The Nigerian Baptist Convention has called on the federal and state governments to declare a state of emergency in the education sector.
President, of NBC, Israel Akanji made this call while addressing journalists, in Lagos, ahead of the 112th annual session of the convention scheduled for April 26 to May 1, at the Baptist International Convention Centre,
Speaking, Akanji argued that the education sector needs an overhaul, stressing that a state of emergency would restore some normalcy.
The NBC President stressed that the overhaul was needed from the basic to the tertiary school level.
He pointed to the huge number of out-of-school children just as he noted that there was need to overhaul the curriculum of tertiary institutions to produce employable and self-employed graduates.
“We call on all tiers of government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector to ensure an overhaul and restore normalcy. This will help us to reduce the percentage of children who are out of school in the country and address all the crises rocking our tertiary institutions.
“Our tertiary institutions should also overhaul their curriculum to produce graduates who are not only employable but who can become self-employed,” Akanji said.
Speaking further, the convention president tasked the Civil Defence Corps to have in place effective measures to stall abduction of students from their schools.
He stressed, “We call on the leadership of the Civil Defence Corps to rise to the security threat on our public schools to stop the incessant abduction of our children.”
The press conference also saw Akanji urge President Bola Tinubu to sustain efforts towards reducing the japa syndrome, mass unemployment especially among the youths in the country.
“We thank our President for his good plans and actions towards reducing the mass unemployment in the county for our youths. Continuous actions of the Government must be seen to be drastically reducing these trends,” Akanji said.
The press conference was also to herald the 175th anniversary of Baptist work in Nigeria.
