Senator representing Ogun Central and Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, Senator Suhaibu Salisu, has urged youths to prioritise their education and eschew acts that are capable of destroying their growth and ambition.

Speaking at a two-day capacity building for traditional rulers in Ogun Central, tagged “Roles in ensuring improved enrolment of students in secondary school education,” Salisu disclosed that there are challenges in our education system, noting that the stakeholders must be engaged in order to find lasting and workable solutions.

He stated that part of the solutions is to organise an Egba summit with various interest groups and people of like minds to work out modalities for policy implementation.

“We will bring together various groups and people of like minds for the benefit of all,” he said.
The lawmaker, while commenting on past and present educational curricula of the country, explained that curriculum is a continuously evolving element of our educational system, noting the need for training and retraining of teachers as the curriculum evolves.

“It is part of our deliberate and administrative effort to ensure that what we are doing must not fail but come with solutions, and the solution will come from the input and ownership of the process by the traditional rulers,” he said, noting that the conversation will hopefully be owned by both the political class, traditional institutions, and stakeholders.

Salisu explained that he will be adopting a whole-of-system approach so as to fashion out modalities for educational sustainability.

On the increase in the number of out-of-school children, he noted that a child that is out of school is not the child of government but a child of a family.

He further added that there will always be a gap between government policies and the funds available to execute them, stressing that there is a need for all stakeholders to collaborate with the government on the country’s educational system.

“If my parents had left my education to the government alone, it wouldn’t be possible for me to be here today.”

He urged youths to prioritise education as it will enable them to contribute their quota to nation-building, noting that shortcuts and immediate gratification do not lead to greatness.