Harass governors to improve education sector, Oshiomhole tells Nigerians

Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo, says citizens should “harass” their governors to get education right.

Speaking on Thursday at an event in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the teachers in the schools are not giving their best because they are “hungry”.

The event was organised by the Transforming D’ Intellectual Firmament of Africa-Community Development Initiative (TiFA-CDI) and Policy House International.

The former governor said Nigerians should not be distracted by politics but ensure that their children get proper education.

“Talking about education, one thing I want us to do is not to be carried away by politics. We have a law that says if a child is not in school, the parents should be prosecuted,” he said.

“That is the law of universal compulsory education, but as we speak, we have children who are being taught under the tree, that is if they are being taught at all. And we have teachers who can’t even spell their names and they can only spread illiteracy.

“It is about harassing, engaging, terrorising and if I may quote Obasanjo, even behaving like a rebel to force governors and governments to get priorities right with regards to education.

“It is not possible for us to boast of the ultra-modern government house but the most dilapidated schools and even to employ teachers and not pay them.

“You have angry and hungry people in the classroom. They can’t be nice to our children and when they show no kindness to those children, those children grow up without care, without feeling, believing that the society is uncaring.”

On his part, Taiwo Akerele, executive director of TiFA-CDI, said the government needs to review the educational curriculum.

“We call on the government to embark on a comprehensive and radical educational curriculum review across Nigeria and prioritise skills rather than old fashioned theories and colonial educational systems that do not help human economic growth, skills acquisition and small-scale industry expansion,” Akerele said.

The executive director also urged governments at all levels to budget not less than 10 percent of their annual spending on education and capacity building.