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In a pre-event press briefing on Saturday, the National
Treasurer of NANS, Chinyelu Okolie, also called on the federal government to
also increase funding for education in Nigeria for the advancement and total
revamp of the educational system.
According to Okolie, “Over the years, Nigeria’s education
sector has been allocated much lower than the 26 percent of the national budget
recommended by the United Nations.
“Most of our institution’s infrastructures are dilapidated
and are mostly inconvenient for practical classes as should be, hence they are
left with theories rather than sufficient practice thereby denying us the
opportunity to compete favorably with other countries of the world.
“There is a high level of insecurity in most of our
campuses, leading to several reports of kidnapping, theft, and death in the
student community.
“It is even horrendous to recount that over 1,000 students
were abducted from Nigerian schools in the last two years, (from 2020-2022) as
reported by Save the Children International – a non-governmental organization
(NGO) and the Global coalition to protect education from Attack (GCPEA) also
reported that between 2015-2019, there were 100 reported attacks on schools in
Nigeria.
“We will not fold our arms until academic normality is
restored as we advocate for a standard and quality educational system in
Nigeria”.
She further stated, “Education is the passport to
opportunities and in turn should be the basic fundamental right of every
citizen but unfortunately education in Nigeria is bisected with myriads of
problems.
“It is no news that the Nigeria educational system is under
severe threat of overall collapse and continuous decline, especially in the
last two (2) decades and this progressive decadence is a resultant of
dereliction, educational disparity, proliferation of our Educational system,
security deficiencies, inadequate – funding, non-payment of salaries, increment
in tuition fees, and moral decadence, not forgetting the reoccurring striking
actions, abysmal infrastructure, implementation of foreign curriculum,
tribalism, quota system and so on.
“We are calling on all students and educational actors to
identify the challenges they are facing in their various departments and
sectors, to enable us find lasting solutions that will better our educational
system than embarking on actions that will negatively affect the growth of the
educational system in Nigeria and bringing untold hardship to the students.
“The essence of public schools is for its affordability, but
in recent times, the reverse has been the case. The low-income earners are
unable to pay for their children’s tuition fees thereby discouraging them from
acquiring basic education and impeding the progress of education in Nigeria,
imagine a country where over 10.5 million students are out of school due to
financial incapability.
“Lecturers are owed 34 months’ salary in some institutions
in Nigeria, this and many other reasons have led to incessant number of
industrial actions, crashing our academic calendar, elongating students’ year
of study and so on. If this is not urgently attended to, it will further stunt
the growth of education in Nigeria”.
She appealed, “In that Vein, we appeal to Nigerians all over
the world, to the lovers of Education across the world, Religious leaders,
Traditional rulers and the civil society to look into this matter, work in
synergy with us to ensure that our educational system is restored”.
She concluded, “As we advocate for the advancement and total
revamp of the educational system, it is worthy to note that a Country without
value for education is a threat to its future. Alone is a voice, together is a
Force”.