Afe Babalola, the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, (ABUAD), has blamed Nigeria’s former heads of state for the dilapidation of the country’s education system.
Mr. Babalola also said that the use of strikes to shut down schools for several months is “criminal”.
Mr. Babalola said this in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday when he received the executives of Bursars’ Association of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology (BURSCON) and that of the federal government’s Gas Expansion Committee.
The ABUAD founder noted that the decline in the quality of education had negative effects on Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
This, according to him, was what led him to decline ministerial appointments to become Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos.
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“At times, they used to close down the schools under the guise of strike action for almost a year; this is criminal. I want to be an example of a leader committed to the transformation of education, and that was why I established ABUAD.”
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He ascribed the rot in the education system to the military rule that the country was under in the 90s.
He said, “The government is not doing enough to fund education. UNESCO directed governments to set aside 26 percent to fund education, but what have they done?
“During the Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo set aside 22 percent, the military came and reduced (it) to nothing; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 budgeted 12 percent and now just six percent.
“Looking at all these, we are not serious with education in this country. What are we doing about endowments? We must set up endowments in our schools,” he said.
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