The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Jibrin Barau, has dismissed the call by Nigerians that children of public officials should be restricted to the country’s public schools.
The lawmaker said Nigeria needed to have socio-cultural exchanges with other countries.
According to Barau, any law that would force public officers to send their children to schools in the country was not good for Nigeria.
He noted that there were students from Cameroon and Niger Republic who also studied in Nigeria.
He said, “Making a law to bar people from taking their children outside to study is something that will not be good for our country. We know that it is always good to mingle with people from other parts of the world when it comes to the issue of education.
“You cannot be an island to yourself; interaction is very necessary. We also allow people from other parts of the world to learn from here. You are aware that students from Cameroon, Niger and other parts of the world come here. We have exchange students who come from European nations to this country. You must have that interaction.”
Barau said Nigeria should develop universities and educational institutions to the level that those who sent their children abroad would patronise institutions in the country.
He said ASUU failed to report back to the Senate after the negotiation it spearheaded between the union and the Federal Government failed.
While admitting that ASUU once wrote to the Senate about its frustrations with the negotiation, he said the union wrote to the legislature after it had resolved to go on strike.
He added, “We captured some aspect of their grievances in the (supplementary) budget we passed immediately after the negotiation was concluded. They raised the issues that had to do with their allowances. The allowances were captured in the supplementary budget that we passed as of that time.”
Source: today.ng
