ducation is a parameter in development, but its growth is subject to multivariate factors. In developing countries, indigenous education has been and its part of sustainable livelihood in rural societies, especially as used by women in agriculture. The importance of women's agricultural work was obvious in Ester Boserup's book on Women Role in Economic Development. 1 The role of women in agricultural work was emphasised and the limitations therein is what women lacked for modernized development. Thus, the post independence era engaged development planning and education being an indices of modernized development was a focal points but in reality it is characterised by dysfunctionality. In 1985, a report from OECD criticised the approach to women's development as home-economic oriented, therefore a futuristic intervention was to focus on income-generating activities. 2 The home economist approach was an outcome of the monotypic emphasis on teacher education and domestic science education women were exposed to. Hence, emphasis on incomegenerating approach was in line with the findings Boserup covered in her book. The recurring phenomenon from the 1980s remains the mismatch and or dysfunctionality in education and economic empowerment for women. In contemporary times, women's education is a developmental challenge, bearing the 2012 Gender in Nigeria Report where Nigeria ranked 118 th of 134 countries in the Gender Equality Index. By implication, disconnect in policy and practice is evident. In Nigeria's policy system, initiatives from 1980s indicated an all-inclusive education system, in fact with specifics for the education of women and girls. 3 The take-off point here is hinged on Martha Nussbaum's description of the realities of women's education experiences. Her conception of women's education is profound in the objectives of education itself and what it takes to actually have the right education for women. 4 The traditional Yoruba family can be described as non-gendered because kinship roles and categories are not gender -differentiated. The fundamental organising principle within this family is seniority based on relative age and not gender. This work analysed the orientation of women's education; inclusion and exclusion factors that accounted for educational development or underdevelopment. encompassing and a lifelong learning system not really gender specific. 6 As women therefore, the first thing of importance is to be content to be inferior in mental power, in the same proportion that you are in bodily strength.

The idea of women's education in post-colonial Nigeria was a model of colonial legacies constructed on Victorian ideals. The societal perceptions about women's education was rooted in the British system, by this, Ellis wrote in 1842 that: 7 This view prejudiced the outlook of colonial education systems to actually exclude girls from formal education before series of interventions that included school plans for girls. 8 Globally, Philip Coombs regarded the prejudices as a cross national problem, where sex disparities were inherent in most societies. 9 The perspective expressed buttress the kind of acceptance given to female education of girls in the 1920s, when the colonial administration emphasised domestic sciences as the ideal. 10 II.

Invariably, even with domestic science education, there was no plan for utilisation of women for visibly productive efforts in public sphere. Being the disadvantaged legacy from the colonial order, the post-colonial era characterised variants of dysfunctionality. The nuances of the postcolonial order created verdict of penalties in women's education. From missionary adventures to colonialism, the understanding of a women's education is monotypic. From the postcolonial era, the effects of agitations or before then manifested from 1960s.

The logical perspective adopted here is that there is education-career disconnect in the lives of women in post-colonial Nigeria. Thus, the theoretical frame assigns the Feminist Education Theory that ascribes the fact that oppressive and suppressive situations are a disadvantage to allow relevant education. Therefore, the feminist education theory profiles the way women's education create power and powerlessness. The conceptual frame is tied to the discourse and the phenomenology adopted to analyse the historical trajectories in women's education reflect the disconnect. Thus, the problems of women's education and its dysfunctionality was a function of restricted access which was paramount in the colonial era and in the post-colonial era, the presence of educational facilities already addressed the question of access, however, the challenges of relevant education was of the post-colonial era, where there are less motivations for women to aspire and of course patriarchal connotations that impedes career advancement for married women. Therefore, the nuances of relevant education are predicated on the way education is used for economic advancement. Much as opinion of women's education in Africa, Nigeria inclusive seemed to be that of disparity to men, 11 the question is of what education really guarantees desired development for women. Invariably, that is educational access rarely translate to sustainable career. 12 III. Women in Development: The Theory in Practice

Women in Development approach emerged in the 1970s and it is framed on the fact that education leads to employment and ultimately empowerment. From the 1970s, WID was a determinant in educational planning to an extent that it increased the motivation for girl -child enrolment for primary education in Africa. In a statistics used in Claire Robertson's article. 13 The enrolment figure for Nigeria indicated an increase in girl's education till the 1980s. 14 During the military regime of the 1970s, the oil boom aided expansion of educational facilities. According to Modupe Faseke, the attitude of parents to girl-child education increased. 15 The most sought path to civilisation in post-independence years was education. There was aspiration for this and mostly, Christianity especially the Pentecostal waves aided the need for education. A robust middle class made up by working in the civil service increased the enrolment of girls in primary education and beyond that, religion played less impact. Given Christianity in Southern Nigeria, education is of priority of course the veracity of this fact is evident in the narratives of E.A. Ayandele. In northern Nigeria, enrollment of girls is relative but at least, the wholistic provisions of educational facilities across the polity was an advantage to motivate aspiration was mitigated because the establishment of educational facilities was valued as desired development.

