Pioneer vice chancellor of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Professor Sidi Osho has urged Nigerian government to adequately invest in the education sector and make it attractive to foreign students and investors.
She stated that there are lots of socio-economic benefits Nigeria will derive from doing so.
Osho made this assertion at a national education stakeholders’ conference organised by the Education Sector Television International in Lagos recently.
She was a keynote speaker at the annual conference, which was the third edition, delivering a paper on the topic, ‘Private Initiatives and the Nigerian Education Sector: Gains, Shortfalls, and Ways Forward.’
According to her, Nigeria needs to promote transnational education sector and makes it the largest market in Africa to be able to boost the local economy and reduce pressure on Forex demands.
She noted that the private sector involvement and collaboration in this regard would go a long way in achieving the dream.
While making reference to a report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which puts the capital flight including personal travel allowances from Nigerians for foreign studies between 2010 and 2020 at $58.7 billion, Osho declared that significant part of such amount could have stayed in the economy, strengthening naira.
Osho decried the various challenges confronting both public and private education in the country, while commending private sector for their contribution to education development and production of manpower for the economy.
According to her, there is rapid expansion of private participation in the country’s education sector across levels in the recent years.
For example, she said, the number of newly-established private schools from primary to tertiary levels in the last one to two decades is not only about five times of that of the public schools, the enrollment is also about 10 times higher than the public sector during the same period.
She noted that this happen across the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory.
“That is why I believe that though the journey towards the support of the private sector in making our education system sustainable is challenging, it requires involvement of all stakeholders including government, organised private sector, the academia, civil society organisations, community-based associations, and the media to drive the system,” she added
The scholar, however, acknowledged the contribution of the organisers of the conference to the promotion of quality education in the country, saying the efforts are unquantifiable.
In his presentation, Professor Godwin Oyedokun, who spoke on the ‘Impacts of effective education budgeting in national development,’ urged school owners, other educators as well as individuals to always avoid emotional spending.
According to him, most Nigerians spend out of schedules which are not intentional.
Oyedokun, who is a professor of accounting and financial development, noted that most people extend this non-intentional spending to the business, causing lots of problems for sustainability.
Giving a keynote speech, the Lagos State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr Sule Tolani, who was represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mr Adeniran Kasali, acknowledged the crucial role played by the private educators in bridging the educational needs gap by Nigerians.
He pointed out that for Nigeria›s education to meet the 21st-century manpower needs required the private sector at individual, group or corporate levels to join hands with the government
Earlier in her welcome address, the convener of the conference and CEO of education sector television international, Mrs Modupe Onabanjo, emphasised the essence of Nigeria having quality education system that is globally competitive.
She said that was the essence of the conference for stakeholders especially in the private sector to evaluate the current state of Nigeria’s education sector in comparison to the previous narrative and what to do to move it forward.
Mrs Onabanjo mentioned that while government needs to buckle up by providing enabling environment for private school educators to thrive, private sector participants would also need to step up on their roles.
She said a communiqué would be issued at the end of the conference and make available to relevant authorities and agencies for utilisation.
