Nigeria’s Education System Deficient, Says Dogara

• Alakija: how I conquered my challenges

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has said the prevailing education system in Nigeria has not enabled the youths to discover their talents and effectively deploy such to their advantage.

He stated that overhauling curriculum would be key to combating the present scourge of unemployment in the country.

According to Dogara, education must be practical and goal-driven if the youths are to benefit from the technology age.

While addressing teenagers at the 2018 Teens Career Conference organised by The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja, Dogara said in order to effectively combat unemployment in Nigeria, a different approach, which focuses on self-discovery, must be taken in educating young Nigerians.

He stressed the importance of self-discovery to attaining success and fulfillment in their chosen career paths, saying: “Education fundamentally is very good, but education and success are not synonymous; if that was the case, every educated person would be successful, but that’s not the case.”

The Speaker stated that there are a lot of educated people out there who are hooked unto careers that are not giving them much in terms of success and happiness.

According to him, “Now, unfortunately for us our educational system in this country, the one we inherited from our colonial masters is not tailored towards self-discovery, it cannot tell us who we are.

‘’It is tailored to enable you fit in the context of finding out what you want to do, go to work, close from work, earn salaries, raise a family, then you become a pensioner till you die. That is the tragedy of our educational system.”

Dogara also spoke on the need to modify the education system in such a way that young people are trained with emphasis on providing jobs, adding that the Church also has a role to play in bringing about the required change.

In her remark, billionaire business woman and Africa’s richest woman, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, who was also a guest speaker at the event, advised Nigerian youths to be ambitious and to always strive to actualise their dreams no matter the challenges on their way.

She noted that dreams, determination, hard work and industry are some of the factors that propelled her to the present status.

Alakija trilled her audience when she told a story of her journey to opulence, particularly her legal battle to recover a lucrative oil block from being taken by the federal government.