The increase lends credence to the fact that parental interest to educate female children surged in the 1970s and the WID theory actually worked then, because it created empowerment. The kind of empowerment projected a social change and it created a generation of women in professions such as teaching and nursing.

for Girls in the 1960s

Planning and provisioning for girls' spaces in missionary schools was difficult. Initially, in some parts of Yoruba land, girls were not considered for schooling. After the 1960s, spaces were created for girls in boy's schools and separately the missionaries established girls' schools. 17 The school established found it uneasy gendered schooling system. In Ekiti for instance, this problem gradually led to the integration of boys and girls. 18 We were guests and so had very little voice in school affairs, we often ran into difficulties on where to have our evening studies ... in Christ's school, when the principal made announcements, he forgot to say anything about the girls, since they were such a tiny minority (fifteen girls in a students' population of four hundred and fifteen.)

This was conveniently done to ease the burden of management of girls' interest in planning. In the 1960s, the girls lamented that: 19 Gradually, girls' education became imperative and was a trend in the 1960s. The integration of girls was fostered by the structure of the education system of 6-3-3-4. The policy was not gendered because it was an equal ground. In fact, in planning the curriculum, about three women were involved. The outlook of the curriculum lacked gender discrimination, but most women had the challenge to access relevant education due to cultural values and in some climes, religion. At the first instance, majority of the Muslim dominated areas in northern Nigeria tend to be non -chalant about girls education, this view is in consonance with Annan -Yao's explanation that: The IFUW and NAUW nexus was directed to the education of women. The first attempt to development was a conference organized to infuse Lagos and Ibada? branches to discuss Nigerian Development Plans. In 1963, the multi-involved stakeholder conference entailed international collaborations from IFUW, UNESCO and The Federal Ministry of Education to discuss the growth of women's education, in which the research survey conducted already identified low enrolment of girls in the Free Primary Education Scheme introduced in 1955. NAUW survey on girls education in western Nigeria under the Free Education Scheme and discovered that the enrolment of girls in the primary education was considerable with tuition free system; however, the In patrilineal communities, girls are considered transitory members of their families because the ultimate aim of their parents is to marry them off obligatorily into other families. Male family members exploit the transient of girls in their birth-homes to argue that they are not valuable to their birth families of this attitude hamper right to protection and reinforces gender discrimination. 21 enrolment was not at par with boys. 24 Therefore, NAUW became an advocacy frontier to campaign for girls' education in Western Nigeria, through A stay-in-school campaign and scholarship scheme for girls. 25 Subsequently, the funds raised were used to sponsor girls' secondary education and tertiary education. 26 By 1966, NAUW Newsletter indicated the role university played in improving women the curriculum of secondary and modern schools for girls. 27 The challenges of women's education were visibly of the immediate post-colonial era when educated women in Nigerian University aggregated the education need of women as a necessity in primary schools, secondary modern schools, secondary grammar schools and university education. 28 VI.

Relevant education is a type of learning that is applicable to the development of skills to enhance vocations, professions and industrial work. The perception of relevant education, at least in the postindependence era was gendered. Relevance was subjective to the understanding of religion and patriarchy because it was strongly guided. Basically, teacher and nursing education were considered by men and even women to be most suitable for women's public engagement. For instance, until recently, nursing was regarded as a female profession. In Nigerian parlance, the occupational titles of nurses were regarded as feminine. A matron was a woman and therefore absurd to regard a man. Also, the title of nursing superintendent was feminised to mean Nursing sister. These perceptions lend credence to the way the society tend to define the career path for women and even by women.

