Govts, stakeholders urged to invest more in education

GOVERNMENT and other stakeholders in the society have been urged to invest more on education, as it remained the only way to end entrenched poverty in any society.

  Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who gave this charge at the weekend during the 8th Convocation ceremony of Wesley University, Ondo State, noted that education remains the surest way of breaking the chains of poverty.

  The governor, who was represented by his Executive Assistant (Administration), Rev. Idowu Ogedengbe, spoke on the topic “Investing in education for accelerated development.”He  said that investing in education would lead to accelerated development.

A statement signed by the Special Assistant (Print Media) to the Governor, Moses Alao, quoted him as saying that it has become imperative to invest more on education, because it is essential in the development of a skilled workforce for the future and accelerating economic growth and development.

  Governor Makinde explained that with a more educated workforce, there would be increased human capital development, which in turn would enhance the prospects for better wages and more disposable income for consumer spending.

He said: “Investing in education is essential to developing a skilled workforce for the future and accelerating economic growth and development.

  “Entrenched poverty in any society often limits access to education and ultimately leads to an unending circle of poverty. This is why the government and other stakeholders in the private sector must provide the necessary resources to enhance qualitative education.

  The governor maintained that Oyo State, under his leadership, has already taken up that challenge to invest more on education by allotting 22.3 per cent of the state’s 2020 budget to education.

According to him, the decision underpinned the government’s commitment to exploring education to break the poverty barrier and empower the people for a lifetime.

  Governor Makinde pointed out that though the government’s free qualitative education policy, provision of free textbooks and notebooks, provision of virtual textbooks for download, and the recent allocation of 22.37 per cent to education in the 2020, were positive investments, it was still facing challenges in the area of teacher recruitment, training and workforce development.

  He called on the higher institutions of learning to concentrate more efforts on producing more graduates in the teaching profession, saying:

“However, we are having challenges with teacher recruitment, training, and workforce development and would appreciate the support of our higher institutions of learning towards producing more graduates who will pursue the teaching profession as their career of first choice”.

  Governor Makinde commended the strides already achieved by the Wesley University, noting that the 8th convocation ceremony bore a great testament to the invaluable contributions the university had been making towards the development of skilled manpower for the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.