Two renowned professors, Oluyemisi Obilade and Kolawole Kazeem, have called on the Federal Government to revive the era of free education introduced by the late Obafemi Awolowo.
They believe that cutting wastages and profligate spendings can make free education a reality.
Speaking at the Boiling Point Arena, the 19th installment in a monthly series which started in November 2022, a monthly interview discourse, Prof Obilade emphasized, “I hold this strong opinion that free education is still possible in Nigeria. It is very, very possible. If you take a critical view at the allocation of resources, free education is possible. Very, very possible.”
She further stated, “The government has failed to prioritize education. We have the wrong priority. We are a nation that exhibits the wrong priority in most of the things we do, even in our budgets. Please go and check for the past 10 years the budget on education and even Health, and we know health is linked also to education.”
Prof Kazeem, on the other hand, bemoaned the level of decadence in the education sector, stating, “I can say with all sense of responsibility that this country has not been lacking in talking but we have been doing things to show that things are not going well. It is about reprioritizing things for ourselves. We are a society whose education is in shambles, a destroyed and finished society.”
He further emphasized, “We have lost it. And the moment we lost it, we lost education, we are losing our lives. We are losing our soul as a nation.”
Both professors agreed that free education is a sure way to demonstrate the government’s seriousness in using education to solve Nigeria’s problems. They urged the government to take action and prioritize education to secure a better future for the nation.
Boiling Point Arena, the 19th installment in a monthly series which started in November 2022, is the brainchild of a media professional and an accomplished public relations strategist, Dr. Ayo Arowojolu.
One of Nigeria’s notable monarchs, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Prof Saka Matemilola, was the Keynote Speaker at the online current affairs program, which held via Zoom and was transmitted live on Sweet 107.1FM.
