Obi restates promise to prioritise education, empower youths as president

By CYRIL MBAH, Abuja.

The Presidential Candidate of Labour Part (LP), Dr. Peter Obi, has reiterated that the Labour Party administration will give education top priority attention to the point that Nigeria will become a first class academic tourism destination and foreigners will flock to the nation to study from the primary to the university levels.

Obi said meaningful development cannot be achieved without education while he also condemned the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] and the inability of the present administration to resolve the contentious issues.

The presidential flag bearer promised that the Labour Party will never sit by and watch the situation in the nation’s education sector to degenerate into a protracted industrial dispute the way it has occurred under the watch of the present administration.

Obi made the remarks through a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Anambra State, Chief Ndubusi Menakaya, who represented him at the 4th International Investiture, Award and Induction ceremony jointly organised by the Chartered Institute of Educational Practitioners UK [CIEPUK] and the Institute of International Peace Leaders at the Merit House in Abuja.

The former commissioner quoted Obi as saying: “Society cannot grow without education and properly articulated youth empowerment. The ongoing strike by ASUU, which has crippled education, is really unfortunate.

“His Excellency under whom I served as commissioner has asked me to state that this type of thing we are witnessing now will never happen in a Labour Party administration because we would accord education the priority it deserves.

“This unfortunate strike has lasted for over five months. It is very worrisome because this is not the first time the ASUU will go on prolonged strike and federal universities keep children at home so long for the same purpose.

“The nation is also battling with unemployment, inflation and insecurity among others, yet the government looks on helplessly like a crippled entity. “Lack of education and unemployment breeds insecurity. Nigeria is passing through serious problems today and this cannot be over-emphasized. Education will be accorded top priority under the Labour Party,” he concluded.

President of the Chartered Institute of Educational Practitioners UK and convener of the event, Professor Marcel Okechuku Ezenwoye, who stated that the occasion was organised to reward excellence and recognise talents also condemned the prolonged ASUU strike as well as the disturbing attitude of government toward education and the contentious issues surrounding the industrial dispute.

In an interview, Professor Ezenwoye said: “ASUU strike is so unfortunate but what is even more disturbing is government lackadaisical attitude toward the strike. It now takes children more than seven years to graduate from the universities. This is so embarrassing for the nation and should be addressed.

“For this reason, CIEPUK is offering 50% discount to any student who wants to study with us either here or in the UK. We collaborate with more than 1000 universities in various parts of Africa and Europe and these institutions are willing to absorb the stranded students, if federal universities cannot give them the future they deserve.”

The education administrator urged Nigerian youths to stop pursuing certificates alone in tertiary institutions but to also acquire useful skills that would make them self-sustaining and independent, rather than job-seekers, after graduation.

Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Dennis Ude Ekumankama [MFR] urged political parties, in his opening remark, to prioritize education in their manifestos and development programmes.

Ekumankama faulted the Nigerian constitution which, he stated, empowers government to provide quality education for the nation’s children in Chapter 2 but prevents the public, in another section, from holding the administration in office accountable for failing to discharge this obligation.

In their remarks, other personalities at the event, including the guest speaker, ex-banker Francis Daniel Okumagba, who spoke on: ‘Sustainable youth capacity development,’ stressed \the need for the review of the nation’s school curriculum to promote entrepreneurship education rather than sustaining the current literacy certification regime handed over by the colonial masters.

The speakers reasoned that the high rate of unemployment among graduates in Nigeria was caused partly by the system, which places undue emphasis on paper qualification, rather than practical training and skills acquisition in schools.

Many prominent Nigerians, including the LP Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, Director General Raw Materials Research and Development Council [RMRDC], Professor Hussaini Doko Ibrahim among others, were honoured as fellows and distinguished ambassadors of the CIEPUK.

The high point of the event was the decoration of the representatives, who stood-in for the top dignitaries, with the insignia assigned to the offices and titles allotted to the personalities to be passed on to the awardees.