Nigeria currently spends more than four times on higher education than it spends on basic education – NCWS boss

The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), on Tuesday, called on all education stakeholders and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classroom and save the future of Nigerian children, who are forced to stay home and delay their academic advancement.

The newly-elected President, National Council of NCWS, Lami Adamu said this, in Abuja, during the Council’s convention.

Adamu lamented that the action of ASUU and the Federal Government has endangered and jeopardised the education of Nigerian children and urged all stakeholders to find a solution to the problem.

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Said she, “the Academic Staff Union of Universities is on strike and our universities are shut down with our children’s academic future again clearly endangered, even jeopardised.

At the heart of this strike debacle is the funding of higher education and the role of government. The primary reason for this contradiction is that Nigeria currently spends more than four times on higher education than it spends on basic education.

Adamu noted that university training dwells on research that could further advance society, however, the demand does not capture this and remains a sad commentary in Nigeria’s education sector.

“But despite this funding, it has remained insufficient and ineffective, so much that between 90 – 95 percent of budget allocation to tertiary institutions are spent on personnel costs.

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There is, therefore, hardly anything left for research and innovation, which should be the fundamental reason for tertiary education. There must be a reasoned evolution of a common ground to save our children’s future and our tertiary education. This will enable us to compete with the rest of the world. Both the government and ASUU must therefore resume genuine dialogue.

Guest lecturer at the NCSW Convention, Nafisa Zaki, who said education was critical to a woman’s development like all human minds, maintained that safety of the Nigerian woman would promote national security and peaceful engagement within the local and global system.

She charged Nigerian women to ensure their mindset was continually poised to promote national security for a safer Nigeria.