classes conducive with good source of light to make it a better place for learning; The agency should also make available workable procedures and policies to guide the use of Infrastructural Facilities and to ensure compliance with the established policy and procedures; The agency should develop a well-structured pattern of record keeping for easy retrieval. It should also organise regular training and update on the current methods and processes of record keeping. This will help ease work and add value to the programme.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

The success of any organisation depends to a large extent on its management. A poorly managed organisation may not give the desired result, meaning that the organisational objectives and goals will not be achieved, such scenario will be tantamount to waste of resources. No organisation wants to record failure, however past experiences shows that some organisations in Nigeria have recorded successes, while some organisations like Nigerian Air Ways, Post and Telecommunications (P and T),

Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigerian Refineries and even Educational Programmes have recorded failures which most of these failures are associated with ineffective management.

The condition of our educational system in Nigeria has been erratic and this makes one to wonder the stability of our educational system. Scholars like Odia and Omofonmwan, 2007, Chux and Ita, 2013 have observed failure in primary and secondary education programmes, and have attributed such failures to poor management among others. On a general perspective the effectiveness of the management of our education programme is contentious. The management of adult education programme is not an exception. Besides Basic, Secondary and Tertiary Education programme, the Government of Nigeria has made provision for adult education programme which should serve as an avenue of making literate those adult illiterates who could not attend school or who because of one reason or the other dropped out of the school system. The history of adult education is as old as the history of education in Nigeria but considering the high level of illiteracy in Nigeria and Gombe State in particular, it will not be out of place to say that adult education programme has not brought about the desired change it is expected to have brought especially where a large percentage of illiterates are found among adults. It may be true that other factors must have contributed to this unwanted state of affairs, but the fact still remains that if the programme had been properly managed in all the states in Nigeria, certainly the outcome would have been better.

The history of adult education in Nigeria can be tress back to the colonial period to be precise in 1940s the period when Government institutions started to organised evening classes. This assertion was corroborated by Aderinoye, (2004) when he stated that Holy Trinity Anglican School started evening classes in Kano in 1940. He maintain that in 1942 the history of an experiment in literacy and community development began in Udi district of the present Enugu State. Anyawu in Ihejirika, (2013) revealed that the colonial government pursued the substitution of the then indigenous and Islamic adult education with western adult education programmes. In 1943, there was an attempt to mobilised support and contribution of Nigerians to the war against illiteracy. That move was confronted with some problems.

Similarly in 1945, there was a serious demand for literacy education, this was after the second world war when the colonial government realised the need for mass education in Nigeria. A mass literacy programme was then lunched in 1946 to

eradicating illiteracy, when it was realised that the percentage of illiterates ranges from 83% in the southern province to 97% in the north (Jibrin,1999). To that effect, a ten (10) years mass literacy campaign was launched in 1946 starting with a three years preparatory stage then followed by two years for a mop-up operation before finally the remaining five years of post-literacy. The campaign led to the setting up of pilot adult literacy centres in various parts of the country. The programme were primarily run by local government public enlightenment department. It led to the opening of literacy centres. Despite some careful planning and collaboration of individuals and the NGOs, the campaign failed due to lack of colonial administration‟s commitment to the literacy programme. This same attitude was reported to have frustrated some officers out of the adult literacy sector (Omolewa in Ihejirika, 2013).

The period between 1974 – 1984 was another time when Nigerian government embarked on a new literacy campaign, but it is sad to note that this effort could not yield any fruitful result. Sarumi affirmed that when he said it was confronted with a bunch of problems which ranges from lack of funds to poor recruitment of instructors, inadequate literacy training, improper management among others (Sarumi, 2005). Despite all these, Nigerian government remain resolute and committed to its fight against illiteracy.

The launching of another ten years mass literacy programme on 8^th September, 1982 by the Shehu Shagari‟s administration was another remarkable effort by the government of Nigeria which declared 1982 – 1992 as literacy decade. But like other previous efforts this one also failed because of lack of reliable data and noninvolvement of the people that the programme was mend for, lack of governments commitment as well as opposition from other political parties.

Another land mark in the history of adult literacy programme was the year 1987, it was a period when the federal government directed that all states of the federation then including Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) should establish Adult and Non-Formal

Education Agencies (ANFEA) to prosecute literacy in the states and local governments. That was the period that was characterised with formation of agencies like the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC), Nomadic Education Commission (NEC), National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NCMANE) all with the intension of fighting against the menace (illiteracy).

Worthy of note is the re-launch of literacy campaign by (NCMANE) in

September, 1992 during Gen. Babangida‟s administration which declared 1990–2000 as another literacy decade through the introduction of Mass Mobilisation for Social and Economic Reforms (MAMSER) which got external assistance from donor agencies like the (UNDP). Sarumi, (2005) pointed out that success was limited because of political crisis, frequent changes in government, lack of continuity in personnel and lack of commitment by the illiterates. These formed the key factors that militated against the success of 1990–2000 mass literacy period.

