The hashtag #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries is making waves on X (Twitter) as it follows the significant approval by the Nigerian President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for a national census of all schools, from essential to tertiary level.

Youths on X are engaging in this campaign, driven by the belief that they can spotlight the poor state of the Nigerian school system and create awareness that could potentially force change. Some are suspected of doing this with the motive of attacking the government, but the overarching goal is to bring about positive transformation.

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What netizens are saying on X (Twitter)

Promoting the #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries as a campaign to spotlight the condition of the educational system in Nigeria, particularly Lagos state, here is what Nigerians are tweeting:

The first three paragraphs of user @BolanleA4’s 13 paragraphs tweet reads:

“This evening, I was reflecting on the #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries, and it broke me to see this man’s legacy in Lagos.

I often wondered why public school education collapsed in Lagos, and right before my eyes, I saw why.

Tinubu, you are a wicked man! You are selfish and greedy. You’ve never had the best interest of the Yorubas at heart. You never had the best interest of awa omo Eko at heart.”

 

Under the above thread, @Spotlight_Abby commented: “Destroy the school system, and you will have a lot of youths to harvest into the Agberocracy.”

While attaching the poor state of a school building, @nems1414 tweeted: ”Sawuoolu borrowed ₦135 Billion to upgrade infrastructures in Lagos State Schools. But this is what Oshodi Nursery and Primary School looks like.👇🏽Governor, we dey do criminal work, no swegbe o! #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries”

Others compared this administration to another 2023 Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.

Attaching a screenshot of a news report from 2016 concerning Mr Peter Obi, @chidetweets042, which captioned: “Rehabilitated a school in Enugu State while he was Governor of Anambra State. Can you beat that? #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries”

With the image of a standard school environment in Anambra state, the state Peter Obi governed, @Royal_spotlight, captioned: “This is Community Secondary School, Oko Town, Anambra state. E shøck you? #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries”

 

One of Lagos state’s 2023 governorship candidates, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, also expressed his grievance via a tweet: 

“Politics aside, the #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries and #TinubuLagosRoadSeries Make me sad, and it shows how much work we have to do. I know the state has the funds to make every school in Lagos a high-quality environment. 

The strain on parents to pay substantial private school fees for their children to get a decent education is unsustainable and leaves many families without discretionary income, which in itself slows consumption and, by extension, slows the economy. 

The strain on our society of out-of-school children raised by the streets, our brothers and sons, who should be in school learning how to be productive. Yet, huge IGR goes hand in hand with massive debt. Lagosians deserve so much more. #ourlagos”

 

Background on what birth #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries

Notable news outlets reported on April 18, 2024, that President Bola Tinubu had approved a comprehensive census of all schools in Nigeria, from elementary to university. The census will collect data on the schools’ conditions, live-in facilities, proximity to one another, and educational infrastructure, among other things.

Bearing this in mind, the Nigerian youths on X, a platform with a reputation of outspoken individuals, decided to promote the #TinubuLagosSchoolSeries in sarcastic support of the move to spotlight the poor condition of the government schools. 

Among other things, the stocktake would count all of Nigeria’s teachers, their degrees, the amount of funding they received for professional development, the total number of students enrolled in elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools, their gender, and their test scores.

According to a statement signed by Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, the move is intended to completely revamp the education sector, with the goals of improving learning and skill development, increasing enrollment, and guaranteeing the academic security of the nation’s children.

The statement is named: ‘President Tinubu establishes national education data system and approves skill development for all levels of education, teachers’ training and support nationwide.’

Among the world’s children, one in five do not attend school; this number is attributed to Nigeria by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. As the nation continues to face banditry, multidimensional poverty, and the rising cost of living, there are 10.2 million primary school-aged children and 8.1 million junior secondary school-aged children who are not in school.

The impact the Government intend to make

Information Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training and Development, and Skill Development and Acquisition are the acronyms used by Ngelale to describe the policies that have been approved.

State and federal initiatives aimed at supporting and enhancing teachers’ professional development and overall effectiveness are anticipated to be informed by the data.

It will track students daily and report their grades annually so you can see how many boys and girls are in school, what their individual learning needs are, and whether or not they have dropped out.

In addition, the president announced that the Federal Ministry of Education, state governors’ offices, and chairpersons of local governments would establish a specialised portal or dashboard to store and distribute this data, allowing the federal, state, and local governments to track it in real-time.

Concerning the training and education of children who are not in school, it emphasised the continuous work of the Federal Ministry of Education, which it stated is carrying out the government’s policy via the operations of four of its departments.

Despite these intentions, Nigerians seem more concerned with actions and evidence. The government would need to act to impress the citizens.