ASO ROCK WATCH: Buhari’s charge on quality education. Two other talking points

President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, advised African leaders to provide quality education capable of driving industrial development in Africa.

We tracked two other stories from the Villa within the week under review.

1. Buhari’s charge on quality education

Buhari, on November 25, charged African leaders to thoroughly develop the quality of education in their various countries in order to raise a generation of industrial managers, and end the continent’s reliance on expatriates.

A statement issued by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted him as saying,“…we should tap this human resource potential that abounds in the continent by providing our youths with qualitative and fit-for-purpose education that recognises the labour market demands.
“In this regard, we must rejig our educational system and academic curricula to gravitate towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

Buhari gave the charge when he spoke at the African Union (AU) summit on Industrialisation and Economic Diversification, held in Niamey, the Niger Republic capital.

Buhari’s charge would appear hypocritical to many Nigerians who are familiar with the poor condition of the education sector under his watch.

Lacking the moral high ground, it is doubtful if President Buhari left any positive impressions in the hearts of his audience because he had not led by example, especially as he had paid lip service to the development of the sector.

READ ALSO:ASO ROCK WATCH: As Osinbajo thinks post-presidency era. Two other talking points

With his time at the Presidency fast running out, he has no time to walk the talk, making it quite obvious that the president may have been merely grandstanding.

Two other talking points

2. Presidency’s ceaseless promises on insecurity

President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on November 23, reiterated President’s promises of ending security challenges plaguing the country before the 2023 General Elections.

“The hydra-headed monsters of kidnapping and banditry would be completely put to rest before the next general elections,” Adesina stated while speaking at a yearly conference on Security and Communication in Abuja.

Adesina’s statement only serves to renew the hopes of Nigerians in an administration that has largely failed to secure the lives and property of citizens.

With just six months left for Buhari to leave office, the fresh promises raise the curiosity of Nigerians to imagine the kind of magic wand the administration would pull to end what had been an albatross since 2015.

3. Osinbajo’s recipe for Nigeria’s greatness

On November 26, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo asserted that Nigeria must shift attention from consumption to production, if she must be great.

Osinbajo stated this during a national innovation workshop organised by the Senate Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
“Nigeria will be great only when we begin to shift our emphasis from a consuming nation. We must rely on production and that is the only way to go,” he said.

The Vice President’s submission is right but may have shot himself in the foot because, being in charge of economic development, the office which he leads has not done much to put the country in the right economic frame.

The critical question yet unaddressed is the near absence of an enabling environment capable of enhancing local production and guaranteeing ease of doing business.

It behoves the Vice President and his team to maximise the few months they have left to right the observed wrongs.

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