Kwankwaso Tells Atiku To Reduce High Fees Charged By His University…As Obi Plans Skills For Quoranic Pupils

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was left fuming on Sunday after his counterpart in the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, challenged him to reduce the high fees his university charges students.

Both candidates squared up alongside the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, during the second leg of the Arise Town Hall Series.

While discussing education and what each sees as policy focus, Kwankwaso said the cost of fees in schools including the universities has prevented children, especially in the north, from accessing conventional education.

He directed his attack on Atiku saying, “I have to thank Waziri, he has an institution, a university which is a very good thing.

“The only thing is that he should try and make the fees so much lower so that as many of our teeming supporters, Nigerians as possible can join the university.”

Atiku was granted the opportunity for a rebuttal but decided against it. Rather, the former Vice President said Kwankwaso’s line of discussion was contrary to the rules set by the Townhall Organisers.

Kwankwaso however said, “Education has always been key for us in pulling people out of poverty.

“I’m not surprised that we have 133 million poor people (out of a population of 200).

“If you talk to road side economists they will tell you the figure is much higher.”

Obi, in his contribution, promised to embark on a policy mix to tackle the crisis in the education sector. He frowned on poor funding in the sector which he said is far inadequate when compared with other countries in sub-Saharan Africa like South Africa.

Asked how he will deal with the growing number of out-of -school children, especially in the north, Obi said, “Most of these children studied the Quran. If they can learn the Quran, it means they are intelligent.

“I will meet them where they are learning the Quran” and let them know they can have skills, he explained.

He added that, “What we need to do, other than increased investment in education, is also to have increased inspection across state and local government,” Mr Obi said.

Speaking on what will form the plank of his education policy if elected, Atiku said, “We have to undergo educational reform, so our youth are prepared for the private sector which is the engine of any economy.

“The most important thing is education to get our kids educated. And not only educated but rightly educated. And then they can make themselves available to the private sector for growth—which is the engine room of the economy.

“We should avoid the bottlenecks that stifle the funding meant to get to the universities,” he added.

On security Obi said, “The major factor causing poverty is the Federal Government.

“We need security to restore confidence of Foriegn investors in the economy.”

The LP candidate added that, “Our investment in education is low, its about N3.6 trillion in the last six years, which is less than 10 percent.

“In South Africa, they invested about 380 trillion rands, which is about 14 to 16 percent of their budget.”

Atiku however explained that education is key to a performing economy even as he said mass education will help grow the education as they can readily be employed.

“We have all the statistics. We have to get our children educated by the time you educate them they become readily available for the private sector to recruit them,” the former Vice President said.

He pointed out that, “The private sector is key to driving the economy. The private sector in the third world country, agriculture is the main employer of labour.

“Here again you have to give incentives to the private sector.”

Speaking on his health policy, Kwankwaso frowned on medical tourism saying, “our leaders must pay attention to the local health sector rather than abandoning the health sector in the country.”