ASHAFA JOINS CONCERNED NIGERIANS TO CALL FOR STATE
OF EMERGENCY IN EDUCATION SECTOR
Just a day after the President hosted the Federal
Executive Council to the Presidential Summit on Education organized by the
Honourable Minister of Education Alhaji Adamu Adamu, where the President
decried the rot being experienced in the Nigerian Educational Sector,
Distinguished Senator Gbenga Ashafa representing Lagos East Senatorial District
has also joined other concerned Nigerians calling for  a State Emergency
to be declared in the Education Sector.

The Distinguished Senator made this call at the
Convergence Summit held at the NAF Conference Centre Abuja on Tuesday, 14th November,
2017. 
Distinguished Senator Gbenga Ashafa while giving
his remarks said, “I am happy that the Hon. Minister is present at this event
because he is very vital in achieving the theme of this event, which is “Driving
a new public education initiative for Nigeria.”
 It goes without saying
that the state of public education in Nigeria is very poor and crying for help.
From the primary to the tertiary institutions, public education in Nigeria is
failing…”
The Distinguished Senator went on further to
provide some statistics to buttress his point. He said “Ladies and
Gentlemen, permit me to draw some inferences quickly. According to the Central
Intelligence Agency’s world fact book, the literacy level in Nigeria is just
about 59%, this is not too far from the UNESCO’s submission that about 65
Million Nigerians are illiterate. It is also important to note that by 2050,
Nigeria would be the third most populous country in the world. Beyond the ratio
of population to literacy, is also the issue of quality of education being
received. In Kaduna State recently, a competence test conducted for all
teachers in the state revealed that 75% of the teachers failed. Never mind that
this test was based on curriculum for Primary Four”
While acknowledging the effort of the President
Buhari led administration through the Minister of Education in the Education
sector by revamping the curricular, Senator Ashafa noted that if this dangerous
trend continues at this rate Nigeria would be looking at a very huge population
of illiterates/under literates by year 2050
He therefore called on the Minister of Education to
declare a state of Emergency in the Nigeria Education Sector. He was quoted to
say as follows “I join other well meaning Nigerians to call on the
Honourable Minister to declare a State of Emergency in the Nigerian Education
Sector. The effect of this might not be popular at first, however this is the
bold, proper and conscientious thing to do. We must do right by the judgment of
posterity and the future of our common wealth”.
He canvassed for the need for Nigeria to adopt
contemporary training, teaching methods and instruments being used in the more
developed countries to educate the minds of their people. To adopt an
experimental approach to teaching and learning as this will allow the students
learn better and the teachers impart knowledge more easily.
The event which has as its theme “Driving a new
Public Education Initiative in Nigeria
” was organized for the purpose of
identifying the challenges in the education sector and proffering ideas and
solutions that could revamp the Nigeria education sector.