We're preparing for more Boko Haram with 20m out of school children - Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said if Nigeria does not get the 20 million out of school children who constitute 10percent of her population, the country was preparing for more Boko Haram insurgency in the future.

Obasanjo said there was the need for holistic development of the education sector in Nigeria beginning from the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, hence, an uneducated citizenry cannot contribute to the progress of the nation.

The former president made the observation when he spoke as a special guest panelist at the national summit on tertiary education organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja on Tuesday.

He stressed that education was not the responsibility of government alone but all members of the society, including parents, religious leaders, communities and corporate organisations.

“Tertiary education is very important but education, particularly, education that has left 20 million of our children out of school and those 20 million have no access to education. They cannot be effectively part of nation building because they have not had the opportunity to develop their innate capacity to the extent that they can be useful to themselves, to their families and to their community let alone their nation, let alone Africa.

“Those 20 million children that are out of school, we can get them back to school. If we do not get them back to school, we are preparing for Boko Haram of tomorrow. It will happen as sure as daylight.

“Who is looking at our population ahead of time, five years from now and ten years from now, and what can we do about it? And apart from food which is very important, who are the people thinking about that and working forward on that. After food and after health, the next important aspect of our life is education.

“Now if this is the position and these are rights that we must have, what do we do? We know that if we continue the way we are going, by the year 2030, 2040, 2050 what our population would be.

“Tertiary education requires attention, but also primary and secondary education. I believe to a large extent that is our problem. Education is not responsibility of government alone. It is responsibility of all. What of parents religious leaders, community? They all have responsibility on education of the child. I belive the starting point is this. Any Nigerian should never be deprived of education for lack of means,” Obasanjo said.

In their separate submissions, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Hillary Edeoga and Hamman Sa’ad, former vice chancellors of university of Lagos, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Abia and Federal University of Technology, Minna called for collective funding of the tertiary education in Nigeria through partnerships and corporate social responsibility.

Ogundipe for instance, said the community, religious institutions, companies and other corporate bodies can go beyond awards of scholarships to some students to funding specific projects in tertiary institutions.

He said: “Like the former president said, it is not only the government that should be involved in the funding of tertiary education and the lower level of education in Nigeria. The community will need to be involved, the Mosques, the Churches, the leaders we have to be involved and also the companies that we have in Nigeria we need to involved.

“It is not only in the issue of awarding scholarship to some of the students that matters, there is need for them to invest in tertiary education in Nigeria by funding specific projects in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and monotechnics.

“The reason why I am saying this is based on my little experience in the University of Lagos; many of the companies that we have in Nigeria are not participating in funding tertiary education in Nigeria. The communities that we have in Nigeria are expecting something from the institutions.”

In his remarks, Goodluck Opiah, the minister of state for education, said funding of tertiary education was undoubtedly, the underlined reason for the decline in the sector, stating that it was ideal that stakeholders began to seek effective and sustainable funding mechanisms for tertiary education.

Opiah said even though, Tertiary Education Trust Fund TEFUND had released over N2.3 trillion to the various institutions to create more infrastructure, support research and improve documentation but with
the increasing population there was no much impact.

“On behalf of the federal ministry of education, I extend all my sincere appreciation to the the Right Honourable Speaker, Femi Gbajabimila and his team for passionately intervening in face-off with ASUU and organising this summit which I believe is continuation of the speaker’s commitment to ensure that the legislature contributes to creating stable environment for our tertiary education sector.

“As more universities were established to improve our access to the growing population, the dwindling economic realities made it difficult for government to sustain the adequate funding, to maintain the quality of teaching and learning, infrastructure as well as maintain the structures necessary for attracting global talents needed to sustain intellectualism. This opening of opportunity for the private sector to become engaged in university education.

“Several attempts to reform the funding structure by TEFUND (released) over N2.3 trillion to the various institutions to create more infrastructure, support research and improve documentation.

“However, the increasing population with its associated increased demands for tertiary education has made it difficult to satisfy the various demands for funding by government. Funding of tertiary education is undoubtedly, the underlined reason for their decline,” he said.

In his welcome remarks, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House said the National Smmit on Tertiary Education Reform (NSTER) was the manifestation of their commitment in the 9th House of Representatives to engender a national conversation to consider bold ideas and radical innovations to restructure and reform public tertiary education in Nigeria.

“This summit aims to provide an opportunity for all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria to present those ideas for consideration, examination, debate and, eventually, action.

“As part of this summit, we published a call for papers requesting scholars, tertiary education administrators, and local and international stakeholders to make submissions on the theme of the summit, ‘Reimagining Tertiary Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Solutions,’ and other designated sub-themes. By this morning, we have received over a thousand such submissions, including from outside the country.

“A Technical Team has been appointed to collate and review these submissions. The conversations we hold at this Summit and the submissions we have received will form the basis of a policy action plan and implementation framework we will unveil shortly after the conclusion of the summit.

“Additionally, a journal of all the submissions will be published as a guide and reference for the future.
I urge you to seize the occasion of this summit to speak harsh truths and break tables. The time for reticence and shibboleths have long,” he said.

We’re preparing for more Boko Haram with 20m out of school children – Obasanjo