The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Samson Ayokunle among others, have called for the prioritisation of education in Nigeria.
The duo who are the Co-Chairmen of Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC) said this at the First Quarter Meeting of the Council held on Monday in Abuja with the theme ‘Education for Peace and Nation Building’.
The CAN President expressed displeasure of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) even as the two Co-Chairmen were speaking with the government on their (ASUU) behalf.
While saying that the decision of ASUU to embark on strike while himself and Sultan were intervening is disrespectful, the CAN President said it is time to end the impasse between government and ASUU.
“For me, I am not pleased enough with ASUU because they were impatient, I an the co-chairman and others went to meet with them (ASUU), instead of them to be patient with us to know how to get the government to commit itself, they went ahead with the strike again while our intervention was going on.
“To me, that was not respectful enough, that was the reason we left them, but for how long shall we continue to allow the impasse between ASUU and the government to continue.
“Our children are the ones suffering from this, and the future, because our future is the children God has given to us. How can they be playing with the future of these children like this?
“I think the government also does not allow us to believe that they don’t have the money, it was at that time when they were saying there is no money for ASUU that the government went and donated 1 million dollars to Afghanistan. How reasonable is that, when you have your own Afghanistan at home, you have not taken care of it, you are donating to another one.
“We need to take a drastic decision about this impasse between ASUU and the federal government which is prolonging for months now without any solution”, he said.
Speaking on the theme of the meeting, Reverend Ayokunle said “we are discussing specifically today on education. And I believe that the best education we need to have in our nation today is love for one another, our education should be based on love for one another, no matter the level of education we acquire, when love for one another is absent, it will further lead to division among us.
“If we are educated to love one another, that will lead to mutual embrace of one another, it is going to bring down stereotypes”.
On his part, the Sultan of Sokoto and also the President-General of National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs said education is life. He said before you worship God, you must have knowledge.
“We are going to listen to two lectures by two distinguished members, highly respected not only in Nigeria but across the world, the theme chosen is so important because we believe that education is life, knowledge is life.
“You must know something or have something in your head before you worship the almighty who brought you into the world”, he noted.
In his address, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha said the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the value of peace and education that can contribute to nation building.
Mustapha who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in his office commended NIREC for meeting with ASUU and President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the impasse between the lecturers and government.
“Basic quality education can be achieved in a peaceful environment, education is the key for young people to get knowledge and acquire different skills that can make the nation great.
“I want to charge the leadership of NIREC to continue in this part to appeal to ASUU to call off the strike in the interest of a safe and prosperous nation. The education of our children is very vital and the need to continually keep them in school is key to moulding them into great leaders of tomorrow,” he said.
