A Don, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, has urged all tiers of government to improve on funding of the Nigerian educational system to discourage parents from taking their children abroad for studies.
Omotayo, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lagos State University (LASU), made the plea on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said it was unfortunate that about a trillion naira was spent yearly to send Nigerian students abroad to study.
According to him, the focus of the government for the year 2017 is to take action to ensure that such huge amount do not go out of the country anymore.
The don said that for Nigeria to recover from the current recession, issues in the educational system must be urgently addressed.
“Imagine if N500 billion, which was half of the amount spent in 2015 was given to Nigerian universities to improve on infrastructure and services, who will take his or her child elsewhere?
“The reason why parents take their children abroad to study is because they do not see the seriousness of the government in funding the educational system .
“If the money spent to send students abroad is invested in the country, the country’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) would have been upgraded,’’ Omotayo said.
The don advised the government to adopt an innovation that would promote institutions in the country to be at par with their counterparts abroad.
“They must also begin to do things that would make parents keep their children in schools within the country, ‘’ he said.
According to him, piece-meal approach is not ideal in solving educational problems.
“What is expected is an overhaul of the entire educational system for better performance,’’ he said. (NAN)