Following the progression of events as discussed above, a careful x-ray will reveal that the problems encountered is not far from ineffective management in the adult education programme and looking back to the history, one could wonder why is it that till now, Nigerian government has not learn its lesson, even from the knowledge and experiences of some countries through the effort of their leaders in the area of adult education programme? The exemplary life of the former Tanzanian president Julius

Nyerere who promoted literacy and the concept of self-reliance is worth emulation. Fidel Castro the Cuban president is another example. He declared to the United Nations that he will give illiteracy a running battle and he matches his words with action by closing all the universities for eight months and instructed that all student should join in the war against illiteracy that yielded good result. These among others are the directions that Nigerian government and particularly Gombe State government should begin to look into.

Illiteracy is a great agent which enslaves in the words of Fredrick Douglas quoted by Carl, (2002) who said that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom, there are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.

Illiteracy is also responsible for under-development and non-realisation of national goals. It is like a disease that kill the inside though the physical body still moves. Most of the socio-economic problems experienced in the society can be attributed to illiteracy hence the need to fight it. It is in the same respect that in 1990, the Jomtien Conference was set up to address some global issues that has to do with improving the global literacy rate especially in the under-developed countries, hence the revelation of the slogan Education For All (EFA). This giant move was what led the global literacy rate recording 85% and that of Nigeria recording 59.2% with male having 68.9% and female rating 49.3% (UNESCO, 2015). Despite this effort, it is unfortunate to note that Gombe

State is still battling with less than fifty percent (50%) literacy rate, 41.2% literacy rate (Gombe State Bureau of Statistics, 2015).

Nigeria being a signatory to this international declaration on Education For All

(EFA) has in its own way been part of the on-going eradication of illiteracy. Considering the importance of literacy to a nations development, the Gombe State government like other 36 states of the federation has join the fight against illiteracy by establishing Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency (ANFEA) and in pursuance of the vision, the state through the agency for mass literacy has established many literacy centres in all the eleven (11) local government in the state cutting across both rural and urban areas. In view of the fact that it has become obviously clear that most of these centres are faced with different challenges ranging from inadequate instructional and infrastructural facilities to improper record management among others. It has become mandatory for all the authorities to manage the little resources available. In a research conducted by Adedokun and Adeyomo, (2013) so many challenges facing adult education in Nigeria were outlined among which include; lack of enough and qualified facilitators, unconducive learning environment, inadequate teaching and learning facilities and poor management among others. To which they maintained that effort must be made to look into these challenges with a view of finding solutions to them.

In a different study carried out by National Commission for Mass Literacy,

Adult and Non-Formal Education NMEC, (2008) on Nigerian adult education using the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), the findings of the study reveals that; policy provision for adult education in Nigeria are inadequate, there is inadequate funding, poor implementation of adult education programmes, lack of learning materials which make many learners to withdraw from literacy classes, the need for training and capacity building for all the supervisors, facilitators and organisers of adult literacy classes, poor management among others. These problems have to be tackled and the programme properly managed if the goals of adult education must be achieved. This study therefore suggest that, though much is expected to be done from the government, but stakeholders also need to ensure that the little that is available is well managed. For effective management of adult education programme will make for adequate management of human and material resources. It is based on this background that the researcher want to find out the perceptions of stakeholders on the management of adult education programme in Gombe State, Nigeria.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

In their day-to-day administration, leaders of most organisations are faced with diverse administrative problems which militate against the effective running of such organisations. These problems may range from lack of qualified and dedicated workers to insufficient funding, uncooperative attitude among other members of staff, indiscipline among staff among others. Educational institutions are not left out of these problems and adult education programme inclusive. Where the head fail to arrest these situations, the smooth running of such organisation will be compromised. How far the above problems exist and their effect on the management of adult education programme is the focus of this study especially considering the fact that adult literacy is the fertilizer needed for development and democracy to take root and grow and also as ingredient for successful strategy of eradicating poverty, hence its management need to be effective.

Adult education in Nigeria has come a long way passing through different stages of organisation and development. The aim of adult and non-formal education as an excellent tool for lasting education has been enshrined in the National Policy on Education (NPE) section six (6) among which include; the provision of practical literacy and long-lasting education for adult and the youths. One remarkable outcome of such development is the introduction of the Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency in each state saddle with the responsibility of :-

1. Implementing the National Policy on Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-

Formal education in the state.

1. Plan, Research, Organize, Develop and manage state mass literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education Programme.
2. Monitor and ensure quality control of the state programme among others. (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004)

All these are carried out by the state agency for literacy and other stakeholders under the control of National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC). The programme is design to provide the opportunity to those adult who dropped out of school and those who did not had the opportunity to attend school.

The issue of lower literacy rate is not only a state or national problem but a global one. Most of the developing countries and their states are recording below average, Gombe State inclusive. Gombe State Adult literacy rate is recording less than 50%, 41.2% (Gombe State Bureau of statistics, 2015), while the national and global adult literacy rate is 59.2% and 86.1% respectively (Unesco,2015). It is believed that effective management of adult education programme will not only better the life of adult illiterates, but also improve positively the adult literacy rate from state, nation and globally.

