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Anglican Bishop to FG: Declare state of emergency on education sector

The Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev Olusola Odedeji, has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector, saying the sector has been corrupted.

Odedeji made the call at the 2nd Session of the 8th Synod of the Diocese held on Friday.

The cleric, while delivering his annual charge on the state of the nation, said there was hardly a year lecturers don’t embark on industrial action, urging the government to implement the agreement reached with the lecturers.

The Anglican Bishop, who said the incessant industrial action has led to a massive brain drain in the country, expressed displeasure at the high rate of unemployed graduates in the country.

Odedeji said: “It is grossly an understatement to say a state of emergency is overdue to be declared in our educational sector if our youths are to be relevant in the nearest future in anything that has to do with decision making in the nation.

“Immorality has become a norm. But what could teachers whose welfare is not guaranteed do? Lecturers in many higher institutions now charge students heavily for handouts that must be considered compulsory if they must pass their examinations. Many of them had been fingered to have forced female students into immoral acts commonly referred as sex-for-mark in the academic circle”

The Bishop further called for the abolition of the Islamic policy of Almajiri, which he said has prevented many young people in the North from pursuing western education.

Odedeji also decried the insecurity ravaging the country, calling on the government to take practical steps to revamp the security architecture of the country.

He stated that only educated people should be recruited into security agencies in the country, adding: “It’s time the government began to consider the idea of state police.

“If our laws are amended to achieve this (state police) insecurity would be reduced significantly because those to be recruited in the force shall be from the same state with total knowledge of the terrain where they are to work. Criminals can also be traced to their family compounds and be shamed in the presence of their family members.”

Also speaking at the Synod, the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and bishops from Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, North, praised the effort of the Diocese in spreading the good news of the kingdom and their impact on the lives of the people.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by his Senior Special Assistant on Religious Affairs, Rev. Adeleke, said the Diocese has been of great spiritual help to the state.

On his part, Rt. Rev. Yusuf Janfala of the Diocese of Koi in the North expressed his appreciation to the Diocese for always supporting the northern Anglican churches.

The Star