The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that Northerners have refused to take advantage of the ‘educational benefits’ given to them by the Federal Government,
He specifically said that the low cut off mark needed for admission into Northern Universities, via the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, is making the Northern youths lazy.
Governor El-Rufai spoke during a plenary session on “Rethinking Sub-National Competitiveness”, at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit.
These were some of the points he raised when he talked about restructuring the country, on Tuesday.
Members of this session were Governor El-Rufai, Azinge Azinge, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and Justin Lin, a Professor of Economics.
His words: “The Northerners are at advantage. The low JAMB cut off mark is making Northern youths lazy, rather than encouraging them. Despite the advantage of the education in Nigeria, we have the highest number of children out of School.”
According to the United Nations, UN, the huge number of out-of-school children in Northern Nigeria, poses an enormous challenge.
“For example, Joint Admissions Matriculation Board, JAMB, gives different cut off mark for different States, and you say you are building a nation, no you are dividing it.
“I am from the North, but we have suffered educational disadvantage, and the JAMB has given us lower cut off mark to catch up, have we caught up?
“It is making people lazy”, Governor El-Rufai stressed.
He also said that selecting Leaders based on their ‘origin’, will not move any nation forward.
“This has become a big problem for Nigeria. Zoning in political parties cannot solve the economic problems we are facing.
“Selecting the best person to get the job done will benefit everyone.”
More news later…