The kind of education women had access to though qualitative but lacks relevance due to contemporary realities which was an offshoot of the politicisation of education and economic systems since the 1960s. The fact that Nigeria is a product of manipulated identities created dysfunctional political economy that de-prioritised educational needs for national development. Inadequate or lack of female interest in certain fields that required technical and industrial education. From 1960s, the kind of education women received was under the banner of neocolonialism. Hegemonic demands for resources marred the impossible which could aid inequality are in the style of which constitute education for women. 24 As above p. 13; See also NAUW, 1963 In the 6-3-3-4, education system, the general perception about education and possibly the integration of girls was aimed at gender integration and nation building. Most families were interested in their daughter's education. At least within the middle-class family of 1960s and 1970s, fatherhood instincts were attuned to girl enrolment in schools. Women's educational advancement was a social order in conformity with the free education introduced in the 1950s and it was in the interest of the aspirations of the modern Yoruba family.

Women's education was entangled and limited to certain professions. The socio-economic realities of the postcolonial era necessitated schooling, yet it was encapsulated in the realm of survival and sustainability. Female enrolment in teacher training school was often high and regarded as the most suitable. Generally, scholarship on feminisation of schooling in Nigeria is not glaring but it is suffice to explain that the kind of education preferred for girls and women in the first two decades after independence was aptly aimed at building an African home, however its feminisation has rarely gained attention in the scholarly nexus of schooling and feminised ideologies consequently. By implication, the primary education enrolment of girls dwindled in contemporary times and vividly, the phenomenon of poverty is constantly a factor. Given the fact that the level of socio-economic stability was a multi-layered effect of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), several ramifications of underdevelopment is evident in Nigeria's education system. To an extent, this is very preponderant that female enrolment in teacher training is constant. Inadequacy in enrolment in primary education and lack of interest to move beyond secondary education visible accounted disciplines for low enrolment in other beyond, education and managerial systems in polytechnics. According to Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, enrolment in Teacher training programmes was higher for female; of course the stereotypic perception of the post-independence era still had effects on the reasons for optional choice of mainstreaming women into the teaching profession. As shown in the table below:

The perception then was that a teacher satisfy the class status and definitely made the home. This implied rarity of women's education indisciplines beyond teacher training.

The kind of education available to women is qualitative but it lacks correlation with the socioeconomic realities of contemporary times. Given the real life scenario below:

I studied Agriculture for my first and second degrees. I am seeking for job. I am tired of bringing my children to school in the morning and taking them home in the afternoon. In fact, my car is a school bus. My husband is not concerned about my state of joblessness. I need to work just in case you get one for me! I am only selling these eggs to while away before I get employed. Scenario 2:

I have a Ph.D. grade after my Masters programme. I have been searching for job all the while. My husband only manage to give me the car keys when he buys a new car to replace. He is a recluse at home, he is not passionate about my joblessnes. In fact, I am ready to travel and relocate any where I can get a job. Even when I attempt to sell using the car to display, he frowns at it and yet he is not ready to pay my school fees to start a doctoral programme. He does not waste time to express grievances if the food is lately prepared, 29 Oral interview with Mr. TunjiOyerinde Retired Principal, Ibadan 2009. but he pretends not to feel my emotions for being jobless. I am ready to relocate, even if it means separation.

Since my days in the Polytechnic, I have made up my mind to be a business woman. I don't even have the passion to write any CV. I prefer to do buying and selling. In fact, I am comfortable being a trader and I take care of my children with pleasure. After all, while in Poly, I studied Accounting, the most sensible thing for me is what I am doing. Moreover, my elder sister is a Mastersdegree holder in Microbiology and she is a housewife. She can't even sustain a business venture.

Given the challenges of SAP in Nigeria's political economy of the 1980s, the Better Life Programme for Rural Women (BLP) initiated by the First Lady-Maryam Babangida acted to introduce an adult education model for women. The model of learning was institutionalised in women education centres in Nigerian States to create a holistic lifelong learning for skills and social development. 32 Subordination and education of women are dysfunctional, but from the 1990s, socio-economic realities in the SAP era repressed the economy to question the relevance and even the context of education.

