One on One with OGAGA OMO-OVIE, a Lawyer, Education Reform Enthusiast and Corporate Trainer

 

“Teaching is a calling not a profession. In law, we say you can’t put something on nothing and expect it to stand. Now, the foundation as I have mentioned is faulty. A lot of teachers are into teaching because the entry level into the profession is cheap”…Ogaga Omo-Ovie

Can we meet you please?

Greetings everyone, my name is Ogaga Omo-Ovie. First I want to appreciate Edulight for this opportunity to have me here, my passion is about building dreams and easing burdens for people, corporate bodies and nations. I am a lawyer by training; I have my first and second degrees in law. Basically, I am a passionate educator. I am very high on education reform. And that led me to begin a nonprofit organization called “Mind Power Africa” which I ran from when I left the university up until now. In 2016, I went into consulting because I want to help people solve problems when it comes to leadership, purpose and also strategy. I had to come up with a consulting outfit “Process & Paradigms Consulting”, registered in Nigeria. We have hosted a number of events; quite recently, we had a teen’s leadership and business school to help teenagers find themselves and also prepare them for the future which is here. And then we hosted the creativity unleashed for children, A-2days boot camp for children where we considered the Arts as a key to unlocking the creativities of children. We also have a parents leadership course coming up soon . We also provide leadership training for school owners. We believe everything will rise and fall on leadership. How the organization goes depends on how the leadership structure is going. So, we are very high in leadership development in our organization.

Staying on the leadership drive, we know you have passion catching the children young and helping them develop their leadership trait. How has this been running and what is the impact level so far?

Let me go back memory lane, in 2006 I was a 400level students studying in the University of Benin. And I was one of the best in my class but I was feeling this high sense of dissatisfaction with what I was doing. Somehow, I knew I may not practice law like every other person. That was a concern for me because there were no models around me to guide me in the way my mind was leading me .I believe in God and I don’t want to bore us with it. It is my personal conviction. I spoke to a few friends and I found my way, after I was done with the law school and the youth service in 2009 , I went to Daystar  Leadership Academy for three (3) weeks. And that was the defining moment for my life. It was like a road map for me, I came back from Daystar Leadership Academy and immediately put together my first school event called the “catalyst”. I hosted three (300) Secondary school students cut across public and private schools . I did that 2009, I did another one in 2010 then I paused in 2011 because I ran out of funds. I was funding it myself with support of some friends and family. Then I had to think of other ways to fund the initiative. I brought in a board, friends and from that point we continued. That was how we had a conference in Warri, Agbor and other neighbouring towns .For Covid 19, it could have been Ogun State this year; we had to restructure the “catalyst” this year to become a future readiness event. Beyond leadership, we are to look at the issue of Tech, the issue of emotional intelligence to prepare our children for the future which is already here. I would share one or two experiences. One of my interns today from the secondary school was part of those who had attended our event. We have had children who attended our event and become interns in our NGO. I have Miracle, I have Samson, Joseph and a number of them who after school, they come and intern with us.

Coming to education in this part of the world, do you think we are where we ought to be in terms of impact and the manpower we churn out?

Okay! Thank you so much for this question. Before I got into Uniben I taught for a session in a school close to my house. And I also had private lessons I handled. And I found out from that time that if Nigeria would be reformed and transformed, we need to do something about our education system. Now, whatever enters a child will come out in a life. Let me go back to what I do with graduates. I recruit for school owners and for Small and Medium Enterprises. I have had graduates sit before me and I couldn’t employ them. That led me to host a two months online Employabiity course. And just recently I have packaged it as the “Basic Employabiity Course for graduates.”We  going to have the second course in October, 2020. We have a modules on how to attend  interviews,how to craft a winning CV, how to package yourself, how to manage yourself. Now, why did I say all these? Our current education system is defective. Let me share my experience, I am currently doing post graduate programme somewhere in Nigeria (Name withheld). I took that course because I wanted to know the content of teacher education in Nigeria. I don’t just want to be talking from what  people told me. So I took a form, got admitted and when I was going to do my clearance, I sent in my documents for clearance and the admin officer asked me why am I going into education? You are a lawyer, you made 2.1, I was sad! I said to myself, is education a second grade place to be? I even have classmates who think I should not be there. So She was wondering why would I have a grade like that in law  and decide to go for education. That is how sad. My classroom is nothing to write home about. Now that is not where I am going. We  sat for exam before the lock down. One day I came to the class. I saw that the wooden desk was scrapped with razor blade and answer of the previous exam was written on the desk. This is a teacher training programme. Another experience I had again, a lecturer came to class and was reading to us from a text book which we have already bought. So, I stood up and told him that sir, just tell us the page you are reading from instead of copying what we already have. He felt offended, but I have paid my fees and this is my fourth degree. I am not trying to gather degrees I have my reason for taking the course. If you decide to fail me no problem I have gotten what I want to get from you. I also did a training here in College of Education in Benin some years ago, 2011. And where teachers are raised is worse than a pen for animals. So, I can imagine why we have our education in poor state. Then again, admission! Those who are currently in education have no business in education, some wanted law, some wanted business admin. I interviewed some teachers and school owners and I asked them. How come you studied education? The reply many a time will be, “I wanted something else but I was pushed there.” And you can feel the pain, that person may not give his best. So, when you look at all I have said holistically, you would see that we are not ready to work on our education system. If we are ready, I am very sure that the government has the will power to make it happen.

Now, we have identified some of the setbacks in the education sector in this part of our world. What are those things you think we need to put in place?

