The Chancellor, Covenant University (CU), Ota, Ogun State, Bishop David Oyedepo and the immediate past Director, United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UNIDEP), Prof Adebayo Olukoshi, have advocated for a value-oriented education in the country.
They stated that there must be a ‘change now’ in the direction of education in the entire black continent. Oyedepo and Olukoshi spoke at the university’s 10th convocation themed, ‘The Release of Eagles 2015’.The 1,315 fresh graduates comprised 104 first class awardees.
It produced her best graduating student, Otti Ebubechukwu, from the Department of Electrical Electronics with an outstanding Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.96.Oyedepo who spoke on the theme, ‘Espousing the role of quality education in nation building’, said governments must begin aggressive investment in education in the black continent in order to restore her lost glory.
“The time for quality investment in higher education is now. African leaders must through quality education win back the continent’s lost glory by working hard to endure solid restructure of our educational sector. It is time to do it right. We are not just an institution; we are here to revolutionise education and not just education but the right kind of education”, he said .He lamented that the country’s education system is lop-sided and fraught with degrees that have little or no values to their owners. According to him, any degree that fails to equip the owner with values is as good as dead.”
I do not have respect for degrees that are not value-attached,” Oyedepo said, adding: “Not every graduate is educated. Every degree has a life span of five years and then it loses its potency.
Ability to keep improving oneself education wise from time to time is what makes the difference and gives one values.” Prof Olukosi who delivered the convocation keynote address titled: ‘National re-orientation towards transformational leadership in Africa’, said: “No programme of national re-orientation can be meaningfully undertaken in the absence of a visionary leadership that is able to mobilise society for an all round programme of change that is transformational.
“Such a programme of change must also, by definition, be based on a social contract between state and society, rulers and those whom they govern. It should by its nature be radical enough to inspire citizens to work for the dawn of a new era in the nation’s history.”
(The Nation)
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