Technological Innovation, Not ‘Basic Education’ Will Make Nigeria Great – Sowore

Human Rights Activist and Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has said basic education will not make Nigeria great as it is an outdated concept.

He added that if elected, his administration would focus on advanced education.

Sowore said this while speaking to reporters during the African Economic Merit Award Inspire University tour, which held at Baze University Abuja on Tuesday.

“We must invest in education. I am no longer interested in basic education, because basic education is not going to take Nigeria anywhere.

“My kids are already using laptops in Primary 5 and basic education doesn’t make provision for that because the laws and policies it is based on did not take technology into consideration. We are going to go into advanced education, we want classrooms all over the country that are virtual,” he said.

The Sahara Reporters Publisher said the kind of leaders in Nigeria are hindering the country from moving with the times the way developed nations of the world are.

“We see how the so called advanced countries keep transforming and transiting from one policy to another as they evolve, but it takes a lot of brain power to understand when the world is changing. With these analog based leaders here, they don’t understand.

“We also have to tap into these brilliant young people, there are brilliant people out there,” he said.

He lamented the current state of the Nigerian economy, adding that Nigerians are struggling to survive against the numerous unfavourable circumstances which they endure.

“I would be exaggerating if I said that Nigeria has an economy right now. What we have is a vulcanizer economy where people are just patching along. The debt to GDP ratio is unbelievable, we are borrowing to pay salaries, the hospital and security situations are so bad, even the oil that we talk so much about, we are exporting less than half of what is meant to go out because of insecurity,” he said.

When asked about the outlook of his Presidential ambition for the 2023 elections, he said the future is brighter this time than in 2019 when he first contested for the presidential seat.

“The outlook is very bright, even brighter than last year because the eyes of Nigerians have been opened to what they missed last year. The number of aspirants this time is less than last time. In 2019 there were 78 of us but now there are about 18 of us. And out of those 18, I think you’ll be hearing a lot about 5 of us.

“I am the only candidate currently who has never been a failed 2 time governor of a state, I have never been a senator before, never been involved in any contractual issues, never been invited by the EFCC or the Code of Conduct Bureau, I don’t have an account abroad, I don’t have houses anywhere, never done anything but right by the people of Nigeria and I have a verifiable history including degrees, certificates, my first and last names are the same ones I’ve had all my life.

“I’m just giving you these nuggets so that you can understand why Nigerians will not find it difficult to choose the right candidate when the time comes,” he said.

The founder of the African Economic Merit Awards, McEva Temofe spoke on the importance of the AEMAInspire University tour and the purpose which it set out to accomplish.

“We set up the AEMA Inspire University talk to help the Nigerian Youth because we believe that Entrepreneurship is a place that every one of us can actually concentrate on a push our efforts in.

“We also believe that entrepreneurship is a career that naturally most Africans do with or without their knowledge,” he said.

He explained that this is the maiden edition of the tour and that the next event would hold at the University of Lagos.

“This is something we are taking to different universities. This is the maiden edition of the University Tour. This seminar is to help the students understand that even as they are in school, they can focus their energy and push their efforts so that they can get the most out of the entrepreneurship.

” It is to help shape their minds, inspire and push them towards making an effort to succeed as entrepreneurs,” he said.

Temofe also spoke on some objectives of the organisation and some of its achievements.

He said the organization is spread across 17 African countries and aims to help African communities from South Africa, to Kenya, to Ghana, to Nigeria.

He added that the organization helped an entire community in Ghana to eradicate snake bites and contributed in clearing up the biggest swamp in Africa.

ENDS