28/03/2026
THE IRAN, US-ISRAEL WAR AND NIGERIAS EDUCATION, ENERGY, HEALTH, SECURITY AND ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY.
WHY PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND MATHEMATICS MATTER.
Dr Balarabe Shehu Kakale.
NAGARTA COLLEGE SOKOTO, SOKOTO STATE. 1990s.
In Physics we were taught:
That a body of mass _M_, moving at a velocity _V_ , will cover a distance _S_ , in time _T_ .
The laws of Motion and Gravity and how there is always an equal and opposite reaction to every action!
Electricity, Magnetism, Light and Optics, Fluid mechanics, Tensile strengths and Elastic limits.
We learnt in Nuclear Physics how the extreme Sun grade heat energy in Nuclear Fission and Fusion reactions can be used peacefully to produce electricity or otherwise to produce destructive military hardware.
In Chemistry we were taught:
Gases, Liquids and Solids.
The Periodic Table and its Halogens, Metals, Transition and Rare Earths, Atoms, Protons, Neutrons, Electrons, Elements and Compounds.
In Thermodynamics, that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be transferred or converted.
That a Volume of Gas _V_ is directly proportional to its temperature _T_ so long as its pressure _P_ remains constant.
In Mathematics we were taught:
Calculus and how to differentiate and integrate integers, Statistics, Ratios, Binaries, Angles, Sines and Cosines, Exponentials, Algebra, Latitudes, Longitudes, Coordinates and Logarithms.
I remember very well these elementary Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics lessons during the glorious days of Nagarta College, Sokoto state. A first generation formal post primary government science college that was revitalised and rebranded as a direct product of a visionary education policy of H.E Gov. Malam Yahaya Abdulkarim administration.
A great salute to all those visionary leaders in his then cabinet, the Sultanate Council, education administrators, managers and our dedicated Principal Alh Sani Muhammad Nahuce and Teachers (Allah ya saka musu da alkhairi. Amin) for promoting and prioritizing Science, Technology and Technical education in the then old Sokoto state - comprising of todays Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.
That visionary strategy was simple - produce a critical MASS of Sokoto state science education graduates that will go on to read Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics, Pure and Applied Sciences, Agriculture etc in Universities within and outside the country and return home as professionals, researchers, innovators and inventors that will ignite a transformative development revolution in all aspects of human life in Sokoto state and Nigeria at large. Whether those goals have been achieved (30yrs + on) is a subject of another debate.
Yes, the schools were well funded, with world class high education quality assurance, student welfare, safety and security and with the best qualified teachers hired from within Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Philippines etc.
And the system worked!!
At least I can remember very well that of the about 120 of us SS3 1992 graduates, only 4 students with 3 credits and 5 Passes were at the lowest end of the Gaussian Distribution, and for the rest .........??
It was Rains and Splashes of "A"s and "B"s in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Agric, Geography etc. The Mean of our SSCE scores was "A", the Median was "A", the Mode was "A" and the Standard Deviation from the Mean was also an "A"!!.
Of course the Degree of Confidence and the 95th Percentile of our SSCE results were all "A"s. "B"s weren't even near!
Almost every graduate of Nagarta College in that set got a University admission except if he declines it by choice - to read Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Agriculture, Pure and Applied Sciences etc, etc.
THE SCIENCE OF THE IRAN US-ISRAEL WAR.
Iranian Missiles and Drones fired at enemy targets do not know the municipal addresses of those targets , they don't even know who or what lives there or how they look like, they don’t know whether they were Jews or Arabs, all they know and understand are MASS, SPEED, GRAVITY, FUEL COMBUSTION, ENERGY CONVERSION AND COORDINATES!
In essence they only know, understand and apply PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND MATHEMATICS!
Iran invested heavily in its education system particularly in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and other Sciences for over 4 decades of the illegal crushing economic sanctions imposed on them by the US and its allies.
Using homegrown expertise from their reformed education sysytem, the Iranians ( Population 90Mil) built and expanded their oil and gas/petrochemical infrastructure to achieve sufficiency, they ramped up their electricity generation and distribution infrastructure to 50,000MW to achieve Energy sovereignty. (Compare with Nigeria - Population 225Mil- still struggling with 3,000-4,000MW).
