Former Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Professor Bamitale Omole has tasked the government at all levels to invest more in education as all the development indexes of the country centre on the education sector.
This is even as the former Vice Chancellor expressed worry on the budgetary allocation of the federal government to the education sector since independence, which he said is below 20 per cent recommended by the United Nations.
Delivering the 10th anniversary lecture of the Ondo State government-owned University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo on Wednesday, Professor Bamitale said only few states in the country take the education of their people with passion, while others do not show concern as shown in their budgetary allocation.
While the don also called for a declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector.
Speaking on the topic “The Leviathan debacle: Re-imagining university education in Nigeria in an age of governmental backsliding” the don stated that the ineptitude and indifference of the government at all levels have almost destroyed the nation’s education sector.
He said the budgetary allocation to the education sector since 1960 has not been encouraging, hence the need for the government to show more interest in the sector.
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The former Vice Chancellor attributed the poor technical know-how and lack of professionals in many fields to the government’s lack of interest in education sector as shown in the poor funding of the education sector.
Omole said that “Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have channelled huge percentage of their budget to education” and therefore advised the federal government to borrow a leaf from the countries, as according to him the countries are more developed due to their interest in education.”
According to him the development of the education sector, will lead to the development of the socio-economic status of the country and bring about development in all sectors of the economy.
“A nation that forsakes the education of the people will be backward in all areas of life. For a nation to be developed, there’s the need to develop the education sector, as education is the bedrock of transformation in life,” he stressed.
He added that “education brings enlightenment and civilization of minds, hence the need for the government to concentrate on the development of the education sector, as that is the only way through which the country can move forward.”
Omole submitted that for universities to be responsive, there’s a need for paradigm shift in the nation’s educational system.
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