We Must Correct Past Mistakes', Says Obasanjo

Former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday said the governance of the country must be overhauled, saying it high time past mistakes were rectified to put the country back on the path of growth overhauled, saying it high time past mistakes were rectified to put the country back on the path of growth.

Obasanjo, who was the Chairman of Lagos State University 22nd convocation lecture on Tuesday in Lagos said, “Agreed we might have made a mistake 40 years ago and if we can correct it today,’ it is still okay because it is better late than never’. If we continue the way we are going, we may never move forward; whereas the world will not wait for us”, he added.

According to him, higher education in Nigeria was not designed for academic pursuits alone but for social, economy and political purposes.

Commenting on the lecturer’s analysis on the three Gs of governance, Obsanjo posited that ‘you must give, you must get others to give and when you cannot do either of the two, then you must get out, the Owu Chief stated.

He pointed out that,’’ presently the country has 164 universities, there is one federal university in each State and one university per State, the rest are private; what have we done to justify the existence of the universities?’’

Obasanjo added that the theme of the lecture tagged, ‘Role of Tertiary Education in Promoting Social Cohesion and Peace: Opportunities and Challenges for Nigeria,’ is apt at this time, appreciating the institution for aligning with his thoughts.

While summarizing the lecturer’s speech, he said Nigeria manifest destiny is in three folds comprising political, economy and social.

In his lecture, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed explained that to promote social cohesion, the nation’s tertiary institution must promote literacy and good governance, aimed at alleviating poverty through job creation.

His words: “today, federal universities are succumbing to the lure of parochialism with one in each State of the federation and perfidious agitations for indigenes to occupy highest positions in their management.

“It is sad to say that Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) in Nigeria are, tragically, yet to be the incubators of national unity and social cohesion”.

Speaking on the conflict between herdsmen and farmers with attendant loss of lives and properties, he emphasised that there is disconnect between the academia and government in resolving the issue.

“What bothers me, even more is the seeming quite from academia in terms of identifying the root causes, as well as proffering the ways or means of addressing them through workable solutions.

“It appears clearly to me that there is disconnect between government and academia in this important issue, as is the case with our technological and Agricultural”, he said.

The NUC Secretary affirmed, “if the truth must be told, our tertiary education system has failed woefully in two out of great missions identified in the Ashby report.

” No doubt, remarkable success has been achieved in the area of creating manpower needed for development but the system has failed to give birth to national elite or serve as an instrument of unity and peace.’’