The effect of a lack of infrastructure on the educational institutions in Africa is the creation of a perpetual cycle of poverty and dependence. Educational institutions do not need fancy computer labs, state of the art auditoriums and bathrooms in every corner for their students to learn and excel. However, there is a minimum standard that is required, the minimum standard is dictated by basic amenities, such as: desks, paper, pencils, books, trained and competent teachers.

The biggest challenge faced by most African countries today, is the dependence of their educational institutions on benevolent funding by their national governments. To the extent that the governments are responsible for 70% or higher of the economic activity in these countries, it should come as no surprise that a reduction in funding leads to very dire consequences. This is particularly true for the masses, most of who have no other option and depend exclusively on the public institutions for their education. The more affluent people have alternative options due to the mushrooming of private educational institutions in most countries.

I happen to have first hand experience with the dilemma of the educational institutions. The high school I attended in Oyo State, Nigeria, was a world-class institution in those days. Graduates from my high school have gone on to become prominent members of society in almost every work of life all over the world. Two years ago, I was invited by some former students to a meeting to discuss the resurrection of our high school. At this meeting, they shared pictures of the high school with all of us. I was almost in tears, none of the rooms had windows, there were no desks or chairs and the entire school looked like a war zone, it appeared to have been abandoned. However, it hadn’t, students were still attending the school.

One might ask, so how did a world-class school deteriorate so much? Why did everyone stand by and allow this to happen? There are several factors that led to the demise of my Alma mater, chief amongst the causes were: diminished funding from the state government, inadequate maintenance of the infrastructure, brain-drain due to inadequate salaries and apathy on the part of ex-students.

Most major cities tend to have affluent people living in them; as a consequence, private schools are appearing in every corner, these schools are out of the reach of the average citizen. With diminishing funding for public schools from both the federal and local governments, most public schools are left to deteriorate. Opportunities that previously existed for the poor citizens are almost impossible today. The root cause for a lot of the poverty currently being experienced by Africans can be traced back to the deplorable state of the educational institutions and a lack of funding for these institutions.

There are a host of other infrastructural problems affecting people in rural areas in Africa. They include, electricity, clean drinking water, farming, drought, and disease, lack of telecommunications and poor roads. What chance do the poor boys and girls in these communities have? How many Einstein’s, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison’s or Benjamin Franklins are being wasted? The problem in African is monumental, since the basic infrastructure has to be provided by the governments in Africa. Once the infrastructure is in place, it will become easier to attract foreign capital. Until the governments in these countries begin to appreciate and understand the importance of their human capital, the level of infrastructure needed to sustain a viable educational system will not be put in place and as a consequence, poverty will continue to be a chronic problem.