FASHOLA CALLS FOR GREATER ATTENTION, DISCOURSE TOWARDS BUILDING CONSENSUS FOR FUNDING OF EDUCATION, HEALTH …As Obafemi Awolowo Varsity team commends Governor for strides in Education In order to bequeath quality education and healthcare to the citizenry, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN has called for greater attention to modalities for funding the two vital sectors towards arriving at a workable consensus. The Governor spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja when he received members of the Faculty of Education of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), who are representing the Obafemi Awolowo Free Education Order, on a courtesy call. The team had come to invite him to be the guest lecturer at this year’s edition of the Obafemi Awolowo Free Education Order. According to the Governor, he considers it an honour to have been invited to participate in an event about a programme that was not only a very audacious idea at the time but one whose relevance continues to reverberate not just locally here but across the world. He explained that all over the world today, funding of education and funding of healthcare which lie at the heart of human capital development have become a big challenge for governments. The Governor who backed up his assertion with reference to a documentary film on the United States’ education challenges titled, “The Ivory Tower” which he has watched, said he would recommend the documentary to the team from OAU. He stated that the issue of education is not about whether it is free but about the challenge of funding because ultimately to the students who are the beneficiaries, the education is free but the service that delivers it free is not free. “It is paid for somehow because lecturers do not teach for free in a free education system. So we must first understand and that was the big issue during Chief Awolowo’s time. It was, can you afford this? And therefore something has to give way. So it is a question of agenda and priority setting”. “Out there when I hear things like students should have loans, I ask myself have you thought it through? Because the average American student is owing something in the region of 15 to 20,000 Dollars by the time he graduates and he does not have a job because he took a loan”. “So sometimes when people agitate these things, maybe you should interrogate it further because about 1 Trillion of the 16 Trillion dollars that America owes is owed for students loans”, he explained. He explained that what is obtainable in Nigeria today are bursaries and scholarships and not loans, maintaining that students locally are better off than those studying overseas. The Governor while calling for a discourse on the free education issue said though nothing is impossible, Nigerians must agree because once they agree then the choices that they would make to effectuate their agreement would be easy “I think that those are issues that may form part of the discussions during the lecture time because at the heart of it is who pays for it because we all know that it costs money. When you buy textbook, when you buy chalk, when you buy white boards, projectors, no manufacturer is going to give them to you for free”. “Should we give our children the very best education? Every sensible society must vote that way. That is the best investment that we can make because the reward are so many and the quality must be good”. “Can we do it for free? I think we can. But it would come at some cost because we don’t have everything that we need. Then we have to define what education is also. I think we have to agree on that too”, he reiterated. Speaking earlier, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Philips Jegede said the team from the University represents the Obafemi Awolowo Free Education Order which is an apolitical and academic outfit which concerns itself with keeping alive the educational legacy of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He added that the outfit which is established by the Awolowo family but domiciled at OAU, Ife has been doing that through annual lectures and programmes that would keep aflame the legacies and visions of late Papa Awolowo and has had three editions already. Professor Jegede explained that a discussion has been held in the Faculty and among the Awolowo family on the choice of Governor Fashola as the guest lecturer, adding that the choice has been informed by the performance and contributions of the Lagos State Governor to education. “We are talking about the EKO project, the involvement of the private partners in education, the raising of the falling standard of education and we found in him a man translating theory in education and lastly his intervention in LASU crisis. They look like things Pa Awolowo would do if he were to be alive now and that is in consonance with our ideals and our goals and with what we try to promote”, he stressed. Prominent among those who joined the Governor to receive the team from the Faculty of Education of OAU were members of the State Executive Council including the Special Adviser on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, Home Affairs and Culture, Hon Oyinlomo Danmola and Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba while those on the team from Ile- Ife include Dr Tayo Odejobi, Dr (Mrs) Yetunde Ajibade and Dr Tayo Subair.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 20:17:53 +0000
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