Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has suggested what the leadership must embark on now to get the country out of the grip of terrorism in all of its forms.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Professor Abayomi Oluwatosin Jiboku Building and Entrepreneurship Centre in Lariken International College in Ibadan, Obasanjo on Friday, May 21, pointed at quality education for Nigerian children and youths as one of the best solutions to the menacing problem.
Obasanjo stressed that unless the federal government prioritises sustained quality training and education for citizens, the nation will continue to suffer the painful consequences of criminality which have exhibited itself in banditry, terrorism, and most recent of all, kidnapping.
“If we are going to get out of insecurity, banditry, Boko Haram, kidnapping and other criminalities, we will have a long gestation period of training and educating all Nigerian children.
“Education is the beginning of the life well-lived. God has given each and every one of us the innate ability. It is when those innate abilities are developed that you can be of best in our own self-service, in the service of our nuclear and extended family, in the service of our community and in the service of our nation and the world.
“And there is no substitute for education. If you don’t give it, then those you should have given it to don’t have it and if they don’t have it, then you don’t get the best out of them; and whatever you get out of them, if you start to complain, you will have yourself to blame. Quality education is important,” Obasanjo said.
Aside from the imperativeness of quality education, Obasanjo also said the Nigerian society also faced problems due to the kind of values now cherished.
In particular, he bemoaned that the amount of money, cars, houses possessed by individuals had become the most cherished value in today’s world.
He decried that the hitherto cherished values of truthfulness, integrity, truth, industry, honour and hard work had become downplayed for money-making.
Obasanjo said, “One of the ways we have problems in our society today is what values we cherish. Money making is the value now pervasive.
“In Yoruba land, money-making is not one of the values that we take to. Omoluabi, truthfulness, integrity, truth, industry and hard work were our values. Where have they gone? Why have we put them aside and all we are striving for is money? Where is honour in our values?
“Nowadays, anyone who has money can buy anything but not with me. If you have money, you cannot buy my conscience and support for anything. In any case, if you have all the money in the world, of what purpose will it be?
“How do you describe success? I define success as you making a place better than you met it. It is not the amount of money you have, not the number of houses built, not the number of cars you have. It is how much you have contributed to making a place better than you find it.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has reacted to the reported death of the factional leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, saying it is yet to receive such information.
Following the reported death of Abubakar Shekau, the Nigerian military has reacted to claims that the Boko Haram factional leader was killed.
