₦airaland Forum

As the 2023 general elections approach, one big topic in national discourse has been that of the leading political parties and their candidates, especially the presidential flagbearers.

The more established political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and their members have often dismissed the smaller parties as mere noisemakers and often used the term ‘structureless parties’ to describe them.

Some presidential candidates, for instance, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, is said to have spread his structure to all corners of the country, and if he were to be rewarded for his gigantic political popularity, the other candidates would simply declare him the winner even before the polls.

This, but might not be in proportion, goes to the PDP and its candidate, [url]Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Atiku,[/url=https://www.fiverr.com/share/6NzzGN] a former Vice President

Prof Yakubu Ochefu is the Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors in Nigeria. In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the professor of Economic History and Development Studies explained why Nigeria must take its education seriously and provide an operating environment for people to work and earn a decent living. Excerpts:


How would you describe the current state of education in Nigeria, and how can the country drive the necessary changes?

The current state of education in Nigeria, in general, and university education in particular, is very bad. We have had this sad situation of under-investment in our educational institutions for nearly 40 years now based on the development index of ​ countries that are at par with us as far as development is concerned. We have not made the right investments in the training of the teachers. We have not made the right investment in the curriculum of our ​ educational institutions with the economy and society. We have not made the right quantum of equipment in terms of infrastructure, especially teaching and learning infrastructure. We have not gotten it right in terms of the changing dynamics in the philosophy of education, which is very important in the sense that depending on your development agenda and where you are in the context of your development status, your philosophy of education must be aligned to that. And then finally, we have not made the right investment or not taken ​ the right decisions in terms of the governance structure of our educational institutions. So when you put all of that together, we have a bit of education that is extremely challenged. It behoves all the stakeholders in the education ecosystem to come together to think through. This has been going on for a while, but ultimately, the political will to track some of the difficult decisions that need to be made for us to break through these challenges, ​ are not forthcoming and that is why in the last 30 years, we are not solving the problems. For Nigeria to drive the necessary change, we need to make the right investment in education. ​ At this stage of our national development, our education budget should be at least 15 per cent of GDP ​ across all levels.​
Prof Yakubu Ochefu is the Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors in Nigeria. In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the professor of Economic History and Development Studies explained why Nigeria must take its education seriously and provide an operating environment for people to work and earn a decent living. Excerpts:


How would you describe the current state of education in Nigeria, and how can the country drive the necessary changes?

The current state of education in Nigeria, in general, and university education in particular, is very bad. We have had this sad situation of under-investment in our educational institutions for nearly 40 years now based on the development index of ​ countries that are at par with us as far as development is concerned. We have not made the right investments in the training of the teachers. We have not made the right investment in the curriculum of our ​ educational institutions with the economy and society. We have not made the right quantum of equipment in terms of infrastructure, especially teaching and learning infrastructure. We have not gotten it right in terms of the changing dynamics in the philosophy of education, which is very important in the sense that depending on your development agenda and where you are in the context of your development status, your philosophy of education must be aligned to that. And then finally, we have not made the right investment or not taken ​ the right decisions in terms of the governance structure of our educational institutions. So when you put all of that together, we have a bit of education that is extremely challenged. It behoves all the stakeholders in the education ecosystem to come together to think through. This has been going on for a while, but ultimately, the political will to track some of the difficult decisions that need to be made for us to break through these challenges, ​ are not forthcoming and that is why in the last 30 years, we are not solving the problems. For Nigeria to drive the necessary change, we need to make the right investment in education. ​ At this stage of our national development;

The recent judgement of the Federal High Court in PDP v Mai Mala Buni, in which the candidature of Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola and his Deputy for the 2023 Gubernatorial election was nullified, on the ground that Governor Buni was ineligible to sponsor them as acting Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), being a sitting Governor who is prohibited from holding these two positions concurrently. It seems that sometime in 2021, Festus Keyamo, SAN, had privately warned the Party, APC, about what could be the dangers of allowing the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni remain as the Acting Chairman of the Party. The judgement has raised quite a number of concerns, especially the far-reaching implications for other Parties, and consequently, the larger Nigerian polity. What lessons are there for other political parties? Is there any respite for the beleaguered ruling APC? Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN dissects the landmark precedent- setting judgement, and teases out the issues and the implications for the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party and the nation

Introduction

On the 30th of September, 2022, the Federal High Court sitting at Abuja in the case of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) v Buni, voided the candidature of His Excellency, Governor Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola and his Deputy, both of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in respect of the Osun State Governorship election which held on the

There is need to work towards changing the negative perception around politics in Nigeria as “a game for rogues, thieves and liars” to being perceived as “a noble task”, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has said.

In his second annual lecture at Loyola Jesuit College in the Archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria that was published Wednesday, October 5, Cardinal Onaiyekan made reference to the Vatican II document on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, and went on to acknowledge the challenges of engaging in politics in the West African nation.

“In our situation in Nigeria where politics has acquired a very bad name, it is extremely important that we find ways and means of changing the language and insist that politics is not a game for rogues, thieves and liars,” the Cardinal said .in his lecture, which he delivered on October

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday Nigeria’s future relied heavily on education, noting that no society could grow beyond its educational attainments.

The President said it was in consideration of such development that his government was determined to return teachers, teaching and the teaching profession to their rightful places.Buhari, who spoke at the commemoration of the 2022 World Teachers’ Day in Abuja, noted that one of the major differences between healthy, well functioning and prosperous and poorer societies was education.
“We owe so much of our well-being as a nation to our educators at every level,”
said Bihari, who was represented by the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.