'I did my best with education when I was in power' - Ex-president

olamide oni

January 28, 2016 11:04 AM

"I began the practice of giving education the highest sectoral allocation beginning with my very first budget as President in 2011.”

Goodluck Jonathan, Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan as said that, to promote the development of Africa, there needs to be better security and education.

Speaking at the Geneva Press Club in Switzerland during a publicised world press conference on “Security, Education and Development in Africa”, he said, he did his best to promote education when he was in power.

He said, “If you peruse the official literacy rates by country, what you will find is that all of the top 10 most literate nations in the world are at peace, while almost all of the top 10 least literate nations in the world are in a state of either outright war or general insecurity.

“Lower education levels are linked to poverty and poverty is one of the chief causative factors of crime whether it is terrorism or militancy or felonies.

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“With this at the back of my mind, I began the practice of giving education the highest sectoral allocation beginning with my very first budget as in 2011.”

Jonathan adds, “As I have always believed, if we do not spend billions educating our youths today, we will spend it fighting insecurity tomorrow. And you do not have to spend on education just because of insecurity. It is also the prudent thing to do.

“Nigeria, or any African nation for that matter, can never become wealthy by selling more minerals or raw materials such as oil. Our wealth as a nation is between the ears of our people.”

olamide oni