The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Hassan Kukah has thrown his weight behind the agitation for 30 per cent political appointment for women.
He, however, gave a proviso that only women of competence and not those related to people already in power, should be appointed. Kukah also called on parents to collaborate with the government to strengthen education and stop encouraging short–cut to success in education.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto stated this as a keynote speaker in Benin City, at an event tagged, “Parents Summit”, organised by the state government as part of activities to mark the 2023 Education Week, where he lauded the efforts of Governor Godwin Obaseki on repositioning the education sector in the state at the weekend.
He said “I am fully in support of women getting 30 per cent of power in Nigeria but my argument is that it cannot be the same women whose husbands are already holding power in Abuja and across the country.
“It is nothing personal, it is the reality, you cannot tell me that the Igbos that the Yorubas and the Fulanis and the Hausas who are already holding power, that they will bring their wives and their mistresses and their daughters to become ministers and senators and so on.
“If you are going to do 30 per cent, that 30 per cent must go to women who represent the common people, it is not about just saying any woman at all, there must be discrimination in favor of injustice that has been institutionalised.”
Kukah, who commended Obaseki for his strides in education, rued the breakdown of standard and quality of education backed by some parents who are only interested in the grades their wards come out with mostly because of the fees they pay, adding that this has adversely affected some Catholic Mission owned schools because they are sticklers to rules.
He said “I really want to comment on your strides and how far you have travelled in providing education as the key and the guarantee of the future of our people, and the world.
“Education, not only is it the leveler of society, it is in the substitute for godfatherism, substitute for nepotism and the antidote to that has held us back.
“I commend your government for the decision to reinvent, to reposition and to restrategise about how the world must see the people of Edo State because all of us know very well that in the last 20 or so years, if you mention Edo, you yourself know what, you became notorious for so.
“This great effort in my view is sufficiently worthy of commendation and appreciation because if you position your state, you will be able to compete effectively, efficiently in the 21st century.
“The Holy Prophet of Islam was said to have said that we must all seek knowledge, even if it takes you to China because at that time, China was like the end of the world.”
Kukah added that despite coming from a very humble background, “Education has taken me to the table of the rich, the high and the mighty. So education is a system of the transmission of knowledge.
“What kind of knowledge do we transmit, that is the critical question. Many parents want the easy road for their children but there must be collaboration with the government to have centres of excellence. Costa Rica invested in education and today they have the highest threshold in education, about 90 percent educated population.”
Earlier, Obaseki called for the sustenance of the reforms he has initiated in the education sector after he leaves office.
“As we go into the next stage of the reform, what is now important and critical is that we should be able to sustain what we have started. By the grace of God, I will finish on November 11, 2024, but EDOBEST will not come to an end.
“And so what we’ve been doing this week is to highlight the achievements, the reforms that we have, how we have gone about these reforms, the progress we have made and also, to let you know what still needs to be done. Parents have been very critical.”
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
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