Education Minister Pledges Tough Decisions for Sectorial sustainability

The new Minister of Education in Nigeria, Dr Murufu Olatunji Alausa has pledged to make tough decisions for a better future and sustainability of the nation’s education sector, which will, in the end, engender national development.

He indicated while addressing the media at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja, Nigeria, saying decisions and policies that will be taken for the education sector must be sustainable and not palliative based.

“We will take tough and sustainable decisions as we are ready to work with everybody to move the education sector forward, and indeed the country. Decisions and policies must be sustainable and not palliative based,” he said.

Alausa said as part of plans to move the education sector and the nation forward, all Agriculture Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria will become intensively involved in large-scale farming and training to enhance food security in the country.

“We will go into mechanized training for agriculture. Agric schools will have farms and plant even cash crops for food security, revenue, and export for foreign exchange,” he said.

The minister said the education sector will be realigned to meet 21st-century needs, as such the ministry will give priority to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) as well as Medical Sciences.

“We have a unique population that is eager to go to school in these areas and become professionals. We need to provide the opportunities,” he said.

He said the emphasis will also be on the areas of Technical and Vocational Education for graduates to be relevant to themselves, the community, and the country as a whole now and in the future.

“Eighty (80) percent of the training will be practical, while 20% will be in theory. We will engage artisans to professionally train them and we will incentivise the trainers.

“Workshops will be built and equipped, we will give them competent training and partner with the private sector so that jobs will be available when they graduate,” he explained.

According to him, in line with the policy of the Nigerian government in transportation, technical education on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will be promoted for easy and affordable conversation of Cars and Trucks from Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and diesel to gas. The training, he said is also inclusive of renewable energy such as solar systems.

He said a new education curriculum to meet the needs of Nigerian children will be developed and implemented.

“It will also focus on Civic Education to teach our children patriotism,” he added.

The Minister said there will be more funding and oversight functions in the sector including putting a permanent stop to strikes usually embarked upon by lecturers and non-academic staff of Tertiary Institutions.

“We will do this by forging a new relationship to stop our Kids from always being at home because of strikes. I assure you that the promise made by President Bola Tinubu to ensure stability in the country’s tertiary institutions will be respected. To ASUU, NASU, SSANU COESU, and others, this is a new day,” he said.

He said lecturers will be deeply involved in research, given honorarium and other benefits from consultancy works including the ones they would be engaged to render to the Ministry of Education.

Dr. Alausa was flanked at the inaugural media meeting by the new Minister of State for Education, Dr. Suwaiba Ahmad, and the Permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr. Nasir San-Gwarzo.