TheCable

Johnson Oghuma, a member of the house of representatives, says education is key to solving insecurity in the country.

Speaking at a national executive council (NEC) meeting of the Auchi Polytechnic Alumni Association (APAA) at the weekend in Abuja, Oghuma said a man that is educated will not take up arms.

The lawmaker said poverty must be tackled and should not get to a point where it will spiral out of control.

“When men are liberated you will not be thinking of evil. An idle man is the devil’s workshop, a man that is well educated, there is opportunity and hope that something better is coming – definitely will not take to arms,” he said.

“The idleness, poverty… that is why in the last award I was given I made reference to seeing how we can find a price mechanism that will regulate the poverty level that is growing so we will not get to a level where we will not be able to control it.

“Education is the right key, otherwise I would have remained a farmer and been thinking of other things if I was not liberated. We need education.”

Delivering a lecture earlier, Monday Omoregie, a professor, said the level of a country’s security is a direct function of the quality of the country’s academics.

The professor said a “secured academic” would produce a secure society, adding that the federal government must be ready to allocate more money to the education sector.

“Security of lives and property is possible, but Nigerian academics must be encouraged through the provision of required tools, scholarships and adequate remuneration,” he said.

“This will enable them to advance their academic proficiencies in the interest of the nation. I will conclude by saying that the level of a nation’s national security is a direct function of the quality of the nation’s academics.”

On his part, Sanni Onogu, APAA president, said the establishment of the association in the federal capital territory (FCT) will afford past students of the polytechnic opportunity to contribute positively to society.

“This event is also to afford graduates of Auchi Polytechnic from all spheres of life across the country to gather, solidarise, exchange ideas, and come up with new and incisive ways we can contribute to the development of our beloved Alma Mater in concrete terms,” Onogu said.