Okay, no.1 ..I am privileged to have just finished training with some school owners and teachers here in Benin and Warri. One of the school owners said to me, “I am not going to train teachers again. And I said no! You should not say that. No training no reigning. “The quality of education in Nigerian can be worked on by; 1. Each school should have a training curriculum for their teachers beyond when they have in their resume . 2. From my own angle I am thinking of a teachers mentoring programme which I also advice school owners to have. You can set up your own project. Where teachers come to you, you would create a time for them a period of say four (4) years. By the time they are done they would be as strong as if they went to Europe or any other country for training.

But again we have cases where you organize free training for teachers and they barely attend? What is your message for these teachers?

Teaching is a calling not a profession. In law, we say you can’t put something on nothing and expect it to stand. Now, the foundation as I have mentioned is faulty. A lot of teachers are into teaching because the entry level into the profession is cheap. How can you admit some with 100 or less score in JAMB into education faculty? I have a problem with that. Secondly, when one cannot get into University where they desire then they will be thrown into College of Education. How? That approach is wrong! These teachers go there and because they have attempted admission to University it didn’t work so they settle for College of Education. And somehow because they can buy result they come out and they want to teach. Most school owners are stranded and they have no choice but to get them into the system because parents have paid So they can manage them. The product is already defective but we can work on it. Those who are willing to learn, I would say in life you should be ready to learn, unlearn and re-learn. If in your profession, someone does something right then you should be ready to learn. In my life for instance I wasn’t born a consultant. I learnt it. I have consulting mentors. I even took a three (3) months consulting course online because I have clients to serve. I didn’t learn consulting from studying law. So, now basically I think the school owners have a part to play. Then again, like I tell teachers, a number of teachers are teaching for the money. That is why there is high teacher’s attrition in private schools. One owner of the school said half of her teachers never resumed even after lock down. It is because there is no passion. I tell school owners that if you see a person who is passionate about teaching and they don’t have skill, embrace that person and train him or her. You cannot train loyalty into a skillful rebel.  You can train skill into a loyal person. So, if you see someone who is willing to learn and, he or she is teachable and malleable then skill is not difficult to put in. So, that is my take!

What role do you think parents need to play for effective impartation in education? Considering the Covid 19 pandemic ravaging the world right now also relating it to embracing of hybrid learning in education?

Very brilliant question, I must say Ken. Now! I call school owners because I work with private schools a lot. There is a need for parent education. Now before you bring the parents into your school, You must onboard  parents the way you onboard your staff. Some people became parents sorry by accident. There is no intention around parenting. You have parents come to school and shout at teachers in front of their children because they don’t understand the teacher .Parents have to work hand in hand with Teachers because they both have a goal. Wherever the teacher stops the parent continues. There should be synergy but because some parents are not enlightened enough. What some of them know is that it is time to get married, they get married, impregnate your wife, give birth, I look for school, the school is messed up I move on. I have heard of a parents take their children from a school because there was school fees hike . Some children will attend five to seven schools before they come out of primary school. These things are problematic. School search is something parents need to be intentional about. My son will be a year in October. I discovered that my son at age 2months, he is very musically oriented. He loves sounds. When you play music he wants to dance. So, I am already thinking in that line. I am ready doing my research and asking questions. The goal of a parent is to be a talent manager. You identify the child’s talent and train him/her in that direction. We have had teachers tell students; “this is what I feel you can do from your grade”The parent says no and the teacher is saying something else. The parents would say “rubbish! You are going to be doctor.”The child becomes confused. My teacher says A, my parents says B. When I was growing up, PTA meetings for us were when our parents and teachers could relate. They discussed us. Oh! “Ogaga’s grades dropped last term what happened? Sir, I think, he is distracted. Can you do this? can you do that? My father then refused to put a colour television and a video cassette player in our house because of me. That is to tell you, because our teacher has told him that I play too much  and can be easily distracted. My teacher would give me a note for my father about my performance. My father would even come to school. Right now there are lots of young people going into parenthood who are not ready for parenting. My take is we need a lot of parent education. For the school and for the parent, around October-November I will be holding a programme for parents, parenting leadership course  in Benin, online and offline. One of the things teenagers keep telling me is that I see myself singing, I see myself dancing. My daddy said he won’t pay school fees for someone who wants to sing or dance. There is a need for enlightenment campaign for the parents. I may not have the entire world but if I have five (5) parents attend the Parenting Leadership Course we can begin a revolution and gradually we can move from that point. Going back to technology, in we law say “you can’t give what you don’t have.”When we educate our parents, then we can tell them the relevance of skill assessment for their children. I just had training for school owners on technology and strategy. We also explores excel and google tools .The world has gone too advanced for us to be a blast in the past. We can bring in these courses for parents and tell them the need. Ignite the need to learn.

What of some parents who may not be conversant with technology?

Yes! The way tech is designed, We were not born with it. I am a millennial. I met gadget I wasn’t born with it. One thing about life, you must be willing to learn, unlearn and re-learn. There was a time we had typewriters. Some of my family members were employed with it then but with the advent of computers they had to upgrade to meet up with the current growing demand. The upgrade mandates us to learn. The way tech and gadgets are wired, if you are willing you can pick up. You might not be proficient in it but at least you would have an idea.

Any word for the students out there, who follow us on our platforms, what do you have to say to them?

I want to appreciate the Nigerian children and children all over the world for their doggedness throughout the pandemic that ravaged the world seriously. I want to say to you that inside of you there is greatness. Carry goodness around, discover yourself, develop what you have and the world is yours for taking. God bless you!

Thank you for your time Mr. Ogaga Omo-Ovie. We appreciate!