9 July 2009
Lagos — A frontline politician in Lagos State, Prince Kayode Olowu, has berated the Federal Government for allowing its face-off with University lecturers to degenerate into an industrial action warning that if the issue is not resolved soon, it could lead to the collapse of tertiary education in the country.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Olowu said he is worried by the fact that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and Education Minister Sam Egwu were varsity dons and yet could not address the problems in the nation's ivory towers.
"It is tragic that a nation can be allowed to witness the number of strikes that had been witnessed in the education sector. It is even more unfortunate that the President, his deputy and the minister of education were lecturers in the past. If these people cannot solve the crisis that involve their constituency, then who will solve it?", Olowu said.
He also wondered why it had been difficult for the government to pay the varsity lecturers good wages when political office holders are earning "staggering" salaries and allowances, arguing that the seriousness of any nation can be measured by the kind of attention paid to education which is like the springboard for progress in other sectors.
Olowu also spoke on the demand by the Democratic Party (PDP) senators for automatic tickets in 2011 describing the call as bizarre. "This is quite strange. What they are saying is that the party should just allow them to contest the general election without primaries based on their experience and the investment of the country on them. But with all the scandals trailing their activities in the National Assembly, I don't think the nation needs a continuation of such and that is what automatic tickets seeks to perpetuate", he said.
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