A Veteran Broadcaster, Sociologist, Lawyer & Administrator, Professor Tonnie Iredia says the act of diverting facilities meant for schools should be seen and treated with all seriousness as a criminal offense.
Professor Iredia said the above during the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Summit held in Lafia the state capital.
While speaking on the topic, “Basic Education in Nasarawa State: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” Professor Iredia said Basic Education could improve in the state, by taking measures that would strengthen the system for optimal performance.
He also emphasised the need to reward hardworking teachers and sanction those who fail in their duties to ensure improvement in the standard of education in the state.
“There must be competition between local governments, between schools, between offices. That competition must be healthy. It must not be the one where they are fighting themselves. It must be one that encourages everybody to want to do something.”
Governor Abdullahi Sule, while declaring the summit open, commended the Executive Chairman, members and staff of the NSUBEB for organising the Basic Education Summit for the first time.
He noted that their zeal and commitment had helped the state in identifying challenges and proffering solutions to the issues facing schools across the 13 Local Government Areas of the state.
“Education remains one of the major challenges we have in Nigeria and especially in the northern part of the country. So, whatever amount of time we can give to education is worth it. Whatever investment we can make in education is worth it. And I am happy that I see a lot of our stakeholders who are still interested in Basic Education,” he said.
Also speaking, Chairman of NSUBEB, Dr Kassim Mohamed-Kassim, said that the summit was necessitated due to the challenges and gaps the board discovered with basic education, with a view to addressing them.
The board under him had constituted two committees on assumption, and they discovered numerous operational and administrative gaps.
“The gaps included: poor infrastructure, shortage of chairs, inadequate teachers, truancy, improper teacher placement, theft of the school’s furniture in conjunction with staff, transfer of qualified teachers to offices as administrative staff, among others,” he said.
The board chairman also appealed to parents, especially Fulanis and others whose children are out of school, to enrol them in school to avoid sanctions.
He reiterated that the board would soon commence the arrest of any child not in school, arrest and prosecute their parents for not enrolling their children in school in line with the existing laws in the country.
Lateefah Ibrahim