Tunde Fatunde seeks increased budgetary provision for sector, vocational studies
Founder, Fatunde Francophony Foundation (FFF), Prof. Tunde Fatunde, presenting the prize to the overall winner of the fifth edition of the Essay Competition in French Language, jointly organised by the Nigerian French Language village (NFLV), in conjunction with the foundation to Rabiu Abdul of Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto…recently
Founder of Fatunde Francophony Foundation (FFF), Prof. Tunde Fatunde, wants the Federal Government to up budgetary provision for education in order to make for the development of sector, and also revive vocational studies.
Speaking at the 5th edition of Essay Competition in French, jointly organised by the Nigerian French Language village (NFLV) in conjunction with the foundation, in Lagos recently, Fatunde expressed deep dissatisfaction with government’s attitude to education and vocational studies.
Fatunde, a professor of Francophone Literature at the Lagos State University (LASU), stressed that, “For a nation to be great, the leaders must invest in education and vocational studies. French studies is an integral part of education and the secret of any great nation today is that education and vocational studies take the lion share of the annual budget.
“Right now, we have 55 million Nigerians who cannot read nor write. If the Nigerian government should increase, as recommended by UNESCO, its budget on education and vocational studies to 26 per cent, then French language and the nation will prosper. South Korea was at the same level with Nigeria in 1960, but due to her investment in education and vocational studies, it has now developed greatly. It is only by developing the capacity of the citizens that this country can be great because education develops the mind, while vocational training develops the hands.”
Guest speaker at the event, Dr. Alawode Matthew, who is also a board member of the foundation, expressed happiness with students’ increasing zeal towards the learning of French language, adding that the essay competition was a way of encouraging undergraduates to use the language effectively.
According to him, “We have observed that each year students’ participation increases. That means that the students look forward to participating in the programme every year.
Overall winner of the competition, Rabiu Abdul, of Uthman Dan Fodio University, in his remarks identified shortage of French teachers as one of the challenges facing the teaching of the subject in the country.He also expressed appreciation to Prof. Fatunde for organising the competition, praying that the competition moves from strength to strength.
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1 Comments
Bon courage Prof et merci!
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