On Thursday, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, during a seminar titled, ‘ The Role Education Plays in 21st Century Nigeria Development: BBHS adventure ‘, encouraged African countries to increase access to good education by equally supporting the sector in order to curb unemployment among youth in the continent.
The event was part of the activity to celebrate the 100 years of Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun state.
He observed during the online lecture that in order for the United Nations’ objective for inclusive and good education to be fulfilled, educational universal expenditure must increase from $1.2 trillion to $3 trillion by 2030 yearly.
Commenting on Nigeria being a populous nation, he stated that more must be done to guarantee the young ones get access to the education they are entitled to. Going forward, he noted that the need of a consistently changing integrated labour market universally demands the effective investment in developing a top and competitive human capital. He went on to state that African educational sector must be changed in preparation for the new digital period.
The President stressed the importance of funding the educational sector of a nation as its level of excellence is determined by its human capital. Therefore, low support of good education will precede underdevelopment of a nation.
He said, “the greatest discouragement to education is lack of jobs. The unemployment rate in Africa is extremely high and it reduces the return on education. Furthermore, it leads to frustration among the youths and spurs social discontent which could worsen social and political fragility of countries.”
The President also added the achievement of the African Development Bank of preparing not less than 50 million young ones in Africa with skills in STEM aspect.
He asserts that AfDB has supported education in Nigeria with more than $171 million and that the diverse involvements have yielded more than 464 Master and 83 PhD degree holders.
Professor Kayode Oyesiku, the National President of Old Boys Association of BBHS mentioned the need to play down certification and concentrate more on tech and non-academical education from the Secondary educational level to the Tertiary educational level.
