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Lecturers Urge Government To Improve Nigeria’s Education Standards

Dr Viashima Simeon Akaayar, a lecturer of Law at the University of Lagos, said: “There is the need for the government to show full commitment to the education sector, which is in the interest of the populace and the country.”

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Lecturers across the country have urged the Federal Government to put more efforts into developing the standard of education across all levels.

This was the submission at the launch of ‘Barrack Boy’, authored by Yanor Nyigbem Kukwa, a journalist and member of the Association of the Nigerian Authors. The book launch held at the Julius Berger Hall, University of Lagos.

Speaking at the event, Professor Moses Tsenongu, Associate Professor, Benue State University, Makurdi, noted that aside government, Nigerians in general, need to show as much interest in education as in politics.

According to him, “Nigerians have developed so much interest in politics and this is a trend that should be corrected”.

Describing the book as a reflection of numerous interesting places that are consequential in the life of a nation, he said: “Apart from school life and the military, this novel has also projected rural life in a manner that is a capable panacea to the poisonous citification, that is the bane of contemporary society now”.

Dr Viashima Simeon Akaayar, a lecturer of Law at the University of Lagos, decried the meagre funds allocated to education in the country’s budget.

He said: “There is the need for the government to show full commitment to the education sector, which is in the interest of the populace and the country.”

Reflecting on the themes addressed in the novel, he highlighted the experiences associated with the average boy in the barracks, noting that “There is no foundation for every average youth more than education. Most barracks have schools in there, but they do not have skills acquisition centres that students can go to after schools, during weekends and holidays.”

The author, Kukwa, explained that the novel was a reflection of his early years at the barracks.

Noting that the novel was also aimed at pointing out societal ills, he added that the book portrays the life of an average person, who lives in the barracks.

He said: “I was a barrack boy. I have read widely and discovered that of all the literary work, there’s none about the army barracks, and I actually have a sentimental attachment to my childhood.”

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Books Education