The Flawed Education Curriculum in Africa/Nigeria: A Cycle of Consumption
By Adélékè Olúṣẹ́gun Ọláolúwa (Olúọmọ)
Growing up in Nigeria, many of us were raised with a clear path laid out before us: go to school, work hard, become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, or banker. Our parents, teachers, and even society at large painted this as the ultimate success. And to be fair, our universities have done their part in churning out graduates in those professions year after year.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth—while we’ve produced professionals with impressive titles and certificates, we’ve somehow failed to produce creators, innovators, and problem-solvers. We’ve built an education system that is good at consumption but poor at creation. A system that teaches students to memorize answers for exams, but not how to fix a broken generator or develop a new way to purify water.
Why is this happening?
It’s not by accident. When you look closer, you begin to see that the system wasn’t necessarily built to make us self-reliant. It was designed to make us dependent—to keep us as consumers in a global supply chain where the real value is created elsewhere. Our continent, rich in oil, diamonds, gold, and other natural wealth, becomes a market—not a manufacturing hub. We sell raw materials and buy back finished products at premium prices. The profit leaves our shores; the problems stay behind.
And the contradiction doesn’t stop there.
We import religion with enthusiasm. From European cathedrals to Saudi Arabian mosques, we embrace external doctrines that, at times, divide rather than unite. But when it comes to importing useful systems—like sustainable farming practices, vocational training models, or advanced engineering—we hesitate. Why is it easier for us to buy into foreign beliefs than to invest in foreign knowledge?
This is where the conversation needs to change.
The way forward isn’t just about reforming education; it’s about redefining it. We need to build a system that values hands-on learning, critical thinking, innovation, and the spirit of enterprise. A curriculum that doesn’t just train students to get jobs, but equips them to create jobs. One that prioritizes practical skills as much as academic theory.
Until we stop raising generations to serve as tools in someone else’s industrial machine, we will continue to lag behind. We need to build thinkers, makers, and builders—people who can repair what’s broken and imagine what’s never been built before.
Only then will we be able to break the cycle of consumption and reclaim our place not just as participants in the global economy, but as its architects.