In a study conducted by Muhammad, (2013) on Challenges and Emerging Perspective in Adult Education Delivery in Nigeria, some problems like inadequate number of literacy instructors, poor remuneration of facilitators which he said contributes to the inadequate number of facilitators, inadequate funding, which he lamented that the budgetary allocation to adult education at all levels of government is inadequate, poor record keeping, which affect the data base needed for adequate planning and implementation were outlined among others. These problems are

perceived to be domiciled in the study area, hence the need for this study.

In the entire Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency (ANFEA), which is responsible for overseeing the adult education programme at both state and local government level, every member of staff has specific duties to perform. How these duties are performed live much to be desired in the minds of concerned citizens which made it pertinent to ask this question how is adult education programme managed in Gombe State? Considering this question, the problem this study attempt to determined is; what are the perceptions of stakeholders on the management of adult education program and how effective is the management of adult education programme in Gombe State has been in meeting the national benchmark for adult and non-formal education and the objective of adult education in Nigeria?

1.3       Objectives of the study

The study was guided by the following objectives:

1. examine the perceptions of stakeholders on the management of instructional facilities for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State;
2. find out the perceptions of stakeholders on the condition of infrastructural facilities for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State;
3. identify the perceptions of stakeholders on record keeping for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State;
4. ascertain the perceptions of stakeholders on discipline for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State;
5. assess the perceptions of stakeholders on funding for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State; and
6. examine the perceptions of stakeholders on staff development programmes for the achievement of adult education program in Gombe State.

1.4       Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. Is there proper management of instructional facilities for adult education programme in Gombe State?
2. What is the condition of infrastructural facilities for adult education programme in Gombe State?
3. What is the perception of stakeholders on records organisation and preservation for adult education programme in Gombe State?
4. How is discipline maintained in adult education programme in Gombe State ?
5. How are funds managed for the achievement of adult education programme in

Gombe State?

6. What is the level of staff development for adult education programme in Gombe

State?

1.5	Hypotheses The research was guided by the following hypotheses
Ho1.	There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government officials of Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency (ANFEA), NonGovernmental Organisations and Adult Learners on the management of instructional facilities for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State.
Ho2.	There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government officials of (ANFEA), Non-Governmental Organisations and Adult Learners on the management of infrastructural facilities for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State.
Ho3.	There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government officials of (ANFEA), Non-Governmental Organisations and Adult Learners on record keeping for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State.
Ho4.	There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government officials of (ANFEA), Non-Governmental Organisations and Adult Learners on discipline for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State.
Ho5.	There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government

officials of (ANFEA), Non-Governmental Organisations and Adult Learners on the management of funds for the achievement of adult education programme in

Gombe State.

Ho6. There is no significant difference in the opinion of state and local government officials of (ANFEA), Non-Governmental Organisations and Adult Learners on staff development programmes for the achievement of adult education programme in Gombe State.

1.6       Basic Assumptions

The following assumptions were formed to guide the studies:

1. If teaching and learning facilities are well managed, adult education programme in Gombe State will be improved;
2. If good and enough infrastructural facilities in adult education programme is provided, the adult learners performance in Gombe State will improve;
3. If records are organize and preserve, management of adult education programme in Gombe State can be enhanced;
4. Proper maintenance of discipline will positively influence members of adult education programme in Gombe State;
5. Enough provision and management of funds will improve adult education programme in Gombe State; and
6. If staff are developed, adult education programme in Gombe State will improve

better.

1.7       Significance of the Study

This study is significant to government at all levels, adult instructors and monitoring officers, non-governmental organisations, general public (community members), educational planners and administrator and prospective researchers. The research attempt to provide a possible feedback for Government on its performance on adult education programme in the state, especially in the light of the fact that education plays a major role in the total wellbeing of the individual and that of the society. The study intends to provide a necessary guide to Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency (ANFEA) in making adult literacy programme interesting to adult non-literates. It aimed to be of great significance to adult instructors and monitoring officers, educational planners  and other prospective researchers in making recommendation and references. In more specific terms, the outcome of this research will help adult instructors and monitoring officers in the light of re-directing the strategies they employ in the management of available resources. The findings of this research will also be significant to non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders as a useful working document and to general public as a means of fighting against illiteracy as an effort to improve their health status, economic status, reducing poverty, promoting social development as well as curtailing crime. Finally, it is significant to Government especially the state and local government educational administrators towards the development of individuals and a re-awakening of their administrative role of providing education to its citizens especially the adult illiterates in the study area.

1.8       Scope of the Study

The study covered all the eleven (11) local governments of Gombe State. It focuses on the registered and recognised centres in the state which participates in adult literacy programme in all the local governments and the officers that oversees the activities of the adult education programme which are Facilitators, Supervisors, Local Government Adult Education Coordinators, Monitoring and Evaluation Officers and Senior Staff of ANFEA. It incorporated Non-Governmental Organisations that are partnering with the agency and adult learners that enrolled in post-literacy programme as members of the community. The study was limited to adult formal education in the state and covers all the learning centres in the state.

PERCEPTIONS OF SHAREHOLDERS ON THE ORGANIZATION OF ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA