ON BUHARI AND THE NIGERIAN YOUTHS By Erasmus Ikhide

What has Buhari-led administration done to lift the standard of education sector from the woods in the last three years in office? UNESCO statistics since 2013 to now shown that 12.8million Nigerians of school age are out of school, roaming the streets.

In case you’re aware, 90% of that number are from northern Nigeria, Buhari’s immediate constituency. Yet, Buhari has been President since 2015! He could not make it criminal for parents who refused to send their kids to school to be educated.

It is this army of uneducated northern youths that are easily recruited into Boko Haram militias group and the murderous terrorists Fulani herders you find all over the country, killing innocent citizens over their lands. And the President is the henchman to the herdsmen!

Then why is President Buhari talking about illiterate and lazy Nigerian youths when he failed to fix the problems? If Buhari is sincere, there wouldn’t be any illiterate and lazy Nigerians in 20 years henceforth, if any. That was how Europe and other continents on board civilization came about their development.

In 2015, APC deceived Nigerians that it will fully implement and enforce the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act with emphasis on gender equity in primary and secondary school enrollment whilst improving the quality and substance of our schools.

In its manifesto, it promised to target up to 15% of our annual budget for this critical sector whilst making substantial investments in training quality teachers at all levels of the educational system; as much as implement performance based education as against the current certificate based qualification.

Then, APC said it will enhance teacher training and improve the competence of teachers along with vigorous national inspection; by making learning experiences more meaningful for children and make education more cost-effective.

At that time, APC promised to develop and promote effective use of innovative teaching methods/materials in schools; by ensuring a greater proportion of expenditure on university education is devoted to Science and Technology with more spaces allocated to science and technology oriented courses.

The APC manifesto forcefully promised to establish at least six new universities of science and technology with satellite campuses in various states; in addition to establishing technical colleges and vocational centers in each state of the federation; provide more conducive environment for private sector participation in all levels of education; establish six centers of excellence to address the needs of special education. Have we seen anything in this regard in the last three year?

By the way, did the APC not promise to create one million jobs, annually? Where are the jobs? Those who still belief that we have a President in Buhari are the reasons President Buhari still belief he’s the president. Truly, when you work for trash can, then you’re nothing more than the garbage bin.

And the question remains, did Buhari unleash illiteracy and laziness or illiteracy and laziness unleashed the illiterate President? You can ask Buhari if it took him nearly a year before he could appoint his fumbling cabinet ministers. You can also ask the newly elected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa if it took him 24 hours before performing the same obligation.

The Nigerian youths, who in 2015 thought that NEPA bill, if presented by Buhari in the place of his missing WAEC certificate — where he failed English and Mathematics — will still vote for him can now appreciate the danger of having an illiterate president.

I urge Nigerian youths to repeat that same mistake in 2019, as a matter of compulsion. That way, Nigeria would have been practically domicile in the cave or cavern.