Peter Obi Knocks FG For Giving Awards To ‘Criminals’ Instead of Teachers
LAGOS JULY 17TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Labour Party Presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, has chastised the Federal Government for giving national honours to those he described as criminals who stole the country blind, rather than to teachers in recognition of their contribution to educational and national development.
This was even as Obi regretted that the rising security challenges in the country were being fueled by growing poverty.
Obi who spoke during the 2023 graduation ceremony for students of Pacesetters schools on Saturday in Abuja, noted that Akeem Badru, a teacher at St. Michael RCM Primary School, Ogunpa Lunloye, Abeokuta, Ogun State who was last month named the overall winner of 2023 Cambridge Dedicated Teachers’ Award for Central and Southern Africa, should be given a national honour for his contribution to the education sector.
He said: “We are busy giving national awards to those who have stolen the country dry. We are busy giving national awards to those who should not be part of us and we are not celebrating teachers who win awards.
“I want to see a national honour given to the teacher from Ogun state. We have to change. It is time to do the right thing.”
The former Anambra state governor who attributed the rising insecurity in the country to poverty, added that with an increased investment in education, more Nigerians would not only be pulled out of poverty, but the level of criminality in the country would equally reduce.
“For me, education is the most important thing any nation needs. What differentiates development and underdevelopment is education; it is the foundation. Even when you go out and people tell you about measures of development being hinged on the human development index and they tell you it is health, education and per capita income.
“The problem of insecurity in Nigeria is hinged on poverty. The more you pull people out of poverty the more you reduce criminality and you can’t do that unless you invest in education. The more people are educated the more they are able to pull themselves out of poverty. You can’t have 20 million out-of-school children and think of development tomorrow. We must have to invest in education.
“If you follow the 2022 world population of countries, the population of Norway, the population of Ireland, Singapore and Dubai together. If you put the population of these big successful countries together, their population is 19.7 million and we have 20 million out-of-school children.
“We have a population of more than these four successful, thriving, respectable developed countries put together out-of-school.
“So imagine what it will be if we invest in education. So investment in education is critical. We will invest in public schools and we will also invest in private schools.
“So for me, if I have the opportunity, education will have the highest amount in our budget and our teachers will be celebrated because the most critical components of education are the teachers.
“They are the ones that our children will take after, they are the ones that talk about discipline but today, we are not celebrating them.”
Chairman, Pacesetters Schools, Abuja, Barr Kenneth Imansuangbon charged the graduands to go and make a mark in the world.
Imansuangbon, a front-line aspirant for the Edo governorship election next year said: “We have trained them well. They should go out and represent the country as ambassadors, they are the future of Nigeria.
“Nigeria needs change and I believe the training they have received puts them in a better position to represent this country because they are the future of Nigeria.”
Emir of Dutse, Alhaji Muhammad Sunusi who lamented the state of education in the country, urged the government to restore the standard of public schools in the country, even as he asked the chairman of Pacesetters schools to reset the standard of public schools in Edo State should he win next year’s governorship election.
He said: “It is quite unfortunate that we have to send our children to private schools in Nigeria. I was a product of Federal Government College, Kano. But we have to ask ourselves why the standard of education in Nigeria is degrading. We have to ask ourselves that. Something has to be done.
“I was told Barr Kenneth is contesting for the governorship of Edo State. It will be a good opportunity and an advantage to the educational system in Nigeria because I believe he will do something about the public schools in Edo State which will be a model to other states because education is the key. Without education, we are going nowhere.”
NewTelegraph
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Posted by News Rangers
on Jul 17 2023. Filed under National.
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