By; Raymond Tedunjaye, Lagos.
The Rector of Lagos State Polytechnic, Mr. Sogunro Samuel, his predecessor Engr. Olawunmi Gasper and the Chief Executive Officer of Starco Insurance Plc, Dr. Shakiru Oyefeso have advocated for more funding for the education sector in the country.
They lamented that the tertiary institutions in the country are yet to achieve the aim for which they were established due to inadequate funding.
According to the trio who spoke at the annual dinner and maiden award night of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Alumni Association held in Lagos, funding for the education sector must be increased by both the federal and state governments if improvement and development in the sector was envisaged.
In his contribution, Dr. Oyefeso urged both the federal and state governments to set aside 25 percent of their annual budget for the education sector if they really desired its advancement.
He also advocated that anybody below the age of 70 should be made to acquire some form of education in order to reduce the level of illiteracy in the country.
“Education is not limited to the classroom now unlike our days, there is more exposure now and challenges. What we need to do is that any body below the age of 70 must be educated, that is how we can reduce illiteracy. Education should take 25 % if our budget, the moment we are not supporting this, we have not started”, he said.
The school’s rector Mr. Soguro, who was honoured with Alumni ‘s distinguished award along others, in his contribution lamented that funding is that major challenge of the institution.
Sogunro pointed out that the institution ought to have carried out some research work, but has been resisted by lack of fund, adding that some of its infrastructures are already dilapidated.
He however said the institution has recorded great achievement with its limited resources, adding that it now rank among the five top polytechnics in the country.
His words” Let me say that we have achieved greater feet with the limited resources we have and LASPOTHEC is one of the five topmost polytechnic in the country, but funding is our major problem. As tertiary institution, we need to carry out researches and without funding, we cant do that. All our infrastructure are decaying and with this, there can not be any development.
“Government should put more money into funding education”.
Former rector of the school Dr. Jasper in his own contribution lamented that tertiary institutions in the country are yet to live up to their expectation noting that they are meant to create employers of labour.
“If the tertiary institutions have lived up its billings, we should not have the large unemployment in the country. We need to rejig and rejig and ensure that the institutions can take away our young ones from the unemployment market”, Dr Gasper emphasized.
Earlier, in his welcome address, national President of the Alumni Association, Mr.Muyiwa Olugbile said the association has rendered several empowerment programme to the students and computers to the school.
He added that the association has just launch a N500 Million endowment fund from where it can improve the infrastructure in all the campuses of the school.