It is sufficing to maintain that education alone in the formal path fails to capture the development realities. It is perpetual to find educated women exist as house wives and recently, the problematic was mapped in the interventionist role of Goldman Sachs Programme for 1,000 women in developing countries. The programme trained women in required and practical education to equip them for private business engagements. 30 Paucity in the availability of employment suggests a situation where women's education may appear useless but it remains a prerequisite. Furthermore, in northern Nigeria, women's education is not necessarily meant to qualify for economic function, but to fulfill a social responsibility of being. Often, this ideology was a function how Islam had been interpreted to project women's lives. Hence, the struggle to make education of women relevant for public consumption is rife. The perception in northern Nigeria is in line with how Freeman described that women's education has been to perpetrate a culture of femininity, that subordinate to men to serve their interest. 31 (NCWD). NCWD was an affirmative action and an offshoot of the National Policy on Women (NCW). The objectives of BLP thus indicate educational features as a factor that cuts across the underlisted: The strategies of BLP included the following: 1. Raising the consciousness of women about their rights and responsibilities in the areas of economic, political and social development. 2. Mobilizing women for a better understanding and resolution of their problems through collective action 3. Educating women on simple hygiene, improved nutrition, family planning, childcare, care of husband and environmental sanitation. 4. Mobilizing women to seek leadership roles in all spheres of national life and to improve their educational status through literacy programs. 5. Enlightening women on opportunities and facilities available to them in their local government areas 6. Providing avenues for the acquisition of skills (and their development), credit facilities, and the establishment of cottage industries. 7. Providing opportunities for technological development, recreational facilities etc.

In spite of the challenges of education for women and girls, the few women that had access to general and releavant education occupied viable professions. While the typical education accessed by women between 1960s and 1980s were tilted to nursing and teaching there were dimensions to explain other perspectives to public participation. In the works of Majorie McIntosh and Catherine Coquery -vidrovitch, as education increased the propensity and opportunity to engage in politics, governance and so on. The categories of advantage and disadvantage varied, but the basic advantages are profound in the success stories of women in various professions. Modupe Faseke in the book Nigeria Women Professional: A Historical Analysis examined the categories of women who had to an extent positive experience of being educated. The book presented narratives of the biographies of women that excelled in various ramifications in Nigerian context. The perspective of the narrative focused on women in Development and retreats the outcome of development. Therefore, education is almost available and constant but several factors made or mar the relevance of education of course, the opportunities they had were either favoured by their class, ethnic or religious disposition in the context of Nigerian Society. Much as it could be argued that marriage was a disadvantage to women's education in northern Nigeria, it is not in entirety. In the description of Justice FatiAbubakar's biography, she married before law studies. In fact her husband facilitated her ambition to study law at University of Ife. 34 Also, the advantages of being educated especially among women in Southern Nigeria enhanced collective positioning and in fact it is an approach to development. By collectivity, several women mobilised each other to form interest groups to continuously advance the WID agenda of integration. For example, by the 1960s there was National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), also though necessitated by patriarchy, women's faction, wings were developed as separatist groups to enable women claim a platform for self determination and exercise developmental solutions.

Of course, her education was aided by the fact that her father was a colonial civil servant and her mode of education was trans-Nigerian, in the sense that she schooled in Ilorin, Sokoto, Ife. Being from the north, education was less motivated for women, but hers was exceptional and basically it is a function of aristocracy that feature class distinction on access to social welfare.

In Southern Nigeria, the excellences achieved in women's education were due to the presence of educational facilities through the missions and Christianity. The major Yoruba cities for instance, were quite cosmopolitan that it afforded all advantages to take for any girl. In the biographical narrative of BolajokoKuforiji -Olubi, the first female accountant in Nigeria, she had the opportunity to become a Boardroom professional in the banking finance, and business industry. Her life depicts the typical excellence associated with Lagos city, where education was a norm.

Technology is contemporary and futuristic in development analysis. Invariably, technology is the future of development. The level of enrollment female in sciences remains relatively law 36 IX.

of course, the attitude is rooted in the understandings of education early decades after independence. The new space that could really visualise the realities of development is women's access and opportunity to technology in all ramifications.

Women's education and its relevance for economic sustainability remains a function of material poverty. The disparity and inability to correlate education with desired livelihoods indicated the phenomenon of 34 Remi Britto 2005. "Forerunner of Women's Rights and Advancement: Justice (Mrs.) Fati Abubakar" in Modupeolu Faseke (Ed) Nigerian Women Professionals: A Historical Analysis Lagos. Tidings Publications. pp.91 -96. 35

exclusion and limitation to selective jobs in teaching, nursing, clerical work, secretarial duties and so on. Mainly, the contemporary realities that match education and development are entangled. The quality, quantity and content of education women receive rarely fits into employability and neither provide alternatives for income generation. This trend had been identified since the 1970s as Robertson and Eliou observed that education for women is paradoxical and mostly that; "The road which leads (girls) to school infact only a detour, which leads them back to the home. 37 37 They maintained this position in the context of the realities in Ghana. Robertson 1984b, table v -1; Elious 197336 The quest for education within the political economy from the 1960s was largely definitive but practically disoriented. Thus, dysfunctionality recreates the question that the post education Nigerian society fails to restructure an economic system that makes contextual relevance.