ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Governor David Umahi of Enugu State has said that university education is not for everybody.
He said education and security were the most challenging problems bedeviling Nigeria.
Governor Umahi, Chairman of South-East Governorsā Forum, stressed that it was unreasonable for the Federal Government led by the President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow over N1 trillion to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Umahi stated this on Wednesday while reacting to the ongoing industrial action by lecturers at the nationās varsities, when he received a delegation from the Nigerian Police Trust Fund by Dr. Ben Akabueze, in Abakaliki, on Wednesday.
He pointed out that the nationās educationās system was not properly articulated, adding that the basic education any nation strived to attain was secondary or vocational education.
Umahi said, āOur basic problem in this country remains security, health and education. Let me say a little in education which is in our public domain and which is the ASUU. I think that our education system is not being properly articulated.
āUniversity education is not for everybody and that is the truth. The basic education every country strives to attain is secondary school and vocational schools. These are the basic schools and when you have these qualifications, you will able to use it either to start up something or to be able to use it to be employed.
āThere is a need to review our educational system. It mustnāt be for everybody. I am not ashamed that I have first degree and my Deputy is a PhD holder; it doesnāt matter. It is what you bring on board. So, I cannot see how we cannot sit down with our ASUU leaders and iron out this problem about the ASUU strike.
āI have read on social media, newspapers, how students got into trouble just by sitting at home or engaging in means of keeping themselves busy instead of being in schools.
āThere is no way the country Nigeria will go and borrow N1.1trillion to meet ASUU demand, its quite unreasonable. Are their demands genuine? Yes. But we can start little by little.
āThere must be commitment on the side of both parties that look, the ASUU is not asking this to take to their houses so to say. Itās asking for it for our children, to better the infrastructure, to better the lecturers and the students. Yes, but we can start with a fraction of that and then have a programme that will run on the platform of sincerity to address all the lots.
āBut let me also say that most of the time, our people have low appetite for maintenance of public works. No matter how much you deploy to these universities unless the users, the industry, the regulators begin to treat public infrastructure as their own in the various universities, it will continue to go bad.
āSo, it is important for ASUU to show some understanding, and for those who are negotiating on the side of government to also show some understanding. Lets meet ourselves halfway and open the schools to save the fate of our children.ā