They revitalised their Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries and systems and achieved Health sufficiency and reversed medical tourism as well as achieved food security through advanced climate resilient Agriculture and Agroallied industrialisation.
Their manufacturing base had remained solid by ensuring that they have Steel mining, processing and production independence ( Nigerias Ajaokuta Steel is still a dream).
They locally own and run Space, Rocket Science and Nuclear facilities for digital/internet, telecom, energy, medical and other industrial researches and development.
These are no mean feats for a country with the same GDP bracket as Nigeria.
The Iranians did this, not only for the ancient Oil and Gas rich Persian nation to achieve Education, Energy, Industrial, Health and Agricultural sovereignty but also to be battle ready and defend themselves from any eventual unprovoked aggression by the war hungry American military behemoth and its parasitic Israeli interloper.
And sure as the sun rises every day... The day of the criminal aggressions and unprovoked attacks in the middle of negotiations, came from the usual suspects - US and Israel.
Iran was alone with virtually no other country on its side against these self acclaimed invincible superpowers whose combined military budgets alone is about triple the entire Iranian national GDP of about $400Bn!
But Iran stood proud with pride to defend itself against all odds using strategy and tactics of asymmetry built on the foundations and principles of their sovereign education system; Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics!
They were meant to be wiped out and brought to their knees by their enemies in days.
But nah!!
The US is now begging for a dignified exit from the unsolicited war they illegally started!!
The courage and bravery of Iran in this war will be a subject of study by Education scholars/researchers, Education policy makers and Managers, Military and War Historians and Researchers, Students and even Aliens for centuries to come.
*LESSONS FOR NIGERIA ; THE CRISES OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEMS.
For far too long, we have kept our educational systems designed by the colonialists, an indoctrination that does not serve our present nor our future.
A system of education that has failed to provide solutions to our Health, Agricultural, Security, Energy and Economic problems.
The colonial systems have raised generations of Africans through corrupted curricular, that do not speak to our spirits, souls, needs or our ambitions but indoctrinate resource extraction, consumerism, unproductivity and mental slavery.
It was deliberate because its primarily aimed at ‘’educating’’ a person away from and without his/her community.
The more he or she is ‘’western educated’’, the less he/she is identified with the indigenous community, their souls, their needs, their ambitions, welfare safety and security.
The colonized has to learn the language of the colonizers, their history, their laws, their food, their fashion and manners of the colonialists who were the importers of the system and its operation.
The colonizers believed that the colonized had no language, no history, no laws, no tradition and no systems of governance. This had led to the crises of systemic redundancy, poverty and economic degeneration in our communities drifting our youths - our greatest Assets – into the shackles of ’’Fake it or Forge it certificates, Pass and Forget Degrees with No Job, No Hope and No Dignity’’ while the false promises of easy money, political quick fixes, extremist ideologies and poverty become fixed on their gaze.
We must therefore decolonize our educational theories, policies, curricula, identity, funding, access, content, pedagogy, sociology and psychology.
An uneducated mind is a vulnerable mind, but a miseducated mind is a tragedy.
THE NEED FOR EDUCATION RENEWAL IN NIGERIA.
We must reinvent our education systems from a colonial relic of exploitation into a system focused on our needs and interests for the future.
We must graduate critical thinkers, pioneers and masters in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Quantum Mechanics, AI, Machine Learning and Neuroscience.
We must produce new architects of advanced Healthcare systems, Genetics, Stem cell Biology, Digital and Space Communications, Blockchain and CryptoCurrency, High Speed Internet, Cloud Computing, Super Computers, Robotics, Space and Ocean Science and Technology.
One of the key pillars of China's emergence as a global superpower and an unstoppable dominant power is control of its education and the critical mass of its education focus.
Let us build an education system that serves our Energy Sovereignty, Health Sovereignty, Agricultural and Food Sovereignty, Security Sovereignty, Digital Technology Sovereignty and Economic Infrastructure Sovereignty.
God Bless Nagarta College.
God Bless Sokoto State.
God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
DR BALARABE SHEHU KAKALE
(Barden Tsangayu Da Makarantun Allon Hausa)
Writes from Sakkwato Birnin Shehu.
March, 2026.
