See Why Nigerian Politicians Don ’ t Invest Much In Education

See Why Nigerian Politicians Don ’ t Invest Much In Education

According to AN Israeli researcher, Dr. Joseph Shevel has attributed the low investment in education by Nigerian politicians to the fact t... 03:04

According to AN Israeli researcher, Dr. Joseph Shevel
has attributed the low investment in education by
Nigerian politicians to the fact that the sector takes a
long time to mature, saying it was for that reason that
the country’s politicians prefer to invest in areas that
would assure them quick returns.
In a keynote address he delivered at the third
international conference organized by the Faculty of
Social Sciences of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,
Shevel, who is the President of Galilee Inst!tute, Israel
and a member of Israeli Prime Minister’s committee
on Social Policy,
described education as the future for any nation
because of its ripple effect on all sectors of human
endeavour.
According to him, to be on the right path for
development, a country’s budget for education must
meet the basic international standard in line with the
Dakar Recommendation, regretting that while the
recommendation was that budget for education must
not be less than 5% of the nation’s Gross Domestic
Product, GDP, Nigeria’s budget for education has
been hovering around 1.5%.
Shevel said the economic crisis facing Nigeria is an
opportunity to go back to the basics, noting that the
country’s problem is an interim situation that could
be overcome with hard work and determination.
He said there was no reason for Nigeria to be among
the world’s poorest nations going by the enormous
resources she is endowed with and called on her
leaders to realize that the key to improving the
situation was by engaging in research and
collaborating with renowned research inst!tutes in the
world to share ideas.
He said: “The rivers in Nigeria are enough for the
country to have enough fish and for export. The land
resources are enough to grow crops that can feed the
wh0l£ of Africa. What is required is the will to do
what is necessary.”
The Dean of the Faculty, Professor Jude Ezeokana
observed that technology promises wondrous
possibilities and profound dislocations, adding that
there was therefore the need to interact with other
parts of the world to tap their knowledge.