Why Nigerian politicians don’t invest much in education –Israeli expert

AN Israeli researcher, Dr. Joseph Shevel has attributed the low investment in education by Nigerian politicians to the fact that the sector takes a long time to mature, saying it was for that reason that the country’s politicians prefer to invest in areas that would assure them quick returns.

In a keynote address he delivered at the third international conference organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Shevel, who is the President of Galilee Institute, Israel and a member of Israeli Prime Minister’s committee on Social Policy, described education as the future for any nation because of its ripple effect on all sectors of human endeavour.

According to him, to be on the right path for development, a country’s budget for education must meet the basic international standard in line with the Dakar Recommendation, regretting that while the recommendation was that budget for education must not be less than 5% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, Nigeria’s budget for education has been hovering around 1.5%.

Shevel said the economic crisis facing Nigeria is an opportunity to go back to the basics, noting that the country’s problem is an interim situation that could be overcome with hard work and determination.

He said there was no reason for Nigeria to be among the world’s poorest nations going by the enormous resources she is endowed with and called on her leaders to realize that the key to improving the situation was by engaging in research and collaborating with renowned research institutes in the world to share ideas.

He said: “The rivers in Nigeria are enough for the country to have enough fish and for export. The land resources are enough to grow crops that can feed the whole of Africa. What is required is the will to do what is necessary.”

The Dean of the Faculty, Professor Jude Ezeokana observed that technology promises wondrous possibilities and profound dislocations, adding that there was therefore the need to interact with other parts of the world to tap their knowledge.