The standard of education in Nigeria is worrisome to some university lecturers hence they are calling on the federal government of Nigeria to put more effort in developing the sector across all levels.
The speakers made their position known at the public launch of a book authored by Yanor Nyigbem Kukwa titled, “Barrack Boy”, held at the Julius Berger Hall, University of Lagos.
The author, who is a journalist and member of the Association of the Nigerian Authors along with others present at the event, affirmed that the country has shifted focus to politics and that has affected every other sector with education mostly impacted.
Speaking at the book launch, Professor Moses Tsenongu, Associate Professor, Benue State University Makurdi noted that the government and the Nigerian people need to deepen their interest in education as they do to politics.
He said that authors have met with numerous challenges based on poor reception from the public who have developed an interest in politics than intellectual upliftment.
“Nigerians have developed so much interest in politics and this is a trend that should be corrected.”
He stressed that upcoming authors have to be persistent in order to become a force to be reckoned with just like the prominent authors across the country.
He described the book as a piece, which reflects numerous interesting places that are consequential in the life of a nation.
“But apart from school life and the military, this novel has also projected rural life in a manner that is a capable panacea to the poisonous citification that is the bane of contemporary society now.”
Dr Viashima Simeon Akaayar, a lecturer of Law at the University of Lagos, decried the meagre funds allocated to education in the country’s budget.
He said, “There is the need for the government to show full commitment to the education sector which is in the interest of the populace and the country.
Akaayar further expressed that the life an average barrack boy is exposed to, is hinged on the lack of adequate facilities to engage him after school activities.
“There is no foundation for every average youth more than education, most barracks have schools in there but they do not have skills acquisition centres that students can go to after schools, during weekends and holidays.”
The author, Kukwa, explained that the novel was born out of his early years at the barrack and interest to point at the ills of the society, which is accepted by a certain class and disparaged by another class.
He added that the book also portrays the life of an average person who lives in barracks.
“I was a Barrack boy, I have read widely and discovered that of all the literary work there’s none about the army barrack and I actually have a sentimental attachment to my childhood,” he said.