Education
Common errors in English Language you and your teacher don’t notice
The major effect of this mother tongue interference in the use of English that is tagged Nigerianism, in this context,is that it makes us Nigerians deviate from the Standard British English and makes most our sentences ungrammatical or even meaningless.
One of the aspects of Nigerianism in the use of English is REDUNDANCY.Redundancy is an unnecessary repetition in sentence constructions.
Some examples are:
Reverse back instead of reverse
Rise up for prayer instead of Rise for prayer
Raise up your hand instead of Raise your hand
Voice out instead of voice
The examples are obvious as the redundant words can be easily identified even by students in the secondary school level.
However,there are some other ones that are used for interactions and we do not often accept them as cases of redundancy.
I have heard QUACK DOCTOR even in Nigerian movies.
A quack is someone who pretends to be a doctor.The word “doctor” is redundant as quack can only be used to imply a fake doctor.
The expressions MEDICAL DOCTOR &MEDICAL CHECK-UP are both cases of redundancy as the word medical is redundant in the two phrases.
Check-up is a general medical examination that a doctor or a dentist gives someone to make sure the person is healthy.
Another aspect of redundancy is GET UP.People tend to say,
I got up very late from the bed.
Get up means to get out of the bed after sleeping.It is obvious that saying,
I got up at 7am,refers to the bed.
It is just like telling someone this,
You frowned your face yesterday.
We all know that only the face can be frowned in the body.
Say,
You frowned yesterday.
What about this?
I waved my hand to the soldiers.
Wave means to raise one’s arm and move one’s hand from side to side in order to make someone notice one.
The appropriate expression should be:
I waved to the soldiers
Other aspects of redundancy will be revisited in the subsequent editions.
Another interesting aspect of Nigerianism occurs in meaning.There are lots of deviations from the original meanings of some words due to our usages in Nigeria.
We shall examine the following words:
Gist
Go slow
Buckle up
Catwalk
Gist is often used as a verb in expressions like
We gisted yesterday
We are gisting
We want to gist
Let’s gist
The four examples are grammatically incorrect.There are no expressions as GISTED, GISTING&TO GIST.
The word GIST only exists,for now,as a NOUN.
Gist,usually written as THE GIST,is the main idea and meaning of what someone has said or written.
You can say,
“Don’t worry about the details as long as you get the gist of it.
Also,you can say,
The gist of his argument is trustworthiness.
Another that has been given another meaning is GO -SLOW.
Go-slow is used today in relation to traffic.
Go-slow,however,is a protest against an employer in which the workers work as slowly as possible.
This means that go-slow occurs when there is a slowdown.It has nothing to do with TRAFFIC.
Traffic jam or hold up is the appropriate word.
Buckle up is often used to tell someone to be more serious.
A student can be told
You have to buckle up so as to do well in your examination.
Buckle up means to fasten your seat belt in a car,aircraft etc.
To tell someone to work harder,use the expression
Buckle down or Buck up
Catwalk is another word that is affected by Nigerianism.
You must have heard these:
Stop catwalking
She catwalked throughout yesterday.
The two sentences are incorrect.Do you know that catwalk is not a style of walk?
Catwalk is a long raised structure that MODELS walk along in a fashion show.
You can say,
The models walk majestically on the catwalk.
Apart from the words that have been given another meaning,do you know also that there are some expressions that are used today but do not exist in the Standard British English?
The following expressions are examples
Complimentary card
Sufferness
Quit notice
Deep freezer
Iced block
There is no such name as complimentary card. The appropriate word is BUSINESS CARD.
Sufferness is also common.Although it is peculiar to the low level users of the language.The appropriate word is SUFFERING.
Quit notice, if interpreted on the surface,implies quit the notice.
The appropriate word to use notice to quit.
Say,
The landlord issued a notice to quit the house.
Don’t say,
Deep freezer.
This name does not exist in English.The appropriate word is DEEP FREEZE/FREEZER.
The next expression is known nationwide.You might have seen this:
ICED BLOCK SOLD HERE.
Hmmmmmm.When we say “iced water”,it means that the water is iced.
For iced block,the block is never iced.
The appropriate expression is,
BLOCK OF ICE
you are respected when you speak and write well.Develop your use of English as it adds values to your various professions.
