The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has urged the federal and state governments to focus on basic education as a way of ending banditry in the country.
He expressed worry over the rising number of out-of-school children in the country with over 10million.
Obaseki spoke when he received the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu; management of Universal Basic Education Commission and the Chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB), in his office on Tuesday.
“First, if we do not focus on basic education and restore quality into our basic educational system, what we are having today as banditry will be a joke in another 10 to 20 years’ time.”
Obaseki called on President Muhammadu Buhari to disband Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) if it failed to return 50 per cent of the children to school.
He said Edo had no choice but to focus on basic education because children leaving secondary schools were either working as barbers or selling their property because someone had promised them a job in Europe or travelling to Libya.
“At a point in time, we had about 30,000 young men and women from Edo in Libya, waiting to cross to Europe. If they had education and could think, read and write, they would ask more questions before deciding to embark on such a risk. That was a wake-up call for us”
Earlier, the minister, represented by Basic and Secondary Education Director, Dr Folake Olatunji-David, said Edo was chosen for their quarterly meeting due to its stride in using technology.
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