The President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan has asserted that Nigeria is presently at crossroads, even as the country prepares to go to the polls in 2023.
He offered this thoughts while speaking atAbuja at the 2022 Convocation ceremony of the Postgraduate and Higher National Diploma programmes of NILDS. The institute is an affiliate of the University of Benin.
‘Once again, our country stands at another critical crossroads as we prepare for the general elections in February 2023. The periods between now and the elections; and between the elections and the handing over in May 2023 are critical.’
Lawan applauded NILDS for delivering on its core mandate in the last six years of it’s existence.
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The Senate president who is also the chairman, Governing Council of NILDS said ‘it is remarkable that a relatively young programme such as the NILDS-UNIBEN postgraduate programme has been able to host this event for six consecutive years, a feat that is increasingly becoming difficult for many institutions of related mandates, including older universities, to uphold.
‘This is no mean feat by any standard. We must commend the steadfastness of the managers of the system, most especially the management team, for their selfless commitment to the actualisation of the vision and mission of the Institute in all ramifications.’
‘The ninth National Assembly has prioritised education at all levels in our legislative agenda. We have worked wholistically to reduce the number and incidence of out-of-school children, improve child health and education and strengthen universal basic education, and tertiary education. Given the importance of education and its potential to diversify Nigeria’s economy, I am particularly saddened by the 8-months strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which was recently suspended as a result of the intervention by the leadership of house of representatives. I am confident that the Federal Government will keep to it commitments to ASUU and other unions in the Universities.’
Director-General of NILDS, Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, said the ninth National Assembly, has prioritised education and called for continuity.
