"I began the practice of giving education the highest sectoral
allocation beginning with my very first budget as President in 2011.”
Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan as said that, to promote the development of Africa, there needs to be better security and education.
Speaking at the Geneva Press Club in Switzerland during a publicised world press conference on “Security, Education and Development in Africa”, he said, he did his best to promote education when he was in power.
He said, “If you peruse the official UNESCO
literacy rates by country, what you will find is that all of the top 10
most literate nations in the world are at peace, while almost all of
the top 10 least literate nations in the world are in a state of either
outright war or general insecurity.
“Lower
education levels are linked to poverty and poverty is one of the chief
causative factors of crime whether it is terrorism or militancy or
felonies.
“With
this at the back of my mind, I began the practice of giving education
the highest sectoral allocation beginning with my very first budget as President in 2011.”
Jonathan adds, “As
I have always believed, if we do not spend billions educating our
youths today, we will spend it fighting insecurity tomorrow. And you do
not have to spend on education just because of insecurity. It is also
the prudent thing to do.
“Nigeria, or any
African nation for that matter, can never become wealthy by selling
more minerals or raw materials such as oil. Our wealth as a nation is
between the ears of our people.”
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