Celebrated playwright, academic and poet, Professor Osonye Tess Onwueme, has advocated increased investment in Nigeria’s education sector, stressing that education remains the most critical foundation for sustainable national development.

Speaking to reporters during her 70th birthday celebration in Abuja, the respected scholar noted that meaningful progress in areas such as economic growth, social cohesion and democratic governance is impossible without a well-funded and efficiently managed education system.

According to her, neglect of the sector over the years has contributed to widening inequality, declining learning outcomes and the erosion of Nigeria’s global competitiveness.

Professor Onwueme emphasised that increased investment should go beyond budgetary allocations to include deliberate policies that improve infrastructure, teacher training, research capacity and access to quality education at all levels.

She said investing in education is an investment in Nigeria’s future, with long-term benefits that far outweigh the immediate costs.

The septuagenarian called for a return to basic values and a re-evaluation of the educational system to ensure it fosters responsible citizens. She accused parents of failing their children by not instilling proper values and instead encouraging materialistic goals.

“The Nigerian education system has been bastardized. It’s not what it was. It’s tokenism that’s going on. And the value, merit that used to be there is no longer there. And to think of the fact that at some point in the last few years, history was even erased from the curriculum, I just can’t imagine it,” she said.

Reflecting on her early childhood, she recalled that her late mother constantly advised her to take her education seriously and to embrace hard work. She explained that this guidance shaped her attitude towards school from an early age, instilling in her a strong sense of responsibility and purpose.

Looking back, she acknowledged that those early lessons laid the foundation for her later achievements and personal values.

“I used to be a snail hunter, wood gatherer. That’s what my mates used to call me, that wherever there is mention of firewood I’m running. I used to go to the forest to gather wood and snail to sell and feed the family,” she recalled.

The Professor of Global Letters, whose exceptional service as Distinguished Professor of Cultural Diversity and English at the University of Wisconsin rose to prominence, is known for writing plays with themes of social justice, culture and the environment.