Stakeholders have urged governments at all levels to prioritize the development of public schools in Nigeria.
The call was made at the weekend in Yola, Adamawa State, by critical stakeholders in the education sector, during the centenary celebration of General Murtala Mohammed College (GMMC) Yola.
The event which was attended by high profile Nigerians, saw speakers taking turns to urge governments to redefine education in the country.
They also urged the political class and policymakers to deemphasized the patronage of private and foreign schools so as to develop public schools.
Leading the speakers, Vice Chancellor of Modibbo Adama University (MAU) Yola, Professor Abdullahi Liman Tukur, called for aggressive investment into public schools, stressing that Nigeria must meet up the UNESCO standard of 25 percent budgetary allocation to education.
For Dr. Umar Buba Bindir, Nigeria must take a radical departure by joining the league of nations who have embraced science based educational system.
He said, “the future belongs to innovation that’s why we must look the way of science, engineering and technology, else there would be no future”.
Bindir called for massive deployment of resources to open up the technological space in the universities, polytechnics and collages of education in the country.
President of the alma mater, former governor of Adamawa State, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako, urged government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to resolve their industrial dispute in the interest of education.
GMMC, which is 102 years old, has produced prominent Nigerians, to include, the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, Lamido Adamawa, Dr. Barkindo Aliyu Mustapha, Emir of Kauran Namoda, Sanusi Mohammed Asha, among others.