Education critical ingredient of national development - Kingibe

Clement Idoko, Abuja - 06.05.2008

SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, has said education is a critical factor in the quest for the nation’s development, as he urged governments at all levels to begin to have a renewed commitment to improve the sector.

Kingibe made this remark while inaugurating the first completed projects at the permanent site of University of Abuja, Gwagwalada.
The projects included the administrative block, male and female hostels which were valued at N500 million.

The SGF lamented the rot in the education sector despite huge allocation to the sector by successive administrations, saying “it is time the electorate begin to hold their elected representatives at all levels accountable for their service delivery.

“We cannot talk of becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world without human capital development and only sound and quality education could guarantee that.”

He added that education was one of the important sectors that deserved special attention and appropriation of resources in order to equip the classrooms, train teachers and provide conducive environment for teaching and learning.

He said President Umaru Yar’Adua, from the inception of his administration, expressed commitment to addressing the causes of the decay in the sector and had demonstrated this reassurance in the huge budget allocated to the sector.

“I think it is, therefore, important that we all begin the repair work,” he stressed.

He said education was in the residual list and that it was a joint enterprise and responsibility among the federal, state, and local governments as well as relevant stakeholders to return the Nigeria’s education to its past glory.