Presentations & higlights of 2nd Progressive Governors Lecture Series

Crisis in Nigeria’s Education Sector:
Addressing the Connect between
Unemployment and Insecurity
Proceedings of 2nd
Progressive
Governance Lecture

Table of Contents
WELCOME ADDRESS BY KANO STATE GOVERNOR, HE. ENGR.
RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO............................................................ 4
OPENING SPEECH BY HE DR. OGBONNAYA ONU........................ 10
Crisis in Nigerian Education Sector ............................................... 17
Presentation by HE Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi CON ......... 17
PRESENTATION BY DR MODUPE OLATEJU-ADEFESO ................ 58
Presentation by Dr. Jibo Ibrahim................................................... 68
ALHAJI BELLO MASARI PRESENTATION ...................................... 74
REMARKS BY ATIKU ABUBAKAR, GCON, FORMER VICE
PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ........................... 76
Contribution by HE. General Muhammadu Buhari........................ 85
Highlights of 2nd PGLS by HE. Senator Abiola Ajimobi ................... 88

CLOSING REMARKS BY ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU,
NATIONAL LEADER, ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, APC ...... 100
Remarks by Senator Bukola Saraki ............................................. 107
VOTE OF THANKS BY HE COMRADE ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE..... 109

Welcome Address by Kano State Governor, HE. Engr. Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso
Protocol:
Let me start by thanking the Almighty Allah for making it possible
for us to come for this our second Progressive Governance Lecture
Series taking place here in Kano on this 12th day of May, 2014. I am
sure you all remember that a decision for Kano to host this occasion
was taken on the 24th of February, 2014 in Ibadan. Therefore, on
behalf of myself and the good people of Kano State, I will like to
welcome all of you to Kano. Of course, we are happy that this event
is taking place here in Kano. We are very delighted for this occasion
and especially the theme; “Crisis in Nigeria’s Education Sector:
Addressing the Connect between Unemployment and
Insecurity”.
We appreciated the linkage between education, employment and on
the other hand the issue of security. That was why in 2011 when we
were sworn in, we decided to take the issue of education very
seriously. We took the first step of feeding our children in all our
schools, numbering about 3 million, by giving them free lunch five

times a week. We have also decided to give our children who are
being enrolled in primary schools two sets of uniform. We have in
the last three years or so constructed over three thousand brand
new classrooms. We have also rehabilitated most of the classrooms
that we inherited in 2011. It is also the policy of this administration
to fence all our primary and secondary schools in the state and by
the grace of God by the end of our term in 2015 all our primary and
secondary schools would have been rehabilitated and fenced for
security purposes.
Let me say that in 2011 we had about 1 million school children,
today we have about 3 million. That was achieved because of the
incentives that we have given to the parents, to the children and of
course to the teachers. These things we had started doing since
2012 January. We have also paid out teachers promptly and that is
on the 25th of every month. We have also promoted our teachers
from primary to secondary to tertiary institutions. We have done so
much in terms of establishment of mega secondary schools in Kano
state ranging from Governors College to First Lady College and of
course to Government Secondary Schools and many other mega
secondary schools to accommodate our children that are graduating
from primary school. Let me also say that our government has re-

introduced the boarding primary school in Kano State. It is our
policy that every child in Kano State must go to school. We have
provided the infrastructure necessary for that. That is why the
administration enacted a law banning begging on the streets of
Kano. The sons and daughters of Kano have no reason whatsoever to
be on the street of Kano or any other street in this country begging
for what to eat or what drink or what to wear.
The state government in conjunction with the local government and
the well to do people in the state and our friends outside the state
are working round the clock to ensure that the law on the ground is
working and I am happy that the law is working. We have a law
banning any child of Kano to be sent to another state under the
guise of almajiri. I am happy that the law also is working. And even
those who had sent their children elsewhere are now bringing them
back to put them in our primary and secondary schools.
We have also worked on the issue of tertiary education by way of
establishing 24 institutes. These institutes are working and of
course, so far through these institutes we have been able to support
about four hundred thousand young men and women of Kano state
origin in various forms of empowerment. In addition to all these, the

state has decided to declare free education at all levels. Our children
do not need to pay anything in the primary, secondary and tertiary
institutions. In addition, to that, the state has decided to send our
children to various schools within and outside the country. That is
why today we have 200 students in Crescent University, 200
students in Bells University, 250 students in Igbinedion University,
25 students in ABTI Adamawa State, 412 students in Kano and
Katsina universities. That is to say that in addition to those who are
being admitted by Federal Government universities and State
universities. The responsibility of each child in all these institutions
is to go and register and send the bill for Kano state to settle for him
or her.
It is also our policy that each of our indigenous students who have
got first class or second class upper to receive scholarship in his or
her first degree, the state government will give him or her automatic
scholarship to go and study across the globe. So far, we have
sponsored over two thousand students who are in 14 countries of
the world. So far, I have visited most of these countries. Just two
days ago, I was in Uganda where I met with 197 students who are
studying in their universities. In the next few days, I will be in Egypt
and Sudan. Of course, I was in the UK and US. I was in Jordan

where we have 100 pilots that are undergoing training in that
country. Amongst the 2000 students that we have abroad, we have
200 that are studying medicine, 100 studying pharmacy, 25 in
marine engineering and quite a number of them studying masters
and PhDs in various countries of the world. Let me also say that in
addition to all these institutes in the past three years, that we have
been able to establish the North West University which has its first
admission last academic session with over 1000 student. Now they
have admitted and matriculated 1200 students. That is in addition
to the Kano state University of Science and Technology that we
established during our first tenure in 2001. The state government
will continue to support education. We will continue to engage our
young men and women.
I am happy to say that all that is working for Kano because Kano is
calm and quiet and peaceful and that is with the engagement of
everybody in this state. Let me say also that we are committed to
work with all the stakeholders; we will continue to do all that it takes
to ensure that educated is supported. Of course our priority here in
Kano is education, education and education. We believe that for
peaceful co-existence that those of us who are educationally
disadvantaged to wake up and work hard so that we can bridge the

gap that is already existing. Let me at this point appeal to everyone;
the local governments, the state governments and the various
communities and all other stakeholders to come and join hands with
us as state government and other progressive governors in this
country so that we can move the issue of education forward - so that
we can have a prosperous and peaceful country. That is the only way
we can have a meaningful development in this country. Thank you
very much and God bless you.

Opening Speech by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu
Good Schools Make Great Nations
Protocol:
I sincerely thank the Progressive Governors Forum for inviting me as
the Chairman of the 2nd Progressive Governance Lecture Series
taking place in the ancient and important City of Kano. This lecture
series is the first of its kind, ever organized by a Governors Forum in
our country. It is an innovation which by discussing issues of major
importance to our country, shows APC as a party of ideas and also
helps find solution to major problems of great significance to
national development. I thank you so much for this. The theme of
the lecture: Crisis in Nigeria’s education sector, addressing the
connect between unemployment and insecurity could not have come
at a better time than this. Insecurity in our country has reached an
intolerable level such that though Nigeria is not at war, but she is
not in peace. Let us continue to pray for the safe return of the
Chibok girls, as well as remember in our prayers all others who have
been victims of insurgency in our dear country. May I invite you all

