Fashola, Ibukun Awosika call for more investment in education

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday in Lagos urged for continuous investment in the education of Nigerian youth as it remains the only way to secure the future for them.

Fashola made the call while speaking at the inaugural lecture titled Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) Gabfest, with the theme: “The Youth in Nigeria: Mapping the Future’, organised to celebrate him at is 55th.

The minister, who noted the need to also inculcate real value system in the youth, particularly charged parents to ensure that their children were taught better in the local languages at home to ensure better and deeper understanding of what they had learned.

“We should also not let down our local language; we should try and explain things we know to our children in our local languages because the understanding is deeper when the teaching is in the local dialect,” he said.

Other duties which he charged parents with and which were moved and adopted and passed as resolution of the dialogue one after the other, are that children should be taught how to use their hands and be problem solvers, even as he called on the citizens not to think even of the country.

“Often times, we are in a hurry to get our children memorise things without understanding and this makes them to only know how to take orders.

“Children should be orientated to solve problems. We need to change our
curriculum, classes should be dedicated to solving problems so that we will build a generation of problem solvers.”

“We must not speak evil against our fatherland, which is our country
Nigeria. If you love something, you will overlook the negative sides and focus on the strength. A lot of us have identified the problems we have as a nation, but how many of us have brought up the solution,” the minister charged.

Speaking further, Fashola urged Nigerians to dedicate more time to productivity by working hard work, saying all should use made in Nigeria goods to achieve that.

According to him, the task is for all Nigerians to resolve to achieve, saying it was not something to leave the government alone with.

In her keynote address, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Chair Centre Group, Ibukun Awosika, said, the future of the adults were not secured if they could not secure the future of the country’s youths.

“If we do not put our youths in an obtainable subjective manner, if we do not build the right generation now in the country, they will be the one to destroy the country in the future.

“We need to create a right environment and it starts from harmonising our education system. We need to give the youth the knowledge that will be relevant now and in years to come. Will the graduates have the skills that are needed in the workplace

“We must build the gaps in our Ecosystem. We need to review the knowledge we are passing in the institution if the knowledge is relevant to the needs of the present day.

“We need to find out and fill the skills gap in our youths. Nigerians must be trained for the job. We are putting our future at stake if this is not addressed.

“If we do not make the country stable by creating an enabling environment for the young ones to strive, and create jobs for themselves, we are at risk in our country.

“When people are under utilised then there is a problem, young Nigerians are doing credible things. This is about the whole Nigerian children being well taken care of. If we must map out how we deal with this issue, create an environment that empowers and allows people to create jobs for themselves.

“The rate of growth of our population is alarming. We need to retrain our people for new generation jobs. There are jobs that existed before that are no more and there are some we have now that will not exist again in the next five years

“Every young person needs to be empowered; we all need to add value to the efficiency of this nation. Many young people strive and push, but we have the responsibility.

“The environment was not at its best but I still found the space to create a job. Nigeria is getting close to 200 million people, competition is increasing, we need young people to exhibit their talents

“Wherever you are, you are to influence and add value to the nation, empower others to develop their energy for growth. Why do you want to keep women from deploying their talents when we need the talents of everyone to develop the nation. Except we take care of all the children in the country we cannot go to bed and rest,” she contended.