Convener, Shaddaiville Leadership Academy, Dr. Kunle Hamilton, has stressed the need for elected officeholders, in the wake of the coming elections in the country, to prioritise education for national development.
Hamilton spoke on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony of Shaddaiville Leadership School, Lagos, recently.
He said serious commitment to education was necessary because the education system and the higher institutions’ curriculum in the country had become archaic. He noted, “Our educational curriculum are outdated, especially in federal and state universities. Some curriculums have not been changed for over 30 years and they are no longer relevant to the economy.”
To this end, he said the Federal Governmnet must improve budgetary allocation to education and set up a monitoring system that would make it impossible for education managers to embezzle funds meant for the institutions.
He advised parents to offer themselves as exemplary characters, saying education was beyond paying school fees, but invloved the inculcaton of right values into learners. “As parents, it is our responsibility to teach these children good values and trust God to help us overcome some vices, which are not good for the children,” he said.
According to him, Shaddaiville Leadership Academy has impacted over a thousand individuals. This, he said, was in furtherance of the mission to help prepare youths for the challenges ahead. On youths, he said, “They lack character; something has happened to our value system on the continent and also in Nigeria.
“Today, it is true we are trying to fight corruption but truly, it is not only people in business and in politics that are corrupt. I think that corruption has found its way into almost every home and almost every heart and it doesn’t help the young promising Nigerians.
“People’s sources of income are inexplicable so the average young Nigerians feel like, let me just make money. Our value system has been eroded and I think this is where houses of faith can step in and by that, I mean Christian and Muslim organisations should step in to train our youths on what is expected of them. This is what our leadership school is doing.
He said, “In the leadership classes, we needed to debrief a lot of people, so we said if we go to secondary schools where the minds are still very young, we can start very early to make them see the issues of life and prepare themselves.
“We set up Shaddaiville Teenager Academy for secondary schools and unlike adults whose time are likely theirs, parents and schools determine theirs. So, we catch them during the long holidays and it has turned out to be a success.”
