Lagos - Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos has said that the development of Nigeria’s educational sector was more important than increasing energy generation.
Ibidapo-Obe spoke with newsmen in Lagos.
Education is a more serious national problem than power generation or increasing national earnings from crude oil,’’ he said.
According to him, it is the products of the educational sector who will determine the nation’s strides in the other sectors, including technology.
He regretted that people were losing interest in acquiring education because “it has come to be perceived as not lucrative; not financially gratifying and a waste of time’’.
Ibidapo-Obe added: “Many people today are prone to say that after all the certifications it cannot earn them a living and why waste time reading instead of trading.
“It is a big pain for a nation to have so much able-bodied people, young children and kids taking to hawking, trading and quick means to making money rather than getting quality education.’’
He blamed the development on the lack of a clear grasp of the benefits of education, and urged the government to change this pattern of thinking otherwise Nigeria would remain underdeveloped.
Ibidapo-Obe said that improving the reading culture of Nigerians was a fundamental issue, noting that the decline in reading manifested a serious problem in Nigeria’s poor educational system.
He advised government to review the curricula of primary and secondary schools to encourage more reading of prose, drama, poetry, historical experiences and autobiographies and biographies of statesmen.
“By the time pupils finished primary and secondary school in the 50s and 60s, they would have read all the books by D.O. Fagunwa to improve their Yoruba speaking.
“They would also have read most of William Shakespeare’s works, like ‘The Tempest’, ‘Merchant of Venice’ etc,’’ he said.
Ibidapo-Obe noted that such an exposure to reading would encourage the quest to want to read.
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