HEADLINE
Education minister directs VC to fish out killers of nursing student in Ekiti
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Minister of Education, Prof. Mamman, has directed Vice Chancellor of Federal University Oyo-Ekiti, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, to fish out killers of Miss Atanda Modupe Debora, a nursing student for prosecution.
Miss Atanda was said to have been murdered by some criminal some days ago for yet to be identified reasons.
The minister, who spoke at the opening session of the 2021/2022 Nigeria’s Annual Education Conference (NAEC), in Abuja, asked the vice chancellor to join efforts with the security agencies within and outside the state to uncover the perpetrators of the heinous crime so they can be punished, to serve as deterrent to others who might be thinking of engaging in similar crime.
He maintained that Federal Government was committed to the safety of schools which would be a source of encouragement to parents to release their children to attend schools.
He, however, challenged participants at the annual conference to develop superior solutions that would help the government implement several of its programmes geared towards improving the state of education in Nigeria.
“This conference provides an opportunity for us to meet being the pillars of the Nigerian education system, and for us to restate our resolve to implement fundamental changes in the education sector for the benefit of the young, adult and the entire society. Your participation in this conference is an indication of the importance you attach to the growth and development of the sector in Nigeria.
“The theme for the conference ‘Implementation of Education 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Nigeria’ will always remain relevant until our country achieves 100 per cent of the targets set in the SDG 2030 and beyond to education related indicators and targets of Agenda 2060 of the African Union.”
He disclosed that the president has given him and the management of the Ministry the task of reducing the number of out-of-school children, returning them to the classrooms to get the necessary education.
“So, our target is to pull 2.5 million children out of school annually until all the children are returned to school. What we need is the action on ground and not the policy declaration. This is where I can tell you we intend to come in. We want to bridge the gaps between policy statements and actualisation of outcomes. This is to give them future training that will enable them to live their lives and make them employers of labour. Everybody deserves to live a life of dignity for the well-being of their family,” he said.