Key elements of Nigeria’s industrialization is education, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that education was the key element needed for the development and industrialization of the country. ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that education was the key element needed for the development and industrialization of the country.

The President, who was represented by Prof Isha'aq Oloyode, Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), made the remark weekend in Benin during the 44th convocation ceremony of the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

The president who noted that there was a great disconnect between education and industry in the country, said that the difference between industrialized economy and non industrialized economy was education.

He said, "We must not fail to realize that the key elements of the country's industrialization is education. The difference between industrialized and non industrialized economy is education. As it is in Nigeria today, there is a great disconnect between education and industry. This should not be so".


The president, while highlighting the Federal government and its agencies interventions in the funding of tertiary institutions especially universities, however charged managers of universities to ensure due diligence and probity in the management and disbursement of resources.

He said, their actions should be geared towards promoting quality teaching and purposeful research in the areas of comparative advantage and entrenched academic integrity,,eliminate poor attitude to work and stamping out cultism and gangsterism in their campuses.

He assured that his administration's determination to work assiduously within the limit of its resources to bring about the desired transformation in the educational sector.

The president, however, appealed to parents and guardians as well as alumni of the university to assist the administrators in creating the right atmosphere conducive for scholarship and academic excellence.

Earlier, the Chancellor of the University, Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, commended the present Federal government for providing the enabling environment for the enthronement of peace and uninterrupted academic calendar in the nation's universities.

He also commended the federal government for its sustained interest in the development of the education sector, especially tertiary education.

He, however, appealed to the federal government to fulfill all its obligations to the university staff unions to forestall future disruption of the academic calendar.

He however used the ceremony to call on parents and guardians to join hands with the university administration in its quest to discourage youths from being used as thugs to rig the 2019 general elections for politicians.

According to him, "we are all aware that during the first quarter of next year, elections to various offices will,be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). With the benefit of hindsight, we all know that it has become the norm for many politicians, in their desperation to win elections at all cos, to resort to tertiary institutions to recruit our youth to serve as political thugs.

"Our youths must not allow themselves to be used in illegal activity that endanger their lives and the lives of innocent citizens", he stated.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Faraday Friday Orumwense, said a total of 11,832 graduates were presented with various degrees and certificates.

Orumwense, said a total of 134 bagged first class, 2,122 bagged second class upper, 4,864 second class lower, 1,156 third class, one with pass, 240 with PhD, 2,207 masters, 559 with PGD among others.