…Says it is a time bomb waiting to explode
…Warns state, federal governments, academic community
…UNIBEN VC, Professor Lilian Salami says the institution remains a citadel of learning amongst the best
By Okhide Em’ya David
Clergyman and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Dr. Felix Omobude has raised fresh alarm over the dangers posed by worsening case of “out of School Children” in the Country.
Dr. Felix Omobude sounded the alarm recently while addressing guests at an interdenominational service to mark the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the University of Benin (UNIBEN).
He warned the Federal and State Governments, as well as all key stakeholders to immediately address what he called a “monumental challenge” which can consume the gains of modern democracy in Nigeria.
Omobude said the army of out of school Children are a Colony in the streets as, according to him, data has revealed that about one out of five Children is out of School, amounting to 10.5 million Nigerian children between the ages of five and ten.
He said the recent sad experience of the #EndSARS protest which was hijacked by hoodlums should teach the nation a bitter lesson.
Omobude drew attention to the popular saying of late elder statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who said “The children of the Masses that the Political Elites are blatantly refusing to Educate today will become grave threats to the Society tomorrow.”
He urged governments at all levels to urgently tackle the challenge and mobilize all efforts to provide functional education for children from primary one to junior Secondary School level.
The clergyman who recounted a very touching story of how he could not have acquired primary school education but for the intervention of Papa Obafemi Awolowo through his “free education policy,” recalled that his parents and himself had already given up on his education and taken up subsistence farming as a career.
Omobude took a swipe at authorities of public universities and all unions (both academic and non-academic) and governments, for crippling university education in the country.
He bemoaned the quality of learning in the institutions, which he said at least, to the international community, has been highly rendered substandard by unending and unnecessary industrial actions.
The Man of God told government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to ensure academic calendars are not only decorative but achievable to make education sector play its key role in the overall development of Nigeria.
The Vice Chancellor, University of Benin (UNIBEN), Professor Lilian Imuentiyan Salami said the Institution has remained a citadel of learning amongst the best despite daunting challenges.
According to her, the School has recorded tremendous progress both in academics, infrastructure and human capital development since she assumed office.
Professor Salami commended the university community, authorities, staff and students for their immense support and promised to sustain and build on the existing legacies of the founding fathers and previous managements to make the university unequalled.
High points of the event included prayers for the university as it marked its golden Jubilee by both Christian and Muslim Clerics, and cutting of the Jubilee Cake.
