TheCable

The Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation says the federal government needs to prioritise the education sector to address the country’s security challenges.

The foundation also proposed the adoption of its ‘Group Mind matrix’ to resolve the challenges facing the country.

In a statement issued by George Anyiam-Osigwe on behalf of the foundation on Sunday, the foundation said the proposed ‘Group Mind matrix’ will create the awareness that an individual’s interest matters in the national scheme of affairs.

The group added that with the forthcoming election, governance must earn the confidence and trust of the Nigerians.

“Specifically, with the high level of graduate unemployment, the Nigerian youths have chosen the path of advance fee fraud (419), banditry, kidnapping, robbery and other forms of criminal indulgence to eke a living,” the statement reads.

“Many of these youths are unable to find justification for the years they spent in school if the aftermath, in their view, is ‘yahoo yahoo’ and ‘yahoo plus’.

“While the country witnesses an appalling dimension of security collapse, it must be noted that the lack of emphasis on the education of the Nigerian child (a situation worse in the north) in juxtaposition with the unemployment and underemployment of the citizenry could not have offered the country better Molotov cocktail.

“The unfortunate realities of Nigeria’s present condition, especially the orgy of widespread insecurity, is crisis of confidence about the future of our nation.

“Nigeria’s sovereignty and our corporate existence as a country is currently under severe assault.

“In resolving the current national challenge of our country, we must give concrete attention to developing the educational sector as a mindset regenerating and engineering institution.

“We must review our budget on education and elevate our tertiary institutions to the levels of research organs. We must go beyond the elementaries of rote memorisation to knowledge-based learning. We must understand the symbiotic relationship between education and development.”