Executive Director, Enough is Enough (EIE), a civil rights group, Yemi Adamolekun, has tasked Nigerians to henceforth hold government accountable on budgetary allocations to education.

Adamolekun, in an interview with journalists, lamented that successive governments, over the years, have failed to give priority attention to education.

The Executive director also highlighted qualities to look out for as Nigerians go to polls in 2023. According to government policy on education, basic education is meant to be free and government is meant to give free textbooks in certain core subjects, unfortunately, most of the states are not doing this.

Adamolekun expressed regret that Nigerians are not doing enough to force government to obey the law, saying this must change.

“Take Lagos State for instance, it is illegal to hawk, which is why everybody had a good laugh when governor Babajide Sanwo Olu stopped two girls that were hawking on the road.

“We should be engaging council chairmen and state lawmakers on budgetary provision for education and how they are disbursed. Why are we not making it mandatory for children to go to school? We have not prioritised it and government can get away with it because nobody is asking questions.”

“As a sector, successive governments over the years have not really prioritised education. Universities were shut down for eight months, how does the country want to grow when it is okay for next generation of workers, scientists and developers to be sitting at home for eight months? We need to demand a lot more from government about the situation, We need to talk about how much is allocated to the sector, how it is spent and what they are spending it on,” Adamolekun said.

She recalled that during the administration of late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, because there was crisis, schooling was scheduled for morning and night to address the problem of inadequate classrooms, wondering why such idea was jettisoned.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, Adamolekun charged Nigerians to look out for credible leaders who would turn the fortunes of the country around.

Specifically, she listed some of the qualities to look out for as compassion, character, courage, competence and capacity.

According to her, if Nigerians really feel enough is enough regarding bad leadership and governance, they should give priority attention to the highlighted qualities.

She said: “We need leaders who have compassion for the people they lead, one who is concerned about what others are doing regardless of ethnic considerations, one that you can examine the journey of their lives and you will see values, one who can make difficult, unpopular decisions, without caring whose ox is gored.

“They may not necessarily be former political officers, they could be people who have demonstrated high level of integrity, even in the private sector. We need leaders who are competent and have the capacity to deliver, “ she declared.