Retiring UNIBEN don seeks adequate funding for education

The outgoing Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof. Felix Okieimen, on Wednesday advocated an improvement in funding of education in Nigeria, particularly the tertiary.

Okieimen made the call at a news conference organised by his colleagues at the Department of Chemistry to herald his retirement.

The don called on the government to pay more attention to the welfare of teachers, most especially Chemistry teachers, as being done in Germany where the pay is high.

The retiring Lecturer said Chemistry was the epicentre of everything, but regretted that it was being neglected.

According to him, it is high time the Federal Government funded education or allowed parents to interface and pay for the education their children access.

Free education in a country that requires lot of investment, he said, was a deceit and a ploy to further dampen the standards of its development.

“Everything revolves around Chemistry. But why is it not occupying the space of opportunities in this country as it is in America? Nigeria is not a knowledge driven society.

“We don’t like people with knowledge. Even those that have practically demonstrable knowledge are being messed up by the leadership of this country.

“It appears that this country hates people that have knowledge. Once you’re knowledgeable they bring you down.

“In Germany, teachers are paid the highest salary. Without teachers we won’t be where we are.

“So, why not give them their due respect? Why are teachers relegated to the background? Why are they considered the poverty index of this country?

“We are all beneficiaries of the teachers’ input. They deserve our respect. Teachers in Nigeria should earn high salaries like in Germany. So that the best can teach our children,” he said.

Reacting to the reduction in school days in Edo as a measure to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal, the professor said it demonstrated how education had been put to the lowest ebb in the country.

“If health workers must come to work everyday, why will teachers be told to abandon their pupils for two days of the week?

“It just shows the mindset of the ruling class about the value they placed on education generally. It should be the other way round,” said the retiring don.

He stressed that better funding of universities remained the only solution to the myriad of problems bedeviling tertiary education in the country.