to stand and observe a minute of silence, in honour of all Nigerians
who lost their lives in recent acts of insurgency, in the country.
May I use this opportunity to thank our governors for the good work
they are doing for our people. By your performance, in the States we
control, Nigerians now know that the difference is clear between you
and the others. You have become the light on the mountain top for
all to see. May I also thank our governors for your immense
contributions to our great party; You played a very important role in
the formation of the Party. I urge you to continue to work for the
cohesion, growth and development of the Party. The journey, we
have chosen, has only one desirable destination: success and
victory. The difference between success and failure in politics is
enormous. We should all resolve to continue to work hard, until
success is achieved.
I am confident that our distinguished guest lecturer, discussants
and other contributors will do a fine job on the theme of this lecture.
Education is critical in nation building. Any government that does
not take the education of its citizens seriously is doing so much
harm to itself. All through history, the centres of human civilization
have been nations that had great appreciation for knowledge. Great

schools make great nations. In ancient times when Egypt led the
world, the world went to learn in Egypt. When Britain led the world,
British universities: Oxford and Cambridge attracted the best minds
in the world. Today, the United States of America is the leading
nation in the world. American universities: Harvard, M.I.T, Yale,
Berkeley and Princeton are ranked as the best in the world. It
therefore follows that for Nigeria to meet her goals and aspirations,
we must fold our sleeves, stand up and work extremely hard to
establish great schools that can help us produce in the near future
Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine.
It should be clear that Nigeria cannot effectively fight poverty without
high quality education that emphasizes science, engineering,
technology and innovation. We must never forget that even if the
price of crude oil doubles what it is now in the international market,
without an educated citizenry that has a strong technological
background, we will remain merely a consumer nation that produces
a few of our needs. This will further increase the gap between the
rich and the poor. Also, without technology and innovation, we
cannot solve the problem of unemployment in the country. Hence
with high levels of unemployment, poverty will continue to be a
problem. With high unemployment and mass poverty in the country,

then insecurity of life and property will continue to threaten the well-
being of the nation.
In the past fifteen years, the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party had
the chance to create a first class educational system that could have
helped build a new and a modern Nigeria. But they failed to do so.
Many young boys and girls, as many as ten million of them, are not
in school. They will grow up unable to read and write. Many of those
in school do not have the teachers to teach them well. None of our
universities is ranked among the best in the world.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, our great Party, wants to change
all these. Our manifesto is clear on this. We are determined to
provide free, compulsory and qualitative education for Nigerians. We
will work to attract and retain the best and the brightest in teaching.
We will provide the technical and vocational schools as well as
emphasize science, engineering, technological education that will
pave way for innovation, entrepreneurial and skills acquisition for
development. We do not want any Nigerian to be unable to read and
write. We want to train both the hands and the head. We want
Nigerians to be both producers and consumers. We are tired of being
merely a consumer nation. It is when we have this change, that we
can create enough jobs for our people. When Nigerians are at work,

they will become sufficiently busy leaving little or no time to think of
criminal activities. It is then that we can truly live safely and be
secured.
The APC has to be in government in order to achieve this. Nigerians
want change. Nigerians look up to us to effect this change. But also
Nigerians are watching our every step. We must work together. We
must remember to do those things we did in the past that helped us
succeed. When we worked for APC to be registered, many people did
not give us any chance for success but we succeeded because we
were all ready to make sacrifice. We should continue to do all that is
necessary to make APC a truly great party.
The ruling party has continuously described the APC as a one man
party. I say no, APC does not belong to any individual. The APC
belongs to all of us. The APC is open to all Nigerians. APC is a truly
national party, the only national party in the country, which controls
at least one State in every geopolitical zone. If the ruling party claims
to be a national party, let them tell us which State they control in
the Southwest. APC is a big political party, the biggest opposition
party in the history of our country, which in response to the needs of
our people has become a movement. Whatever we do, we must listen

to the cries of our people. We must constantly study the mood of the
nation and hence move along, instead of trying to move against the
collective will of our people. We should never think that we have
already won an election that is yet to be contested. Over confidence
never helps, rather it hurts. The stability, unity, peace and progress
of our country must always guide every single important step that
we take.
The cohesion of our party will be achieved when we respect the rules
we make ourselves. Our party Constitution must remain supreme in
the conduct of party affairs. The operational guidelines, approved by
relevant organs of the party, must be respected by those selected to
perform important functions for the party. Our aim at all times
should be to build a strong and vibrant APC. We must work very
hard to win the votes of Nigerians, so as to be in government, as a
way to give hope to Nigerians who have suffered enough due to mis-
governance in the past 15 years. All their hope is on us. We cannot
afford to disappoint them. When Nigerians say that politicians have
failed, they must realize that it is politicians in the PDP that failed,
since the politicians in the APC are yet to govern the country.

I am convinced that the time is now, for us to work together for the
common good. The interest of the party and the nation must always
come first. I believe that if we do this, then victory will be ours. APC
will then make another history in 2015, by being the first opposition
political party to produce the President of our dear country. Every
person’s name will then be written in gold. We can do this, if we
work together. We should do it, because it is in the best interest of
our country. Once more, I join our able host governor to welcome
you to this very important lecture.
May the Almighty God continue to bless our party and our country!

Crisis in Nigerian Education Sector
Presentation by HE Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi CON

CRISIS IN NIGERIA’S EDUCATION SECTOR:
ADDRESSING THE CONNECT BETWEEN
UNEMPLOYMENT AND INSECURITY
By
CHIBUIKE ROTIMI AMAECHI, CON,
GOVERNOR, RIVERS STATE
2

More inac ve youth in North West and South South
11

HOW EDUCATED ARE YOUTH IN NIGERIA
12

Percentage of students passing WASSCE with 5 credits
and above, May/June 2011
14

CHALLENGES IN TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION (TVET)
20

What are the challenges and what are the
dangers if we don’t address them
.
21

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22

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23

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24

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25

In 2010, 79% of the total approved capital estimates were
concentrated in five areas namely building of 150 Model Primary
Schools (25%), the completion of 5 (No) model secondary schools
plus extra facilities (15%), building of new model secondary schools
(14%), and the completion of the balance of the on-going school
building project started in 2009. The emphasis in 2011 shifted to the
completion of the 5 model schools plus extra facilities (25%), the free
education programme (14%), the building of 150 model primary
schools (12%), furnishing of New 250 primary schools (11%), and
the procurement of ICT equipment in 250 schools (10%). In 2012,
more than 70% of the approved capital estimates focused on the
completion of 5 model secondary schools (24%), building of 150
model primary schools (12%): the free education programme –
supply of school materials (12%), furnishing of new 250 primary
schools (11%), and the procurement of ICT equipment in 250
schools (12%).
How We Are Addressing The problems In
Rivers State
28

THE BIG QUESTION ???
HAS RIVERS STATE ELIMINATED ALL INSECURITY?
ANSWER: NO
37

EDUCATION IS EXPENSIVE BUT
IGNORANCE IS A LOT MORE COSTLY
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
41

DEALING WITH NIGERIA’S EDUCATION CRISIS: CRITICAL
THINKING FOR HOLISTIC REMEDIES
- Presentation by Dr Modupe Olateju-Adefeso
Good afternoon distinguished ladies and gentlemen and of course
your Excellencies here present. Thank you very much for the honour
and privilege. Thank you, the Progressive Governors Forum for the
honour and privilege of being here today. It is a very distinguished
gathering of people and it is certainly an honour and a privilege to be
here. I will also like to commend you simply because in Nigeria
today, we don’t often speak about politics and thought leadership in
the same sentence, but you have chosen to do this in this forum.
This is the second I understand and this represent thought
leadership in the education sector and I would like to commend you
for that. Thank you very much for putting this together.
I don’t know if we are familiar with the story of Alice in wonderland.
It is a story that I love very much and at a point in this story of Alice
in wonderland, she approaches a Cat. “Could you please tell me
which way to go from here?” and the cat says “no problem, where do
you want to go?” and she says “nowhere really, it is not important

