Bode Durojaiye, Oyo.
The fight against corruption and abuse of office in the polity can best be fought only if the policy and methods of running public schools are reviewed and strenghtened.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research), University of Lagos, Professor Babajide Alo gave the admonition on Saturday at the 7th convocation lecture of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.
Alo’s lecture is titled FAITH-BASED UNIVERSITIES AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: TOWARDS A MANDATE RE-APPRAISAL.
He also called for the re-invention of the tradition and the olden days sound education based on scholarship with integrity when the products of mission schools ranked among the best brains and best behaved public officers.
‘’Unarguably, the teaching of moral instruction and civic education, as well as ethical values for the development of good character shaped
the orientation and mindset of those who benefitted from mission schools and the colonial education system’’.
While arguing that the country’s educational system has
benefitted largely from the sacrificial effort of the missionaries and the solid foundation they laid, Alo pointed out that the country cannot afford to trivialise the critical roles faith-based educational institutions can play in driving the desired moral revolution that is in short supply in public institutions.
“Daily, we witness many unfortunate events in our polity. Certainly, all the moral decay, integrity problems, corruption and lack of trust can be traced back to a dysfunctional and broken educational system that has jettisoned the pursuit of moral and ethical values. Expectedly, therefore, the emergence of faith-based universities should be seen
as the part of the solution since they provide a spiritually healthy working and learning experience for staff and students’’.
These universities, UNILAG DVC asserted, should help to nurture the intellect, build the character of the young minds, empower them with the moral force to resist the tendency towards moral infractions, and provide an atmosphere where teaching, learning and research are done more intensely with minimal secular and social distractions.
’Unfortunately,in recent times we have been over-emphasising the teaching of entrepreneurial skills. While this is necessary in view of the high rate of graduate unemployment and economic downturn, the
place of inculcating in our students ethical and moral values cannot be underestimated. If our students become employers of labour and they lack basic moral principles (integrity, honesty, hard work, accountability) to run a successful enterprise, they will develop poor sense of judgement , increase the current leadership deficit and
constitute moral baggage.’’
‘’If they lack basic knowledge of good employer-employee relations and sound attitude for corporate governance, the economy will still be run aground and our national development stagnated by corrupt practices, compulsive quest for material acquisition and wrong corporate and
economic decisions’’.
Alo, a professor of chemistry further submitted that the country is in dire need of leadership infrastructure that can act as the pillar upon which a functional and prosperous nation can be built.
‘’Our universities are expected to be the unique community with a repository of experts and skilled personnel that can turn the palpable national situation around’’.
