Nigeria should adopt indigenous languages to boost education, says El-Rufai

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has advocated for the overhaul of the country’s educational policy, saying the nation should adopt a lingua-franca among its indigenous language. The governor disclosed this on Monday at the 4th inaugural lecture of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, titled: “Transforming Nigerian Educational System: Looking Back and Looking […]

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has advocated for the overhaul of the country’s educational policy, saying the nation should adopt a lingua-franca among its indigenous language.

The governor disclosed this on Monday at the 4th inaugural lecture of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, titled: “Transforming Nigerian Educational System: Looking Back and Looking Forward."

He said the current educational policy operated in the country is obsolete, emphasizing that it could not meet up with the present education demands and realities.

"In my view, it is out of time; in the twenty-first century so much has changed in education, but there is a need to sit down and get experts in the subjects to look at what is happening in the educational policies of countries around the world: what is changing.

"Professionals are dying and new ones are coming up. Our curriculum and policies on education are all grounded in the twentieth century, we are in the 21st, there is a need for a holistic review of that," El-Rufai said.

He also said that "the situation in Kaduna is perhaps better than some states in the north because we are the best in terms of education in the north, but some states in the South too have the same issues; maybe not as bad as in the north. In a way, Kaduna is the foster child of the entire country."

The governor, who is the guest lecturer, leveraged the topic on the educational and economic development of the people, referring to the holistic reforms put in place by his administration in Kaduna State.

He explained that several incentives like tax holiday, free housing schemes, regular training are given to teachers as the core of education.

Though he mentioned that the legislation to eradicate early girl-child marriage in the Kaduna State Assembly suffered setback due to perceived religious condemnation, he said his administration dared such constituted authorities and passed it to law in February this year.

El-rufai also disclosed that he established school management board for communal participation in the sector, saying there are series of concerns over the use of English Language as the official means of communication in the nation.

"Of course, associated to that is the quest of language, should we still be teaching from primary to university in English Language? What can we learn from other countries that teach in their own indigenous languages up to university level?

"They teach from primary to tertiary institutions in their own languages and they have gone to space. China is competing with America and will soon overtake America as the largest economy in the world.

"This national policy should look at issues like this and come out with policy on education that will prepare young people of Nigeria for the 21st century because right now the education we are giving them may not be fit for purpose for 21st century to compete globally," El-Rufai added.

The Ondo State governor and Visitor to the university, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, lauded his Kaduna State counterpart for his audacious revolution in the education sector.

Akeredolu, who also called for curricular reforms and a common indigenous language for all the ethnic groups in the country, described education as the bedrock of socio-economic development.

Contrary to widespread clamour for political restructuring, he said, "Restructuring must start from the education sector; if we get it right here, other things will follow.”

Similarly, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Friday Okonofua, identified education as the driver of development all over the world.

Okonofua, who said exemplary Nigerians were invited to impart positively on the student populace, stressed that the lecture series, which started in 2016, were organized to identify the current challenges bedeviling the country.