where I want to go, I can always go anywhere.” And the cat says
“well, that is fine because any road will take you there.”
What is the point of that ill attitude? The point is that, it is
important for us to know where we are going as a Nation. It is
important for us to have events and gatherings like this that actually
help us to take a very strategic view of where we are going as a
country. What we can do in the states that we currently lead and
how can we make a difference in this Nation.
I think that when I talk about bird’s eye view and about strategic
leadership, I am reminded of the philosophy of Nigeria’s education. I
don’t know how many of us have had the opportunity to read the
minutes of the 1969 Curriculum Conference. I have to say that the
only place that I found that document is in the library, in the bottom
shelf in the Institute of Education in the University of London. Those
were the minutes of the Curriculum Conference that established
what we know as the Nigerian Curriculum today and formed the
basis of that which we refer to as our policy on Education. It is also
supposed to guide our thinking in education, guide our resource
provision as well and I think that this is a really important document
and this is also a really important time for us to think whether this

philosophy is still fit for purpose. Do we need to get back and start
rethinking our philosophy of education?
1969 was a time of crisis in this Country. Again, we can say that we
are still in crisis, perhaps even more so than in the last 20 years. Do
we need to start thinking again about what we want our children to
be? Do we even know what we want to see in 2050? When you say
this is a Nigerian child, what does that mean? What should you be
able to see? Does this present us with an opportunity to begin to
think about that? The answer lies with you. I am just going to touch
on a few topics and those topics, I am not going to speak much
because the very erudite guest lecturer has spoken extensively on
these issues and I will also once again like to thank Governor
Amaechi for your comments as well. Very well researched so, I am
not going to go into much detail.
I am going to try as much as possible to focus on what do we need
today in the education sector. We know we are in crisis we do not
need anyone to tell us we are in crisis. Switch on CNN, you know
that we are in crisis in Nigeria. Switch on NTA or Channels TV, you
know that we are in crisis. What do we as duty bearers need to focus
on? First of all, we have to ask ourselves critical questions about

education. We know that there is a sect in this country that believes
western education is evil but the reality of it is that we do not need
to be focusing on what the world calls western education because,
education is a way by which people get better. It is simply a way by
which a society improves. There is opportunity for us to focus on our
own home grown education. What works for us as a nation and what
will propel us into the future that we want for our country. And so,
we need to think very deeply about education and we also need to
think perhaps on commissioning studies on the economic value of
education. For every child that is not in school today, for every child
that is in school but is not learning, there is a cost element and it is
important for us to begin to prioritize estimating what that cost is, so
that we can begin to put our money where our mouth is.
Insecurity, we have spoken extensively about insecurity today.
Naturally, if schools are not secure, children will not go and
therefore, we need again to start thinking about the notion of this
thing called school. What is a school? Is it a place? Is it a setting?
Can you have school in a home? We have to start thinking about it.
There were some excellent statistics that the erudite guest lecturer
presented to us when he was speaking about the amount of money
that will be required if we are going to get all children to what we

currently call schools today. And therefore, we need to ask ourselves,
is there need to be in physical spaces? Do children or let me not call
them children - the young people in our universities today. If we are
to look at examples of other countries, technology is solving a major
problem that responds to infrastructure and facilities. Don’t we need
to begin to put more funding into ensuring that we can connect our
children and our young people using technology and provide them
with spaces that way? That is just something for us to think about
and if per chance, we do need to provide physical spaces, and I agree
that we do then don’t we have the opportunity to think out of the
box?
I ask this because I live in Lagos and Sunday in Lagos is incredible.
The number of people that are out on the streets, going to church,
Same thing on Friday but I noticed that on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, those massive buildings some of them seat
five to ten thousand people are empty. Is there a role for partnership
in all of this? Is there a way which we can harness these
infrastructures working with these religious institutions to house
our children and to provide them with schooling on a day to day
basis? Again, these are just questions.

Now, I want to talk about curriculum very briefly. I am a researcher,
I travel around the country and I conduct research and I talk to a lot
of people in several states, APC states, non APC states and teachers
say something to me very often. The first thing I always hear is that
the children are lazy, they don’t want to learn. I have a fundamental
problem with that issue and that is because if you take a smart
phone and you put it in the hands of that lazy child and you put a
computer game on it, that “lazy child” will be absorbed for the next
three hours so No, that child is not lazy. All that has happened is
that we are giving a 21st century child 20th century skills with which
he learns and what are the 20th century skills? I am talking about
innovation, creativity, imagination, technology skills, and the ability
to think out of the box - exactly the skills that we are not teaching in
our schools today. Let us be frank with ourselves, we need to give
these children 21st century knowledge, 21st century skills and 21st
century competences. We need to begin to develop value based
curriculum because we are losing our values as a country. We need
to understand our history; we need to understand where we are
coming from. Otherwise, how do we know where we are going?
Now, I also want to talk about the role of public/Private partnership
because this is an area of expertise for the organization that I work

with and I say this because we have not looked at the evidence as it
is how well children in public schools are doing? How well children
in non-state schools are doing? The realization is that education is
both a public and a private concern and there is nothing we can do
about it. I dare anyone to argue with me. Community schools,
religious missionary schools all came before state schools. My father
did not go to a state school; he died at the age of 82, two years ago.
He went to a community school and he went to a religious school.
What is the point I am trying to make? We need to go back to some
of these modules. We need to make communities responsible for the
infrastructure that we put in those schools. We need to help them to
take charge and take ownership of resources that we give to them.
We need to begin to think about partnership. We need to begin to
stop problematizing the private schools whilst a lot of private schools
are really very terrible and I write about them, the truth is that many
of them are helping to solve this out of school challenge that we are
facing in the country and whether we like it or not, parents are
choosing for their children to go to these schools. In all of the
schools I have gone to as a researcher, the length and breath, east
and west of this country and I have asked public school teachers, do
your children attend these state schools? I have not found two who

say yes. My child is in this school where I am teaching. That is a
problem ladies and gentlemen.
Nevertheless, it is important for us to realize that it is not all doom
and gloom. If we go to wonderful model schools for example, like
what we have in Rivers State or we look at how the Lagos state EKO
project is doing some phenomenal work with regard to improving
children’s learning or perhaps we go to Kano state and look at the
efforts there to get out of school children into school and we go
across all the APC states, we realize that there are very very good
modules of practice we need to begin to showcase. You see, if we do
not tell our own stories, other people will tell our stories for us and
they will not necessarily be pretty pictures. We have to show the
world what we are doing. We need to start showing videos, go on
television, and sell this country. You are doing good things in your
states. There are many things that still need to be done but there are
a lot of good that is currently being done already. I think still in the
realm of partnership, that it is also important for us to focus our
efforts on education on a multi sectorial approach. I say this because
it is very difficult for us to solve education problems when you look
at education as a standalone sector.

The first time some of our parents and perhaps some of us in this
room ever had any information on our dental health or eye checks,
or the first time we were ever de-wormed was in school. So how do
you separate health from education? How do you separate labour
from education. What are you going to school for if not ultimately to
become productive to the society. So, let us begin to think about
taking a multi sectorial approach to education.
Now, I want to touch briefly on employment and teaching and I will
conclude there. Now, we have major problems when it comes to
employing our graduates. Sometimes I see this term or I hear it.
“Nigeria’s graduates are unemployable.” I do not really believe that. I
think it is just a failure of our systems to give them the skills that
they need to be employed. So we need perhaps to start looking at
how to co-create our curriculum. The employers of labour need to be
sat in the same room as those of us that are duty bearers in this
country at the state level. Sit in the same room with any RDC and
co-create curriculum. Let the labour sector tell us what it is that
they need and let us design curriculum to meet those needs. Let us
prioritize internships and apprenticeship. Let us bring work into the
school and school to the work place.

