Oby Ezekwesili, former minister
of education, says the cost of tertiary education in Nigeria has been reduced
to the extent that quality has been compromised.
Speaking on Thursday at the
launch of Edfin, Nigeria’s first educational microfinance bank, she advised
that the federal government find a solution that does not compromise the
quality of education.
“There is a matter of how do you
share the cost of getting a tertiary education. Unfortunately, our society did
not come to the understanding that even education financing does not have to be
a problem,” she said.
“You must have a solution that
the pricing of education does not get taken down to the level where it cannot
sustain quality. That is what’s going on now.
“We are taking down tertiary
education to a level where a person is comfortable to pay almost N500,000 for
the children in a top secondary school but once the children go into the
university, their parents are ready to join them to protest about the pricing
of university education. In the process of doing that, you are compromising
quality and relevance.”
Proferring a solution, she said:
“Those who have the capacity to pay should pay the right price for tertiary
education and for those without the capacity to pay, edufinance and a subsidy
from the federal government that is well designed will come to ensure that they
are not left out of education.”
The presidential candidate of the
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria said the country is in trouble because the
crisis in the educational sector is not being addressed.
“Our country is in trouble
because education is in crisis. A decade plus ago, I told the mission that if
we did not address the crisis in education that in a matter of years. In fact,
my prognosis at that time was that by 2020 that we will produce the most
hardened criminals,” Ezekwesili said.
“There are people who called me
to say you said 2020, it happened earlier than that. As minister of education,
I said the problem is not about funding. If you fund a dysfunction well, you
will get a well-funded dysfunction.”
Also speaking at the event, Bunmi
Lawson, managing director of the microfinance bank, said the bank would ensure
access to finance for educational needs.
“We are here today to mark the
start of a journey one wherein the future everyone who wants to has access to
quality education; where those who need finance; or you are a parent, you may
be a student wanting to further your education or a teacher who need loans to
improve their standard of living or their teaching skills. All stakeholders in
the education ecosystem having easy access to the finance they need is the
future we envisage.”
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