Declare emergency on education sector, Fed Govt urged

He charged the Federal Government to revamp the sector through the provision of infrastructure, better funding, inexpensive fees, quality remuneration for staff among others.

He made this call at the 13th Convocation Ceremony of the Lagos City Polytechnic, held in LTV premises on Thursday.

Dideolu, while delivering the convocation lecture entitled, 'Enhancing the Standard of Tertiary Education in Nigeria', identified inadequate funding, brain drain, instability of academic calendar, cultism, drug abuse among others as vice that had hampered tertiary education in Nigeria.

He said: "The enhancement of the standards of education in Nigeria at all level is the responsibility of all stakeholders including and not limited to the parents, students, promoters, institutions management, staff and the regulatory authorities.

"Everybody must identify and play his role. However, the Federal Government must declare a state of emergency in the educational sector. The level of decadence is too high. The children that are not trained might not allow those that are trained to live in peace, hence, the future and time is ripe for the government to act,ÔÇØ he added.

He said education remained the bedrock of any nation's development, adding that, declaring a state of emergency in the sector would help in saving the future of the youth and all relevant stakeholders.

He noted that education remains a powerful weapon that provides individual freedom and empowerment and yields important benefits.

Dideolu said the allocated funds budgeted for education in 2020 is not sufficient and healthy for the economy.

He said: "In the 2020 budget as analysed by BudgiT, the approved budget is N10.59 trillion with a deficit of N2.18trillion. Of this, N2.47 trillion was allocated to recurrent expenditure while N4.49 trillion was allocated to capital expenditure. Of this amount, N706 billion was budgeted for education which represents 6.67%. This is not healthy for the economy. Whereas, UNESCO's benchmark for education is 26% of the annual national budgetÔÇØ

He advised the graduands to pursue excellence at all times while improving the society.

The Chairman, Governing Council, Lagos City Polytechnic, Mr Babatunde Odufuwa, said the institution graduated 658 students, comprising 264 National Diploma holders and 394 Higher National Diploma.

The 658 were from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as well as the School of Business and Management Studies.

The institution however presented a Honorary Fellowship Award to Dideolu and Dr Adelaja Omofade for their outstanding contributions to education development.

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs Abosede Adelaja, in his keynote address enjoined graduands to be worthy ambassadors of the school and the state, adding that, their various professions were crucial to the development of the state.

The Acting Rector of the institution, Mr Oluseye Adebiyi, advised graduands to impact their chosen field with good legacies.