Finally, I want to talk about teachers because ultimately, they say
show me your teachers and I will… I know you don’t know that
because I coined it. So, you passed that test. I believe that if you
show me your teachers, I will tell you who you are. There is no
country that has ever risen above the quality of its teachers and that
is why we need to begin to re imagine teaching. We need to begin to
focus our attention on getting the right crop of teachers into the
system whilst also developing those that are currently in the system.
I studied education in this country in the 90s and every time I said
to somebody, I am studying Education; they would look at me and
say “but why? You did very well in JAMB, why would you want to
study education?” As though people that study education are the
worst people in the society. That is the perception that we continue
to have of our teachers. We have to think about correcting this. We
have to also think about re-integrating excellent teachers, teachers
who are retired but not tired. Why can’t we bring them back into the
system? Why can they not help us as mentors, as trainers? Let’s
think about these things.
As I conclude, I just want to say one more thing. Education is a
thankless endeavour and I don’t think that there is one governor in
this room that will say honestly that anybody has come to say thank
you for education. Nobody says thank you for education. It is

thankless. Whatever you do to improve education, you take it as
something you have done for your God, and something that you
have done for your conscience and that is why when we work in
education, when we carry out initiatives in education, we must do it
selflessly. Ultimately, people will not say “thank you,” but
generations will remember and history will be kind to you.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen.
RECONSTRUCTING EDUCATION AS A LADDER FOR SOCIAL
MOBILITY
- Presentation by Dr. Jibo Ibrahim
I understand that the purpose for this lecture is to reflect and come
up with policies on education for progressive states. I think that is
not a useful purpose. The necessary educational policies are known.
All you need to do is to implement it. Just over 4 weeks ago, one of
our elder statesmen, Ahmed Joda, published an article in Trust and
I think all of you should read what he said – in 1973, there was a
Federal Executive Council review of the civil war. They decided to
work out a political strategy to ensure that we do not end up in civil

war again - ever. The political strategy they drew up was – take the
children of the end of the war. All those born in 1970 – make sure
they go to school and do that for every subsequent year. The two-
three years, 1973 - January 1976 when universal primary education
was set up. For those three years they did an accelerated
development of teachers. The commitment of the Nigerian state was
that no child born after 1970 would be uneducated. We have not
kept to that promise
Three things have happened since that policy of 41 years ago. The
first is we did not put the necessary investment to keep up to that
promise. The second is that over those 41 years there is a huge
differentiation in the level of development in different zones of the
country. That is important point. When we say that education has
collapsed in Nigeria, we should look at what the figures tell us. The
last school census in Nigeria was done in 2010. The numbers
released were the numbers for 2009. What does it tell us – in Borno
State 23% of children of school age go to primary school. In Lagos
State, 95% of children of school age go to school. That tells a
narrative – a narrative of relative irresponsibility of governments on
the zonal level.

The narrative of the school census is not just a narrative of
numbers. The second thing we learnt from that census of 2010 is
that over 90% of the kids; that 23%, that go to school in Borno leave
school illiterates and most of their teachers are illiterate. Those who
go to primary school in Lagos state they leave primary school
literate. Let me continue with these progressive states; Borno and
Lagos. The average woman in Lagos state gives birth to three
children in her lifetime. In Borno state it is seven children. This
means that the population growth rate in Borno is over double that
of Lagos if you exclude migration. What this tells us is that the
government Borno needed to invest at least double what Lagos is
investing in order to make a difference in the education of their
children. That is not being done.
Ahmed Joda’s article was not to return to civil war. He was referring
to this pathetic number that has been regurgitated several times, of
10.5 million children of school going age who are not in school and
most of them are concentrated in the North East and North West. My
sense is that policy options are clear. We just need to implement
them. I want to refer you to my column in Daily Trust of yesterday. I
spoke of why I got offended with Governor Amaechi. Every day in
Abuja we have been holding session. I asked them who sent the

police to us – that is strange. They said that one Commissioner Mbu
gave the order. I said that is Amaechi’s friend. Please Governor
Ameachi invite your friend back. We want to demonstrate in Abuja
peacefully and freely. To do that we don’t want Mbu. Please, do
something about that.
The point I was making in my column was about the discussions we
have been having in these sittings we have been doing. On Tuesday,
we were at the Defence headquarters where we had a two hour
meeting with eight generals. The point we made to them was that in
this country you cannot say that you are a government and you
cannot say that you are armed forces if three hundred girls were
abducted and three weeks later you have done nothing. You have
not gone to Chibok. None of your operatives have been seen around.
The ordinary citizens of Chibok followed these girls with their sticks,
bows and arrows until they could go no further. There was no
support from the armed forces. And we told General Olukolade don’t
accuse us of denigrating the armed forces. What we are saying is
that there constitution that says that the primary purpose of
government is the welfare and security of citizens. You are not doing
your work.

On Saturday in Kaduna, armored personnel carrier was sent to
Murtala square to stop people saying “bring back our girls”. The
question that was asked in Kaduna was “well the people in Borno
are saying that they are not seeing armed personnel carrier. Since
you have them why are you deploying them in Murtala Mohammed
square while they will be much more useful where the operations are
taking place? My point therefore is that we have had over four
decades of irresponsible political leadership in the country. The level
of that irresponsibility is higher in certain zones of the country.
What we need to do is to implement policies that have adopted so
long ago but the investment to make those policies real hasn’t been
made.
I have been told that we have run out of time. I have to talk for 2
minutes. One way of concluding is to say since I am an indigene of
Kano State, let me give you facts. The most important fact is that
Kano State government has developed an excellent template for
education – a template that places three issues on the agenda. First,
grow the numbers of enrollment. Second the depth of the problem
given the scarcity of teaches and resources is to provide model
schools – that are schools of quality that produce literates in primary
and secondary schools. The third element of that template is “bring

back vocational education”. I live in Abuja. All the contractors who
have serious jobs go to Benin Republic, Togo to recruit crafts people
because we do not produce crafts people, skilled personnel in this
country any more. And education has been a process of really
producing people who do not have requisite skills to do their jobs.
My conclusion is this – I come from a generation where the Nigerian
state made it possible for us to have social mobility. We the children
of poor parents went to school. The school became a ladder of social
mobility and we joined the elites. Now as elites, the children of the
poor now leave primary school and secondary school illiterate. Now
as elites we have reproduced the ladder for our children but we have
withdrawn the ladder from the children of the poor. The children of
the poor now leave primary and secondary schools illiterate. This is
the number that Governor Amaechi gave us. Those graphs are really
important. We must reintroduce the social mobility ladder for the
children of the poor. If we do not do that we suffer the peril of our
inaction.

RESPONSE BY APC INTERIM NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
- Represented by Alhaji Bello Aminu Masari
Everything that has to be said has been said especially on the
linkage between education, unemployment and insecurity. Today, we
can say that APC states are showing signs of making a difference in
their style of governance. The problem is about good leadership. The
absence of which has put us and the Nigeria in the situation that we
are in. You cannot face Boko Haram and the militants in the Niger
delta with poverty. The issue of education, there is no way you can
confront poverty without good and qualitative education. The centre
education lies with the institutions of governance. For us, what we
are seeing in APC states that I have been privileged to visit Lagos,
Kano, Osun and Ekiti. It is important that in 2015 elections we
must bring in credible leadership. And that leadership will know that
after four years, if fails people will not vote for them.
I am standing in for the Chairman of the party. Let me really
appreciate on the behalf of the party; the Progressive Governors
Forum for this laudable initiative that has not been done by any
Governors Forum. They have their own Governors Forum and we
have our own Governors Forum. One of the Progressive Governors is

also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum. I think you
better take this idea to the Nigeria Governors Forum because the
problem of insecurity in Nigeria is beyond one political party or one
government. It calls for collective responsibility to make sure there is
peace and security. And we cannot have that unless we have
credible leadership at all levels. I thank the organizers and the party.
As a party we will continue to support the programmes of
progressive Governors and the programmes of the party. Thank you
and God bless.

