Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives, has blamed Nigeria’s leadership problem on bad teachers.
This comes even as the former speaker said the future of the country is not looking good, Vanguard reports.
Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives, has blamed Nigeria’s leadership problem on bad teachers.
According to him, the current bad leaders in the country were produced by bad teachers years back.
Lecturing on: “Teachers’ Quality, Competitiveness and Employability: Defining the roles for College Administrators and Academics,” at the second distinguished guest lecture of the Year 2016 Registry Day of the Federal College of Education, FCE, Abeokuta, Bankole said Nigerians have the potential to change the country and further influence global development in a big way.
He said: “The future is not looking good. There is a major problem. The government cannot pay salary and pension. If Nigeria is bad today. If we have leadership problem, it is because of the bad teachers. Nigeria needs to be rebranded.”
Lamenting on the challenges facing the education, Bankole said: “At present, to gain admission into universities and Polytechnics, students must achieve pass marks at or above the cut-off points of 160-180.
“On the same scale of measurement, the cut-off point for admission to a College of Education is 130. This means that the system is pre-disposed to select poorer academic performers to train as teachers for our children.
“If we are selecting poorer academic performers to train and teach our students, how can we expect our students to be high achievers, if all through their formative academic years, they are separated from the brightest minds and not forced to push themselves past the standards and achievements of individuals who are unable to gain admission into university?”
He added: “In Nigeria at present our school standards are being set by poorer performing students. This is a major problem! Why are we letting this happen?
“This is no joking matter. Our Colleges of Education should have the highest cut-off points, attract the smartest students, because they matter too much for the future of this country.”
The party took over the mantle of leadership in the country after the 2015 election was based on the promise of change but the deputy leader of the Senate has said that the APC underestimated the level of damage caused by the Peoples Democratic Party.