Moshood Abimbola Alabi
Stylisticians English Language School
14,Iwaya Road,Yaba,Lagos.
Tel:08033336265,08085044111
Lagos to Seal Dowen College Over Illegal Waste Dumping
Lagos State authorities have ordered the sealing of Dowen College, Lekki Phase 1, following allegations of improper waste disposal traced to the school.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, announced the move on X (formerly Twitter), stating that the Corps Marshal of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps had been directed to enforce the order.
“This waste was traced to Dowen College in Lekki Phase 1. Such disregard for environmental laws is unacceptable,” Wahab said. “We will not hesitate to take firm action against any institution or organization that violates waste management regulations.”
The commissioner’s statement comes as part of the state’s intensified crackdown on environmental law violations.
Dowen College has previously faced scrutiny from the state government. In 2021, it was shut down indefinitely following the controversial death of student Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., pending investigation.
Education
UBEC, NGF in Conjunction with NEWGLOBE Spotlight Kwara as Model for Tackling Out-of-School Crisis
UBEC, NGF in Conjunction with NEWGLOBE Spotlight Kwara as Model for Tackling Out-of-School Crisis
-By Olufemi A. Adetola
As Nigeria grapples with the challenge of out-of-school children—estimated to be among the highest globally—recent interventions led by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) offer renewed hope. At the center of this momentum is Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, whose leadership as NGF Chairman is setting a new national tone on foundational education.
Penultimate week, the NGF in collaboration with UBEC and NEWGLOBE convened a multi-stakeholders dialogue in Abuja focusing on foundational learning and strategies to combat the out-of-school children crisis. Commissioners of Education and Chairpersons of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) were present to discuss reforms and implementation pathways. The gathering reaffirmed the need for stronger state-level ownership and collaborative policymaking.
Kwara State represented by the Hon Commissioner of Education, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe and the Executive Chairman of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof Shehu Raheem Adaramaja presents a model of what focused leadership and fiscal discipline can achieve in basic education. According to their presentation, upon assumption of office as the Executive Governor of Kwara State , Mallam AbdulRahaman Abdulrazaq CON moved swiftly to pay backlogs of UBEC counterpart funding, allowing the state to access over ₦14.2 billion in federal matching grants for the years 2014-2019 . This intervention reversed Kwara’s prior blacklisting from UBEC funding and unlocked a cascade of basic education infrastructure projects across the state.
Through the Prof. Shehu Adaramaja-led Kwara SUBEB, over 600 schools have been renovated or newly constructed across the 16 local government areas. Classrooms have been furnished with pupils and teachers furniture, perimeter fences erected, boreholes sunk, Digital literacy centres established in 38 centres and WASH facilities provided across the 193 political wards of the state, with clear attention to equity and rural inclusion. These upgrades are impacting both teaching and learning environments in meaningful ways.
In addition to infrastructure, Kwara has tackled the human resource challenge head-on. Between 2021 and 2025, the state recruited over 6,400 new teaching and non-teaching staff, with an emphasis on STEM subjects. The recent recruitment exercise adopted community-based recruitment approach, where qualified NCE and Bachelor degrees in education from various communities were recruited to teach in their localities. All recruited staff signed performance bonds, demonstrating a commitment to accountability and diligence performance at duty.
Another bright spot is the KwaraLEARN programme—an ambitious education technology initiative that has digitized classroom management in over 1,770 public schools. With real-time monitoring, teacher coaching, and structured lesson plans, over 620,000 pupils now benefit from a more consistent and effective learning experience.
Mallam AbdulRahaman Abdulrazaq gave priority attention to teachers motivation and encouragements. He largely demonstrated this in prompt payment of salaries, promotion of teaching and non teaching staff of the State Basic Education Board, enhance capacity building with significant attention to technology education, modern pedagogical trainings, classrooms management techniques, foundational literacy and numeracy skills and other impactful workshops. Early results show gains in literacy and numeracy scores, attendance, and classroom engagement.
Kwara has also gone beyond the school walls. Earlier this year, a targeted enrollment drive brought over 2,300 out-of-school children into classrooms. These efforts were especially focused on nomadic communities, Qur’anic school pupils, street children, and underserved areas often missed in national data. Plans are also underway to build 75 new schools in remote areas to further reduce access barriers.