CONTRIBUTION BY ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR, GCON, FORMER
VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Protocol
There is indeed little that is more progressive than to try to
understand the crisis in Nigeria's education and to find ways to
resolve the crisis. I commend the Progressive Governors' Forum for
organizing this lecture and for inviting me to participate. We have
an expert presenter so I will only make a few remarks.
As some of you know, education is my passion. As I have readily
acknowledged on numerous occasions, education gave me the
modest successes that I have achieved in life. And I have tried to
pursue that passion by contributing to the education of others,
including building schools. But nothing that an individual does can
match what a focused government can do for society. Public
education is the responsibility of government, which has the
capacity for the provision of public goods for the greatest number of
citizens.
In the modern world, the countries that lead in education are also

those that rank the best in other critical indices of development,
including technological advancement, innovation and
competitiveness, incomes, life expectancy, maternal and infant
health. Conversely those corners of the world that reject education,
demean it or fail to adequately invest in it also tend to be the most
backward, lagging behind the rest in all measures of development
and the improvement of the human condition.
There is no doubt that our education system is in crisis and that a
lot of work needs to be done to fix it. I am not about to recount the
woes or bore you with statistics on quality, funding, adequacy of
school spaces, equipment and facilities, staffing, incessant strikes or
the mismatch between existing vacancies and our graduates' skills
sets. But we all know that those challenges help to produce our
atrociously high level of unemployment, which contributes to the
rising insecurity in the country.
Instead let me draw our collective attention to the big picture: the
need for decentralizing our educational system and the need for
proper planning and implementation of educational policies. I had
all my education under the Native Authority and Regional
Government system. There was little federal involvement in

education then. But what we have today is excessive centralization
of resources and concentration of power at the centre fuelled by
overreliance on oil money. And we have become addicted to it.
I need to note here that the crisis in our educational system is not
an isolated one. It is instead an extension of, a cause of and a
consequence of the general crisis of governance and development in
the country. The poor planning that characterizes our educational
system is a reflection of the poor planning and execution that
characterize governance in the country. The corruption, which
seems to have become endemic in our schools, is a reflection of the
corruption in the society and in our governance structures. The
impunity and dictatorial tendencies of some educational
administrators and teachers also reflect the dominance of such
tendencies in the wider society, especially in institutions of
government. And they all reflect the concentration of power and
over- centralization of resources in the federal government at the
expense of the federating states.
The problems in our education are quite severe, but I submit that we
proceed to solve them in a very methodical, deliberate and
sustainable way. We must change the way we formulate policy on

education and the APC states should lead the way (I acknowledge
that some of that is already going on in some APC states). I hope
that these modest ideas will be considered alongside others by the
Policy Expert Design Session.
1. We need an informed national discussion on what we want out
of our education, what our priorities should be, and what we
expect of our schools. We should follow the more serious
countries as they try to emphasize Mathematics and Reading in
their school reforms so as to be able to compete in the modern
technology- driven global economy. We should abandon the
current homogenous educational system and instead revert to
the model that hitherto existed in many parts of the country
which streamed students into different tracks depending on
their proven abilities, interests and aptitudes? Thus some
students would proceed to universities and polytechnics, while
some would proceed to technical and other specialized
institutes where they learn relevant trades such as carpentry,
bricklaying, welding, and farming. This model will not only help
school leavers find immediate employment but will also help to
elevate the knowledge base and quality of our trades-people
and farmers.

2. We need a policy process in education. We need to clearly
identify and regularly follow a set of clear principles and steps
in the formulation of educational policy. The long years of
military and quasi-military rule in Nigeria have led to the
abandonment of process and procedures in the formulation of
educational and other development policies in Nigeria. Major
policy shifts must go through proper review by experts and
subjected to public discussion, with inputs from various
stakeholders including teachers, students, parents, educational
administrators, employer groups, government agencies and
donors? This will then be followed by proper, deliberate
planning for implementation, using reliable data.
3. Education should be the responsibility of state/regional and
local governments. The federal government should, at best, set
standards and provide financial support for states that follow
them. We do not need a federal ministry of education that is
burdened with running secondary and tertiary institutions
across the country. Rather it should focus on establishing
standards and enforcing them with incentives and sanctions as
the case may be. State/regional governments should have the

freedom to plan and implement educational policies and
programmes to suit local needs and changing circumstances.
While a university in the Niger Delta or Lagos may see an
urgency in having a world class maritime program, one in Yola
or Bauchi may prioritize information technology or agriculture
while yet another in Jos or Enugu may prioritize Geology or
Metallurgy as the case may be.
4. Autonomy of School Boards and University Councils. In order
to ensure the ability of schools to quickly meet their challenges
we must restore autonomy to local school boards and the
councils and senates of tertiary educational institutions.
Children in primary schools across the country do not have to
read exactly the same books. Public schools should be nimble
enough and autonomous enough and equipped adequately to
compete with private schools. While public schools are not
profit making organizations, and should not be, they will be
run better with some business principles such as efficiency,
merit, reward for hard work, and innovation, among other
factors.
5. Free and Compulsory Primary and Secondary Education: We

should have free and compulsory primary and secondary
education across the country, with federal support for states
that agree to abide by them and meet
set standards. Our laws should require anyone under the age
of 18 to be in school and hold parents accountable for non-
compliance. This will ensure that most of our citizens complete
secondary school education. But it should be implemented
methodically. A target date should be set to allow for data
collection and proper planning. We need to know the impact
that such a policy will have for enrollment, school space and
other resources, number of teachers, their availability and
training, the impact on the demand for tertiary education and
the cost of all of these. We should then have a system in place
that provides adult education for those who want it. Fees
should then be raised slowly in the tertiary institutions to help
pay for the badly needed improvements in infrastructure and
quality.
6. Teacher Recruitment, Training, Reward and Evaluation: We
must encourage the recruitment, training and retraining of
excellent teachers, improve reward for those who excel and
ease out those who fail to improve. We must make teaching an

attractive profession, rather than one that people go into when
they cannot find a better paying, better resourced and better
regarded profession. I would like to see a situation where our
schools compete with the banks, oil companies and
telecommunications companies, among others, for the best
talent in the country and around the world.
7. We need centres of excellence. Serious countries also have
centres of excellence among public institutions of secondary
and higher learning. Such think houses and research leaders
attract the best and brightest among teachers, researchers and
students who desire to go there and participate in cutting age
academic and research pursuits. And they are deliberately well
resourced to induce the kind of environment needed to nurture
exceptional talent. Their impact on the overall quality of
education and innovation in society is enormous.
Ladies and gentlemen, we can make the leap to high-paying jobs for
our people if we make the right investments in infrastructure,
education and innovation right now. Such investments will attract
cutting edge world class companies to invest in Nigeria and also
make our labour force globally mobile and highly rewarded.

Recently, the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, told his
compatriots "We have to educate our way to a better economy ... The
path to the middle class today runs straight through the classroom."
He may well have been speaking to
Nigerians.
Thank you.

