Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II has again challenged government to focus essentially on the nation’s education sector as a way out of the present woes confronting the country.
Sanusi who spoke at the opening of 43th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific Conference of the Nigeria Society for Haematology and Blood Transfusion in Kano insisted that evidence –based investment on education would not only guarantee economic development but also makes life easy.
The former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pointed out that development has gone beyond the usual promises of road, water and electricity; stressing that the only way out for the nation remains efficient and effective investment in education.
He said, “ Our only limitation is the limit that we set for ourselves and that of our environment. When our government functionaries talk about development, they mention roads, water, power and others; but it’s beyond those things. Development in any serious nation involves education, once this is done, other sectors would experience similar growth.
Sanusi also lamented the deplorable state of health facilities in the country and called on the government to tackle the problems confronting the sector.
Citing the example of China, the emir said, “ As at 1978, China has only 4.6 million graduates and an estimated 770 million people who live below poverty and that was 97 percent of the population in same 1970. But today, China is the second largest economy in the world. It has 190 million university graduates and about 140 million graduates of higher education. What that means invariably is that graduates of secondary education are more than the entire population of United States of America”.
The emir however challenged stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians to compliment government’s efforts by supporting the sector.