Perhaps the most telling endorsement of Kwara’s progress came in May 2025 when UBEC’s North-Central Director, Elder Abalaka described the state as “a pacesetter in compliance.” This reflects not just infrastructural output but the state’s commitment to due process, transparency, and strategic alignment with federal education goals.
Governor Abdulrazaq’s leadership at the NGF is crucial to replicating this progress nationwide. His advocacy for coordinated policies, timely funding, and inclusive education models is influencing how states approach their UBE responsibilities. The recent dialogue in Abuja underscored the need for such synergy.
As Nigeria intensifies efforts to implement a new national strategy on foundational learning, it is clear that the states must lead from the front. Kwara State’s success story shows that with the right blend of policy, leadership, and stakeholder engagement, progress is not just possible—it is sustainable.
The crisis of out-of-school children and weak foundational education has persisted for too long. But if more states follow the Kwara example under Governor Abdulrazaq’s NGF-backed leadership, the foundation of Nigeria’s future can be salvaged and secured.
In this regard, what is happening in Kwara should not just be applauded—it should be emulated. The real task now is to replicate such bold governance across every corner of the country.
Worst WAEC Results in 10 Years Raise Concerns Over Education Standards, CBT Readiness
ABUJA, August 5, 2025 — Nigeria’s education sector is under renewed scrutiny after the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) recorded its worst performance in a decade, igniting debate over exam reforms, poor teaching quality, and readiness for full Computer-Based Testing (CBT) next year.
On Monday, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced that only 38.32 percent of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the exam obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics—a sharp drop from the 72.12 percent pass rate in 2024.
The last time Nigeria posted a worse result was in 2014, when just 31.28 percent made the benchmark. Over the past decade, performance peaked at 81.70 percent in 2021 before plunging this year.
WAEC Blames Anti-Cheating Measures, CBT Integration
Head of WAEC Nigeria, Dr. Amos Dangut, linked the massive drop to stricter anti-malpractice measures, including serialisation of objective papers, which made collusion “more difficult.”
“The decline can be attributed to new protocols designed to curb malpractice,” Dangut said. He added that Computer-Based Testing was introduced in key subjects like English Language, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics, reducing malpractice but exposing digital illiteracy among students.
He noted that 192,089 results (9.75%) were withheld for alleged cheating—slightly lower than 2024’s 11.92 percent—while 451,796 results (22.94%) remain under processing for technical and administrative reasons.
Despite the low benchmark pass, 87.24 percent of candidates earned five credits in other combinations of subjects.
Digital Transition Sparks Fresh Concerns
The sharp performance decline comes ahead of Nigeria’s planned full CBT transition for WASSCE in 2026, following a Federal Government directive earlier this year.
However, stakeholders warn the timeline is unrealistic, citing this year’s glitches in CBT-based Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and WAEC’s own logistical chaos—such as the late-night English Language paper on May 28, which saw students writing under candlelight in some states.
WAEC blamed the midnight session on the reprinting of leaked papers, a move that disrupted logistics nationwide.
Stakeholders React: ‘A Reflection of Deep Rot’
Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) President, Haruna Danjuma, said poor preparation and lack of computer knowledge among candidates worsened the outcome:
“Some students did not prepare well. Public schools lack learning materials, and the environment is not conducive. CBT exams blocked chances of malpractice, which many depend on,” Danjuma said.
Prof. Francis Egbokhare, former Director of Distance Learning, University of Ibadan, described the results as a symptom of systemic failure:
“This reflects a crisis of quality in education. We neglect teacher training and infrastructure while obsessing over technology and AI as if they can replace quality instruction,” he lamented, warning of growing “functional illiteracy” among graduates.
Dr. Bisi Akin-Alabi, Project Lead, Safe Schools, Lagos, agreed with WAEC that tougher protocols and serialised question papers made cheating harder, exposing students’ dependence on “expo.”
“The option of CBT shocked many students who lack digital skills,” she said, urging educators to embrace AI-assisted learning and better preparation rather than reliance on leaks.
What Next for WAEC and Nigeria’s Education System?
With less than a year to full CBT exams, experts warn that failure to train teachers, upgrade infrastructure, and close digital gaps could doom millions of students.
As WAEC insists the reforms are necessary to protect exam integrity, Monday’s result has left one question hanging:
Is Nigeria ready for a technology-driven education system—or headed for another decade of failure?
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