CONTRIBUTION BY HE. GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI,
FORMER HEAD OF STATE, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Protocols:
I would like to begin by thanking the organizers of this lecture, the
Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum, Mallam Salihu
Muhammad Lukman and his staff for inviting me to this occasion.
I would also like to commend the organizers for the choice of the
theme for this year’s lecture. No topic is more important to us
Nigerians than education and no condition is currently more
pressing than unemployment and its twin evil insecurity.
For as long as I can remember our educational system has been in
one crisis or another and there is no solution yet in sight. It is hoped
today’s discussion will help clarify and identify lasting solutions to
our problems.
By far the most intractable problem is financing

When I became Head of State in 1984 one of the first actions we took
was to establish a study group of intelligent experts led by Professor
Babs Fafunwa to look at all the earlier studies, commissions
committees on education over the years and come up with distilled
recommendations about the desired educational policy direction for
attaining those goals. To put it at its simplest, education was the
right for all Nigerians. In terms of priority, what the country needed
then as now was quality education for development.
It requires great vision and foresight o accord education its rightful
place in budget priority. I had cause to recall in two recent
gatherings that our founding premiers, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello all provided more than
40% of their budgets to education.
Without education, one has only limited opportunities for
employment. Today, in Nigeria, even with a university degree, the
opportunities are still very limited as we witnessed a few months ago
in the stampede at the National stadium.
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that our
teeming youths, educated and uneducated need to be provided with

jobs not only in agriculture and industry but in public works,
infrastructure building, urban renewal and help with self
employment. Otherwise our security situation will worsen with grave
consequences to social stability.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2ND
PROGRESSIVE GOVERNANCE LECTURES
BY HE. SENATOR ABIOLA AJIMOBI
Preamble:
Ladies and gentlemen, let me extend my courtesy to all our leaders
that are here. In order to save time and also the same extension goes
to my colleagues and elders and leaders that are here.
My problem is solved because instead of reeling out all the thoughts
that we have espoused here today, I will not bother because all of us
here are very much educated; I therefore will not like to bore you but
I think suffice it to mention that evil triumphs when men of goodwill
and nobility play the ostrich in APC, we are playing the helicopter
view of our challenges in Nigeria.
We are here today with the philosophy of that nobility. We are here
because we want to face challenges. We are here because we are
issue based party, we are not ‘pedestrian disposed’ party. We are a
party of men of courtesy. So consequently, we have started series of
lectures in which we had the first one in Oyo state on
Unemployment and it was a huge success.

Today, we are having another successful one in Kano state and I like
to commend every member here for their support, for their
elucidation, for their brilliant contributions; but let me just take this
opportunity to say that we have established here today that
education should be defined and redefined. For me, what is
education? ‘It is structured information. It is knowledge. It is skill. It
is ability. It is capability. It is empowerment. It is responsibility. It is
the ability to contribute to your society and it is development and
nation building’.
Therefore, what we are doing today is building our nation. It is
establishing foundation for development and let men just throw in
this thought-those that are educated are those with the highest
wisdom bestowed on them as human beings and when the ask lions
(you know lions hunt other animals) saying what do you think of
human beings? The lions looked and said “ human beings are just
like other animals , I can hunt them anytime” and people then asked
“how come you are not hunting them?” he said they have educated
themselves in a way that they know how to kill me and hunt me as
well as secure themselves”. What does that mean?-education
protects.

For the 243 young ladies that were kidnapped- it is wrong, they are
not 243. One of the lecturers told us today that an average lady or
woman in Borno gives birth to seven (7) children , so if they have
kidnapped 243 young ladies, how many have they actually
kidnapped?-1701 ladies. If you multiply that with another
generation, it goes to 11,907, if you go on and on and on, you get 83,
349 children. So distinguished ladies and gentlemen even if it is one
child or one of our daughters kidnapped, there is nothing too much
for us to do to ensure we salvage an save them.
So, on this note distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I like to tell you
that education as we quoted in the lecturer’s paper today, is the
most important social services that can be given to every citizen for
any meaningful development- the most important social service.
What is godliness? Godliness is the service to humanity- let us serve
humanity and let us all serve God and let us educate our children.

Lecture Highlights:
A. General Premise:
1. The dysfunction in Nigeria’s education sector is only an
extension of the crisis of governance in Nigeria especially as
marked by corruption and incompetence.
2. Historically, Nigeria started on a strong footing in its
commitment to the education of her citizens. The founding
premiers of Nigeria committed more than 40% of their annual
budgets to the education sector. Over the years, government’s
commitment to the education sector has progressively

dwindled. In 2012, the total budgetary allocation to education
by the Federal Government stood at 8%. The dour picture of
public financing for education in Nigeria was aptly captured in
2004 by the Guinness World Records which puts Nigeria as
next only to Somalia in the world as countries that spend least
on education vis-a-vis national GDP – with Nigeria’s at only
0.7%.
3. Falling standards in Nigeria’s education sector has found very
eloquent expressions in the current high unemployment and
escalating security crisis in the country. There appears to be a
general consensus that for Nigeria to begin to tackle holistically
its employment and security challenges, it is crucial to proffer
innovative solutions to the dysfunction in the education sector.
The fact remains that Nigeria cannot effectively fight
unemployment, poverty and insecurity without adequate
investment in education especially in courses with bearing to
science and technology.
4. Given the massive dislocation in the education sector, Nigeria
has over the years failed to match her developmental needs
with relevant skills output and expertise. A major source of
concern is the failure of about 23% of the general population in

acquiring relevant life skills and access to decent work
especially after leaving secondary school. The question is
whether the new curriculum being rolled out by WAEC would
sufficiently arrest this ugly trend? There is also the issue of
whether APC states are fully prepared to take advantage of the
new SSCE curriculum to improve the technical education of
students in their states? If there are gaps, how can they be
addressed?
B. Gaps in the Education Sector
The following gaps were identified as limiting the capacity of our
education to offer life skills:
1. Policy gaps: There has been a lot of policy turn overs and policy
inconsistencies in the education sector. Successive
governments come up with their policies on education only for
such to be scrapped by the next government thus making
progress difficult.
2. Funding gaps: This is one of the major albatross of the
education sector in Nigeria. Government commitment to the
financing of public education has been on the decline over the
years. Given the exponential increase in the country’s

population and the demands of learning in the 21st century, it
is expected that government funding of education should be on
the increase instead of the contrary. The crisis of funding
public education is further worsened by the fact that most of
the costs in the education sector are consumed by recurrent
expenditures leaving very little for capital investment.
3. Data gaps: There are huge gaps in the collection, management
and use of accurate and timely school related data. The last
school census was done in 2010 and it only captured 2009
school data. Without proper data, it would be extremely
difficult if not impossible to put in place sustainable plans that
can reposition the education sector in Nigeria.
4. Gaps in institutional capacity: Over the years, the quality and
quantity of well-trained manpower available to the education
sector remains a significant sore point in Nigeria’s education
sector. The training and re-training of Nigeria’s teaching
workforce has continued to dot the foot page. There is also the
issue of poor motivation of teachers and managers in Nigerian’s
education system. This has often led to incessant and
protracted strike actions. The availability and deployment of

teaching aids, guidance and counselling, study materials and
basic learning infrastructure have always received very scant
attention from government. There is also sparse ingenuity in
the use of local languages for instruction. Furthermore, there is
poor community participation and ownership of public schools.
The direct result of institutional failures in our education sector
is that about 10.5 million Nigerian children of school age are
out of school.
5. Curriculum Gaps: The problem of mismatch between what is
taught in our schools and the skills needed in the work place
have continued to be a perennial point of public discourse. This
trend is particularly rife within the vocational education sub
sector. The near collapse of technical education in Nigeria has
immensely contributed to the inability of Nigerian school
leavers to settle down to a decent work life. Despite these
realities, there seems to be very little initiative and momentum
to overhaul Nigeria’s school curriculum to make it 21st century
compliant.
6. Gaps in School Enrolment: 10.5 million Nigerian children of
school age are out of school. Worse still is the issue of gender

