The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has said that the continued existence of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party is a source of wonder to him.
Speaking at the unveiling of the Tinubu/Shettima door-to-door campaign group in Abuja, Tinubu described the PDP as a party with no focus.
Urging APC members not to be worried about what the PDP does, he said, “We are not just the ones to hurl abuses and insults at our rivals’ party. We don’t need it. We are smarter; we are brilliant; we are courageous; we are not like them.
“They spent 16 years and forgot that there is a railway infrastructure that can do haulage, human carriage, animal husbandry and food carriage across the length and breadth of the country.
“They (PDP) got there and turned it to an incubator. I wonder why they still exist as a party. These are people still fighting for leadership of their party, looking for the direction of the compass. We are not equal at all; we are smarter. We know the road; let them follow.
“We don’t need to worry about PDP — poverty development party. Today, let’s lower the temperature. It’s not the time to campaign yet. They will hear a lot from us.
“We are the party of progressive ideas. We want good education for our children, good development for Nigeria, prosperity for this country, agricultural and agro-allied projects to be embarked upon.”
Speaking further on his party’s plans for Nigeria, Tinubu said the APC has the solution to the country’s problems, adding that the party is strategising to tackle the challenges.
“We have the confidence that we have what it takes. We have the courage, determination, perseverance and foresight to identify the problems of Nigeria and tackle them headlong and make a solution out of them for the prosperity of your children. We will guarantee tomorrow, jobs for your grandchildren, and the progress of tomorrow,” he said.
“All we are doing is strategising, calculating and organising ourselves to confront the challenge before us.”
In his turn,Kashim Shettima, APC vice-presidential candidate, said Tinubu’s presidency will turn Nigeria into an industrialised nation.
“We are on the threshold of making history. The global economy is tilting towards recession because the world has moved from the agricultural age to the industrial age,” he said.
“We have moved from the industrial age to the knowledge-driven age. People are now talking of big data of artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and open biotechnology.
“Who among the presidential candidates we have here in this country has the skill set, the intellect, the capacity to move this nation greater than Asiwaju Bola Tinubu?” he asked
NGO Worries Over Bloating Out-of-School Children Population
Few days after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), released its research report that put the current figure of out-of-school children in Nigeria at about 20.2 million – the highest in the world, a non-governmental organization, IA-Foundation, has expressed worry over the what it called the “distressing’’ statistics.
The Chief Executive Officer of the international charity, Mrs. Ibironke Adeagbo, while speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Adeagbo described the “huge number of Nigeria’s out-of-school kids as “worrisome’’, pleading with the Federal Government to rise to the challenge immediately.
On Sept. 1, the But the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, had earlier on Aug. 18, announced that Nigeria was turning the corner in its out-of-school crisis.
He said that the number of out-of-school children in the country had dropped drastically in recent years from 10.5 million to about 6.9.
However, the issue of high number of out-of-school children has been a contentious issue in Nigeria in recent times.
Nigeria is Africa’s top crude exporter and one of the continent’s biggest economies but poor implementation of policies has affected the country’s education industry adversely, according to analysts.
A persistent insurgency, especially in northern parts of the country has also exacerbated the out-of-school crisis, forcing many children out of classrooms.
British born Adeagbo, who has been campaigning for education rights for Nigerian children, pleaded with the Federal Government to give priority attention to education to secure the future of the country.
“Education in Nigeria is in a state of emergency. Government must proffer strategic solutions to save the future of our children,’’ she said.
Adeagbo also advised government to forge international partnerships to bring international agencies and foreign governments to assist Nigeria to resolve current problems plaguing the education sector.
“The ministry of education must be more vocal on the decadence in the education sector, to find lasting solutions to current challenges.
According to her, Nigeria must create an enabling environment for non-governmental organisations to form strategic alliances with government to salvage the education sector.
She said there was urgent need for government to upgrade infrastructure in schools to foster a congenial atmosphere for teaching and learning.
Adeagbo reiterated the determination of IA-Foundation to partner with State Governments to take education to grassroots communities to give opportunities to hapless Nigerian kids.