legal luminary, Chief Mike AOzekhome (SAN), has called on all stakeholders in the education sector to eschew mediocrity in its entirety if the nation’s education sector is to move forward. Chief Ozekhome made the call recently while delivering a lecture entitled, “A Place of Education in a Crisis-Ridden Nigeria” at the 12th Foundation Anniversary and 10th Convocation Lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. Earlier, while introducing the guest lecturer, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Elisabeta Smaranda Olarinde , described Chief Mi ke Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), and a holder of the prestigious national honours of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), as a renowned pro-democratic campaigner. While delivering the lecture, the legal luminary maintained that, qualitative education is still achievable in Nigeria, stressing that, no nation can attain noticeable development without quality education.
He also stated that, before the crisis in the education sector started forty years ago, teachers were well trained and remunerated; schools were built with adequate facilities, cultism never existed in our institutions and ASUU strikes were almost non-existent. Continuing, he said the fortunes of the education system plummeted during the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida when the brightest and the best brains fled abroad for greener pastures. He described Nigeria as currently occupying an abysmally low position in world economics and politics. He decried the parlous state of the education sector as becoming more pronounced and worrisome adding that anyone, who is acting unconcerned is living on another planet. Further in his presentation, Chief Ozekhome stated that teaching could be through formal or informal education noting that learning needed not necessarily be formal because our forefathers had their education through folklores, values and knowledge of their environment and general way of life. He emphasized that education is what remains after one has forgotten what was learnt formally in school. Chief Ozekhome identified some of the challenges militating against education in Nigeria as kidnapping, armed banditry, farmers/herdsmen clashes, examination malpractice, impersonation, high failure rate in O’level examinations, abandoned educational projects, inadequate cl ass rooms, irrelevant learning curriculum, mo r a l d e c a d e n c e , inadequate teachers’ remunerations, constantly breaching of agreement reached with educators by successive governments, lack of motivation and role models to shape the lives of future generations. Proffering solutions to the identified educational problems, Chief Ozekhome suggested that Government should ensure its direct interventions go beyond finances alone as it should also extend to the psychological as well.
He also emphasized the promotion of digital transferable skills of learning, enforcement of existing laws that positively affect learning, periodic review of teaching curricula, opening up of new vistas for re-enrolment of out-of-school children, provision of adequate remunerations for teaching and nonteaching personnel, ensuring that admissions to schools are based on merit as against other biased consideration , eliminating rampant strikes by university lecturers, among others. The founder of the University, Aare Afe Babalola, in his remarks on the occasion, thanked the guests and added that the problems bedeviling the education sector cut across all other sectors in the country.
He, therefore, stressed the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure the realization of the suggested solutions by the guest lecturer. Other dignitaries at the event included the Hon. Minister of Education, Mal. Adamu Adamu, represented by the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA); Prof. Adenike Temidayo Oladiji, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ish-aq Oloyede, represented by Mr. Gani Olabisi Abd’rahim and Prof. Peter Okebukola.