imbalance in school enrolment in different parts of Nigeria. A
1998 school census shows that only 13.75% of about 17
million children enrolled in primary school are females. The girl
child in many communities in Nigeria has continued to bear
the brunt of disadvantaged school enrolment. Owing to socio-
cultural stereotypes, she is usually the last to be considered for
a place in school thus denying her opportunity to a full life. In
the eastern part of the country, the reverse is the case as the
challenge in gender enrolment is that of the boy child who for
socio-economic reasons is most likely to be set off on the path
of early bread winning.
7. Gaps in Quality assurance in the Education Sector: There is
very little supervision to ensure that appropriate standards are
complied with. The school inspectorate unit has remained
largely under-funded and poorly staffed. This has made
monitoring of the education sector for the purpose of effective
evaluation and redress almost impossible.
8. Gaps in nutrition/health of learners and knowledge providers:
A major source of poor school enrolment is that of dearth of
nutritional incentives. States where free school feeding had

been introduced have witnessed giant leaps in their school
enrolment. HIV/AIDS pandemic is a major factor that has
contributed to the shrinkage of school manpower, in both the
regular and vocational education is the.
C. Proposals for Moving Forward:
1. There is need for multi stakeholder input and ownership of
reform in the education sector. This is in order to engender
policy clarity and consistency. This should be done within the
broader framework of defining a roadmap for the education
sector in Nigeria. Such a roadmap must be anchored on the
ideology of providing free, qualitative and compulsory primary
and secondary education to all Nigerians.
2. The structural governance of the education sector should be
decentralized with major funding roles for states and local
governments. The Federal government should only play
supervisory and supportive roles. In tandem with this
recommendation, it is crucial that there is an upward review of
revenue allocation to states and local governments. This will
enable states take up expanded responsibilities in providing
quality education especially through significant increase in

budgetary allocation to the education sector.
3. There is need to re-jig the institutional capacity in the
education sector especially with regards to the provision of
adequate school infrastructure, incentives for education
workforce, student scholarships, school inspections, manpower
training and re-training, teaching and counselling resources
and a secured cum healthy learning environment.
4. School curriculum should be reviewed to redress the current
mismatch between what is taught in Nigerian schools and
prevailing demands in the work place. In this regard, there
should be special focus on vocational subjects especially the
ones contained in the new curriculum being rolled out by the
West African Examination Council (WAEC)
5. Given the pyramidal structure of school enrolment in Nigeria,
state governments should make more investment in vocational
education in order to avail life skills to the teeming mass of our
youths who may not be able to transit to tertiary institutions.
This will enable them easily settle down to a decent work life
and thus avoid a life of crime.

6. State Governments need to establish educational centres of
excellence at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of learning.
There is also need for the establishment of finishing schools to
ensure the continuous output of high quality workforce. Great
schools make great nations.
7. State governments should strive to make available 21st century
learning spaces and skills available to the citizenry. A strategic
plan of action in the use of Information, and Communication
Technology (ICT) would be most useful in this regard.
8. In order to domesticate learning and evolve a system of
education that responds to Nigeria’s peculiar developmental
needs, there should be increased capacity to deploy local
languages in the effective transfer of knowledge to students.
9. There is need for increased autonomy of school boards at
different levels. Community participation, partnership and
ownership of public schools should also be encouraged.
10. In order to deal decisively with unemployment in Nigeria,
there is need to offer a fresh narrative to Nigeria’s consumerist

culture in such a way that it is remodelled to serve as a basis
for local productivity and job creation. There is therefore need
for new industrial policies that can lead to the restoration of
several collapsed industrial estates in Nigeria
11. State Governments should enact laws that ban child
begging and other forms of child abuse. Furthermore, school
feeding programme should be implemented in all APC states.
Necessary linkages should also be made between the
implementation of the proposed state school feeding
programme and the generation of concomitant jobs.
12. As a most fundamental way of dealing with the near
collapse of the education sector in Nigeria, there is need for
credible, visionary and accountable political leadership.
Closing Remarks by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National
Leader, All Progressives Congress
Protocols

I want to thank the PGF for organizing this conference on
governance. The conference theme could not be timelier. Given
recent events, such as the Customs job application scam, no one
can question the fact that our economy does not provide adequate
jobs for our youth and no one dare question the fact that insecurity
governs the land more than the government does.
Truly the nation needs to address the connection between
employment and insecurity. As we heard from our lecturers and
discussants the bridge linking these two opposite sides is education,
or, in our nation’s case, the lack of education.
I stand here not to reiterate what has been said before because I can
do no better than those who have spoken. What I would ask of us is
to take a step back and look at these important matters from a
larger, more strategic perspective.
Given the state of the nation, we owe ourselves and the people no
less. We must address the most fundamental aspects of this trinity:
education, employment and security. Terror wrought by Boko Haram
has brought the issue of education to the forefront. Boko Haram’s
assault is not just an attack against flesh and bone but one against

human enlightenment. This group would cast us into a new Dark
Age. We accept no part of their ignorant violence.
We claim the right to education and progress for every person in
Nigeria, young and old, rich and poor, boy and girl. The terrorists
have taken our daughters to oppress them and scare others. Their
efforts shall fall. By the hand of merciful Allah, I pray our daughters
will return safe and sound to resume their education along with the
rest of the nation’s children. The more Boko Haram seeks to spread
ignorant bigotry, the more we must spread enlightenment and hope.
However, it is not enough to provide education. That education must
have a practical purpose and an immediate objective that can be
obtained by the recipients. People must be able to use that
education to forge a decent life. An idle, jobless but educated mass of
young people is social upheaval in the making.
The time to rise up to save Nigeria is now. We cannot afford to fail.
Take a look at the effect that the collapse or apparent collapse of our
education system has had or is having on our society. Walk around
our cities. In the mornings, the time when youths and able bodied
men should be gainfully employed, do we not see our youths

chattering away their lives idly and not contributing to the growth of
the society?
Yes, we have been told that the GDP has been rebased and that our
economy is now the largest in Africa. But of what is use is that
when a large number of Nigerians are unemployed and the Nigerians
trained in Nigerian universities cannot be employed in the more
sensitive and technical sectors of our economy?
So now we are faced with a dilemma: a future that is not alluring to
look forward to and a present in jeopardy. But it is not a surprise.
Failure in the education system, unemployment and insecurity are
descendants of the same family. A failed education system gives
birth to untrained talents that cannot be employed and untrained
talents give birth to unemployment and unemployment gives birth to
militancy and insecurity.
Some have argued that as far as the formal sector is concerned, the
average Nigerian graduate is not employable and, therefore, does not
possess the skills needed by the employers of labour for a formal
employment. After all, employers do not need people to pay or spend
their money on but people that will help their organization grow and

make more profit as the primary goal of every enterprise is to make
profit.
The low opportunities for young graduates create the problems of
violence and militancy due to lack of jobs and idleness. There is also
a general sense of despondency among the youths who are not
violent because, without gainful employment, they are unable to play
a useful role in the society. And the vicious cycle continues. The
lack of opportunities and employment lead to income inequality, the
scourge of Boko Haram, reduction in the quality of life, among
others.
As a party we must not shy away from pointing out what is wrong.
It is our duty and it is good for the health of the polity. But we must
also proffer alternatives to the problems. Here we need to grasp the
enormity of the challenge we face. In most of our discussion and
dialogue, we talk as if unemployment is the core problem. Fix
unemployment and the security situation begins to correct itself.
That is not the entire truth; the reality is that we do not fix
joblessness by focusing on joblessness. Joblessness is not the root
illness. Though important, it is but the primary symptom of a greater

