Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
yesterday said for a long time to come,
the people of South-South Nigeria would
bear the results whether positive or
negative, of the years President Goodluck
Jonathan was president of Nigeria.
He however said against criticism that he
worked assiduously in making Jonathan
President and therefore should share in
the perceived failure of the administration
noting that while there was nothing wrong
in his support for Jonathan in becoming
president, what such a person does with
power is another cup of tea entirely.
He spoke yesterday in Benin City, Edo
state capital, during the 11th Convocation
lecture of the Benson Idahosa University
(BIU) where he said education remained
the most potent solution to the scourge
of boko haram.
He said “I have also said that you can
help anybody to get a job but you cannot
help him to do it. Let us get it clear, there
is nobody who has got into any position
who has not been helped by one person
or more than one person. To become
Nigeria’s head of state, it was first of all
my performance in the war front. Now if
General Gowon had not sent me to the
war front, you won’t know whether I can
perform or cannot perform. Now, he sent
me to the war front, I thank him for it and
because I performed we shared the credit.
If I had failed, Gowon would not have
shared the credit, he would not have
shared the condemnation with me, I
would have been alone.
“ Yes as I have said, I believe that
opportunity that afforded itself in 2010 to
somebody from the minority to on his
own steam, become the president of
Nigeria. He should never have lost the
opportunity but what he did with it was
entirely up to him and don’t forget, what
he did or did not do with it, will reflect for
a long time on that part of the country
and don’t take that lightly. What he did or
did not do with it will reflect for a long
time on the part of the country but
nobody will be there who will not be
helped but we voted for him, I was only
one of the 18 million voters who voted for
him”
Speaking on the topic; ‘Effective
Educational System: A panacea for
Societal Development and
Transformation,’ Obasanjo also
condemned the negative effect of social
media on students, pupils and even
parents and teachers who he said are
fast losing the moral grip on their wards.
He said for the war on boko haram to be
won irrespective of the military onslaught,
there was need for education to be used
as a tool just as he carpeted religious
leaders who had abandoned preaching
tolerance and peace for violence and
extremism
“Education is a moral enterprise which we
need to re-engage, The issue of boko
haram, President Buhari should also
tackle it from the angle of moral
education. If we are able to tackle boko
haram with education in our schools, the
social media that they use, we will dilute
their messages and positively win their
hearts and others who have been swayed
by the jihadists messages. To succeed
with counter messages, we need to be
more appealing, and truthful and as
intense as those of boko haram if not
more. The capacity of all teachers would
be strengthened to deliver such
messages; morning and afternoon
assemblies of our primary and secondary
schools should have a strong dose of
such messages, our airwaves and social
media should also be saturated with such
positive messages even if we defeat Boko
Haram on the battle front, we need
education to sustain the victory.
“ Let me give you an insight, in 2010
there was a survey of education in Nigeria
and among the six geo political zones; in
the south west, it was 79 per cent that
are educated, in the south east, it is
about 78 per cent in the north east, where
boko haram dominates, it is 19 per cent
and that is one of the reasons people
believe that boko haram was a menace
waiting to happen and it doesn’t matter
what we do, we have to reverse that trend
maybe the situation has even gone worse
in the last five years because people have
moved out of school. Some schools have
been destroyed and we cannot fold our
arms and say it is up to the north east, it
is up to all of us in Nigeria, we have to
do what should be done to bring parity in
the area of education across the length
and breadth of the country.”
In his welcome address, the Vice
Chancellor of the University, Professor
Ernest Izevbigie said 871 students would
graduate from the school today out of
which 86 were post graduate graduants
and 785, first degree graduates.
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