YET, another damning verdict came Thursday from reputable professors when they painted gloomy pictures of Nigeria’s ‘obvious’ inability to meet its developmental goals and objectives, especially in the education sector.According to them, globally, developmental plans will never translate into its proportionate physical value unless.they are complemented with practical commitment, through aggressive investments in education infrastructure and strategic plans for sustainability.
They said that Nigeria cannot develop if we encourage corruption and impunity in the country, urging government to honour the agreement it signed with ASUU.
Top university administrators and teachers unanimously expressed these views during the Nigeria Academy of Letters (NAL) programme for the 15th convocation and the investiture of new fellows held at University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos State.
In his remarks, Vice Chancellor, UNILAG, Prof. Rahamon Bello, advised that if Nigeria must develop, we need patriotic leadership. “If Nigeria must develop, we should have selfless leadership that can restore the lost glory in education sector. We must fight corruption and impunity in our government, which is why Nigeria has failed to develop to become a standard and attractive society”, he said.
Vice Chancellor, Caleb University, Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju, said that Nigeria needs peace in order to develop. “We need Nigeria of our dream where we can have peace. If we tackle the prevailing education crisis, Nigeria can restore its lost glory in Africa and the world at large. We need some kind of sacrifice our founding leaders used to develop; we need a development to harness human and natural resources and take a kind of visionary and patriotic leadership. We need Nigeria of our dream where we want to be in next 10 years in context of West Africa, Africa and the world. It is possible but it takes a group of men and women who have a vision and ready to make selfless sacrifice.
He continued. “Let there be peace, let the honest agreement freely signed between government and ASUU be honoured. If this strike continues, it will jeopardise the future of this country, especially our younger generation. If we must develop, we must put education at the fore-front”, he said.
Prof. Isiaka Oloyede said that Nigeria’s academies have a lot to do in order to resolve the crisis in education system. “The academies, especially Nigeria academy of letters and science have a lot to do to make sure that we solve the crisis in education sector. It is becoming perennial and incessant; all we have to do is to be scientific in the approach to restore what we used to know about education sector in Nigeria. It has to be scientific because it has to be planned in such a way that the objectives and goals can be achieved. We need proper orientation, not necessarily laws, to actually get Nigeria committed to the goals and aspirations of the founding fathers of this nation”, he said.
Author of this article: By Paul Adunwoke
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