Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for a radical shift
in the administration of education in the country, saying free and
compulsory secondary education should be provided for all.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the 2012 Shehu Musa Yar’Adua memorial
lecture and presentation of the book,: Shehu Musa Yar’Adua neither North
nor South nor East nor West: One Nigeria, he proposed for
decentralisation of running education in the country.
He asked the federal government to concede education as a
responsibility for state/regional and local governments with the federal
government, at best, setting standards and providing financial support.
The former Vice President who is the founder of American University
of Nigeria, Yola (AUN), also advocated for the enactment of a law that
mandates anyone under the age of 18 to be in school and to hold parents
accountable for non-compliance.
He said, these will help address the high number of children of school age who are out of school.
Nigeria, he revealed has the highest number of children of school age
who are not in school, as according to him, about 10.5million children
of school age are not in school. This figure he said is besides the
75million unemployed youth in the country.
The number he said is the worst in the world.
The former vice president also revealed that the country has too many
uneducated adults whose lives would likely have been better with
education.
The figures, he said vary across the country with his home zone of
the North East faring the worst. He blamed the situation on the general
level of corruption in the country, which he said is entrenched in the
society.
Delivering his lecture titled Rebuilding public education as a bridge
to Nigeria’s future, he said the remedy is not in throwing in cash just
as what happened in the area of security where security budget has been
increased yet the problem of Boko Haram persists.
Rather, he said, what was needed was a change of policy and strategy.
He also noted that professionals and not politicians be allowed to
implement policies in the educational system.
Besides, he said the country is in a dire need for the expansion of
school spaces across the country. He insisted that a revolutionary law
to ensure that most citizens complete secondary school education is
needed.
Culled: The Nation
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