NIGERIA CAN AFFORD FREE EDUCATION – GOV ALIYU Nigeria’s wealth in both human and natural resources can afford her citizens free education especially in primary and secondary levels as stated by the Niger State governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu. The Niger State chief servant who stated this yesterday during the 3rd African Regional Centre of Expertise Meeting, and who also emphasised that leaders must stop the looting of the country’s resources so that there can be enough to make education free, said if the first phases are made free, tertiary education can be subsidised. ‘Nigeria can afford to give free educational elementary and secondary level and subsidised education at the tertiary level. To that, we must reduce the stealing.’ Gov Aliyu who lamented that those out of school are more than those in school, a situation which if not properly taken care of could cause unprecedented problems for the country, stressed the need for education as educated people are easier to govern than the uneducated. Concerning the protracted ASUU strike, the governor disclosed that ‘Nigeria remains one of the few countries where lecturers go on strike. It has become the norm rather than the exception. Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia no longer go on strike because they have been engaging the problems.’ He called on university lecturers, particularly professors, to ‘make research on policy implementation and how they would work for the government as it is important that all professors should earn their salaries from research and not wait for the government.’ ‘People must depend on universities for knowledge. The days of universities cocooning themselves is over.’ He further stressed that it is important that the educational sector is overhauled due to its myriad problems which is the crux of the conference as this will helps to stem out corruption, incompetence and other ills of the sector.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 11:10:56 +0000
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