On this International Literacy Day, I join the global community to remind us of the importance of education, which I have consistently maintained, is the most effective tool for development in any nation.
For us in Nigeria, I have consistently argued that education is the greatest investment the government can make for the development of our Nigerian society. The obvious lack of commitment to educational growth in the country has continued to unleash many dire consequences on the nation. As I have always said, the society we abuse today will take its revenge on us tomorrow.
We cannot have an army of over 18 million out-of-school children roaming the streets and not be worried about crime and insecurity in the nation.
Even with our about 62% literacy rate as claimed by the government, we still significantly fall below the 87% global average.
This, therefore, is a poignant reminder of the urgent need to prioritise investment in education, especially at the basic level.
For a country with about 81,520 schools at the primary level and 23,550 schools at the secondary level, the N251.47 billion budgeted for Universal Basic Education remains low.
Let me, once again, cite a scenario I had earlier painted before. Imagine using N160 million to buy vehicles for the legislators, the total of which came to about N60 billion. Local Car manufacturers, Innoson would have sold the same vehicles with about a 50% discount, saving us 50% of that cost, which would be about N30 billion and above all, transacting with INNOSON would not have involved foreign currency.
At the N10 million cost of building 5 classroom blocks in a primary school for basic education, the saved amount would have given us 3000 structures which will go a long way in reducing the number of our children without classrooms and currently learning under the trees. This would have helped us to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children who are roaming the streets today.
With the ongoing discussions about the minimum age requirement for admission into universities, I do not wish to argue for or against it. I am more particularly concerned with aggressively cutting down the cost of governance and channelling the resources into the critical areas of education, and health and pulling people out of poverty.
I encourage us, the political leaders, to prioritise investment in education for our collective progress.
A New Nigeria Remains POssible. -PO