disease. The core problem is the political economy is fundamentally
distorted to render most people poor and many of them jobless.
We never broke the economic legacy of our colonial past. Our
present economy is modelled on what the colonist bequeathed; the
change being is that the colonial elite have been replaced by a
domestic one equally uncaring and insensitive to the plight of the
masses.
This is why they care little about education of the people. This is
why they showed little concern when over 200 of our daughters was
abducted merely for trying to learn how to read and write.
This economy is constructed to maximize the profit of tight-fisted
elite at the expense of the people. Just a few weeks ago, when
confronted by the unassailable fact that Nigeria has a large number
of poor people, the president’s only response was that Nigeria has a
number of very wealthy people: Thus the majority could not be poor!
That is like being ill, near death, then going to the doctor only to
have him say you can’t be ill because the last person he saw was
completely healthy. This government’s policy is to cater to the

affluent and powerful and somehow this takes care of all things and
all people. It is the same trickle down nonsense we have heard for
years. The only things trickling down are misery, poverty and now
insecurity.
Because those in power think this way, they care little about
education and jobs for the people. They spent little money on these
objectives and actually structure the economy so that these
objectives will not be achieved.
In this hostile clime, education will not obtain the desired result
unless combined with pervasive economic amendments that
transform this economy from one placing exclusive premium on the
rich to one rewarding labour and work so that we can revive our
dwindling middle class and rescue the poor and jobless from the
abyss of penury.
Once we can do that, then we take those rendered idle and hopeless
and make them busy and productive. A person with a decent job
and chance to establish a home and a family is an unlikely prospect
to become a suicide bomber, a militant, a kidnapper or armed
robber. This is the way we must think about constructing a better

Nigeria. We must start at the very foundation of this presently unfair
political economy.
Again, I want thank those who organized this important exchange of
ideas. We need to think deeply and wisely to pull the nation from the
mire into which it has fallen. I also thank those of you who made
every effort to attend.
Let us not only work to bring our girls back but we must work hard
so that we bring Nigeria back and give all of our children a nation
worthy of their patriotism and love. Thank you
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Remarks by Senator Bukola Saraki
I am here to stand in for Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. I will on his
behalf once again thank our distinguished leaders, Governors and
the forum for this successful programme. I think as a party we have
shown this afternoon that we are a serious minded group and
progressives and that we are focused – because sitting down to talk
about education is a very good topic. I think that what we are

showing to the world is that we are not just a party in opposition but
a party that is ready to take over the leadership of this great country.
As others have said- the key issue is performance. I want to plead
that we put this into a document that deals with qualitative
education. I think also that we need to address the issue of girls
education. I think our Governors and party would need to look into
it and see how we can address the issue of girls’ education in
Nigeria. Once again, I want to on the behalf of His Excellency,
Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who sent his regrets for not being here
thank everyone for this excellent programme. Thank you.

VOTE OF THANKS BY HE COMRADE ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE
Protocols:
For me, as the English man would say, “the sweetness of the
pudding is in the eating”. I hope that in our current states, 16 of
them that by the time we are done, we are able to show that we
ourselves have our own children in those beautiful schools that
we are talking about. So that when General Buhari comes to Edo
I will be able to take him to one of these schools and show him
my son or my grandson in one of those schools. That will be the
best way to show that things are working. You can imagine the
Prime Minister of United Kingdom sending his child to India.
That would be unthinkable. So the real test of progressiveness is
that we have invested so much in education, we have raised the
quality such that we feel able to send our children to those
schools. And that other people can see our children sharing
classrooms side by side with the children of the poor and even
with those of the not so poor. Till then, many people would say
that we say one thing and we do another.
I think for me the real connection is that - whoever framed this
topic did a wonderful job – connecting the crisis in education
sector and seeing how this reflects on issues unemployment and

of course the whole question of security. Of course when we talk
of security everybody is thinking in terms of physical security;
armed robbery, kidnapping and even insurgency. But as a labour
man the most important security a worker would talk about
would be job security. And the most important security a hungry
man would talk about is food security. So this word security is a
very problematic concept. And it seems to me that it is only
convenient for us to discuss in terms of physical safety.
And talking about jobs, at the federal and state level we are all
dealing with this issue. For me jobs will not be decreed. We have
to create the environment that will generate it. I speak a little bit
of hausa now and that was how I was able to understand the
Chairman when he was about to speak broken hausa language.
Once upon a time Sharaddai Industrial Complex was booming. If
you look at our dressing pattern - I was joking with one of our
brothers this morning that one is managing with ten meters – the
babariga – the outer one, the inner one and so on, minus the cap.
With that level of consumption, this country can create more
than 10 million jobs in the textile sector alone.
I know that as union organizer, we had so many textile
companies in Bompai that when the place was filled up, a new
industrial estate known as Sharraddai was set up and many
textile companies went there. Government will never be able to

create all the jobs we need in the public sector. And creating only
schemes as we always do is to celebrate poverty of ideas. The
question is what must we do from tomorrow if not right now to
bring back Sharraddai Industrial estate, Bompai industrial
estate, Port Harcourt Industrial estate, Aba industrial estate? In
Lagos; Ikeja industrial estate, Apapa industrial estate, Isolo
industrial estate, ilupeju industrial estate and even Benin
industrial estate.
For me, we do need to have a balanced industrial policy – one
that recognizes that we do not have the right to consume what we
don’t know how to produce nor do we need to produce what we
don’t need to consume. Today in this hall, all of us are
beneficiaries of smuggled goods; all our babaringa and even my
own khaki are smuggled or at best, is imported. This is not what
we must continue with. I want to see fresh initiative. Of course at
the heart of this is the issue of power supply. Whether you
privatize it or you publicly own it does not deal with the issue of
efficiency. Like we have seen, for the fact that you make a
proclamation on privatization does not translate to efficiency. We
need to do much more.
For me, until we go back to the basis, reinvent old ideas, the
issue of unemployment would be there. We talk about teachers. I
think Jibo hit the nail on the head, Modupe as well. That is not

to say that others did not do so. But just to say that sometimes
we roll out statistics. But the danger with statistic is that they do
not speak to quality. It is easy to say how many children are out
of school. What is not easy to say or readily evident is that even
those in school; what is the quality of the school? Just to say that
I am not talking of anyone. In Edo state, I go on television every
week on the kind of schools we have built. What I am not able to
show is the fact that we do have a teacher who cannot read and
write. We have another one who says that a local government is
the University of Benin. These are challenges.
The issue for me as progressive Governors; are we ready to take
the difficult political decision? Do we have the political will to
pose the question; is it morally right that we take our children to
safety and allow and sentence the children of the poor into
schools where their teachers themselves need to be taught. Can
we do that that? Are ready to bear the political cost? I ask this
question because to me there is a level of frustration that we
experience. When we see something that is wrong - everybody
agrees that it is wrong. But some people say “be careful, it is
politically explosive. There has to be explosives anyway but if you
guide the process you can minimize the damage that the
explosion would cost. If you do nothing, you will still have an
explosive but one that you cannot control the damages nor can
you estimate the cost.

I am convinced that the starting point is for all of us to recognize,
like we have already done, that the starting point is that it can no
longer be business as usual. That we are meeting here today, not
to talk about PDP and APC but to talk about education, to talk
about security, to talk about employment is for me in itself, a
qualitative departure from the past. I hope we sustain this spirit
and I want to thank our leaders for the wonderful guidance
without which we would not have been on the right path. Thank
you.

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Presentations & higlights of 2nd Progressive Governors Lecture Series