Yar Adua and Education
commityWonders, they say shall never end! So President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is off to Mecca? And to do what? I am told to commission a University. Ordinarily as an educationist and a teacher, President Yar’Adua should be interested in education and therefore the commission of a University should be of interest to the President. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, the President skipping the jamboree of Heads of States at the United Nations in New York for an educational purpose is commendable. It is a known fact that education is the enabler of all sectors of a modern economy. Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister stressed this fact when he listed his three priorities as Education, Education, Education! All economies that have modernised, grown and developed depended on education. Iran is speaking up to the USA today because of its educational system. China has becomes the biggest economy today because of education. India is also standing tall in the commity of nations because of the attention it pays to education. As a matter of fact some countries, such as Ecuador, budget as much as 600 million dollars per annum per university for their education. In a few weeks time, President Yar’Adua will launch the Vision 20:20:20 documents. It should be obvious to the President by now that there is no way Nigeria would not slip further down without some drastic action on education. It is therefore surprising that the President and his henchmen do not seem to have realised that there is need for the declaration of emergency for the education sector. Besides the ASUU, other trade unions without the university system are on strike. Not for a few days but for three long months and counting! Why then would the President travel out to commission a University when all his own are under lock and key? Haba!!!
