Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) responding to questions from SSANU members during the Lecture. With him from Right are: the Pro-chancellor, Chief Lawrence Ayinde Olakunle Osayemi MON, the DVC (D), Prof. Felix Salako, Chairman, FUNAAB-SSANU, Com. Abdussobbur Salaam and the Deputy National President, SSANU, Mr. Emmanuel Bankole.
Bad Leadership and festering political crisis, which rocked the nation under the military era and still stifling it in the ongoing democratic dispensation has been identified as the cause of the downward trend and the all time low, in the country’s Ivory Towers and education sector at large.
Veteran Journalist and one of the champions of democratic struggle for return to civil rule, Senator Babafemi Ojudu dropped the hint on Wednesday while delivering the 5th Annual Lecture Series of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Branch, held at Professor Mahmood Yakubu Lecture Theatre.
Speaking on the theme, “Leadership and the Challenges of Higher Education in Nigeria”, the Lawmaker representing Ekiti Central Senatorial in the Upper House lamented that the incursion of the military into politics in 1966 “destroyed” higher education in the country with the support of successive civilian government.
According to him, “with higher education destroyed by the military, aided and abetted by their civilians cronies, it was no surprise that virtually every other institution of our society was virtually wiped out”.
“Thirteen years after, we still face many of the old challenges in the area of higher education in Nigeria as illustrated in the capital flight and brain drain, which attended the outflow of students from Nigerian to foreign Universities”, he added.
Senator Ojudu, however, expressed joy that inspite of the falling standard of higher education, there is still a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel provided “we have a leadership that is committed to strategic vision, a vision that is capable of leading to the building of new skill in the 21st century for economic growth and competitiveness”, among others.