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Egwu Laments Poor Varsity Funding
(AllAfrica.com English Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Abakaliki, Mar 20, 2006 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --Ebonyi State Governor, Dr Sam Egwu, has attributed the fall in quality of education to poor funding, ineffective and inefficient school inspection systems and obsolete supervisory and school management techniques.
Egwu made the observation when he delivered the 2005/2006 convocation lecture at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, at the weekend, lamenting that only two per cent of consolidated revenue is devoted to education.
He said lack of systematic planning of the educational system has led to an inappropriate linkage between products of the system and society's socio-cultural economic and political realities, which encouraged unemployment, because there is a gulf between skills and abilities needed in the job market and the qualification of those that wanted the jobs.
Egwu, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Chigozie Ogbu, said "poor financial support for the educational sector even at the National level where two per cent of the Consolidated Federal Revenue (CFR) now allocated to UBE, is a far cry from the 26 per cent of the National Budget, recommended by UNESCO.
"Lack of systematic planning of the educational system, lead to inappropriate linkage between products of our educational system (graduates) and the socio-cultural economic and political realities of the society. Unemployment may largely therefore be attributed to a situation where people who are looking for jobs have inappropriate skills and abilities, or they have none at all," he said.
Egwu said Nigeria's educational system is still very backward, compared to international benchmarks and standards, noting that in a recent survey of the best 200 universities in the world, no university in Africa was featured and in a similar vein, a recent survey of the best 100 universities in Africa featured no universities in the north or eastern Nigeria, revealing that University of Ibadan, supposedly the best University in Nigeria, came 60th in Africa, and is about the 7000th in world ranking.
"Such results are outrageous and fly in the face of our attempts at educational development in Nigeria, especially in this era of Universal Basic Education (UBE)," he said.
Egwu expressed regrets that historically, those in power have never been keen on giving knowledge and education to all who seek them, remarking that some people in power prefer to rule over a bunch of "primitive, hedonistic and atavistic cave men and women who are subjects rather than citizens."
He criticised the prevalent teaching method in most Nigerian universities, where lecturers spoon-feed students, arguing that such do not develop the minds of an individual and recommended a teaching method where a teacher acts as a midwife to guide the learner to discover the facts, and thereby encourage independent thinking.
The sixth convocation lecture was attended by prominent Nigerians and principal officers of the University, including the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ilochi Okafor (SAN), the Pro-Chancellor, Professor Greg Iwu, members of Ebonyi State Executive Council and the University's alumni association members.
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