Lawmaker condemns calls to stop overseas schooling for children of public officials

-Nigeria’s tertiary institutions need to improve to meet world class standards.

-No country should operate as an Island.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Jibrin Barau, has rubbished the call by some Nigerians that children of public officials should be stopped from schooling overseas.

The senator said Nigeria needed to have interactions as well as socio-cultural exchanges with other countries.

According to Barau, any law that would force public officers to send their children to schools in the country was not good for Nigeria.

He said, “Making a law to bar people from taking their children outside to study is something that will not be good for our country. We know that it is always good to mingle with people from other parts of the world when it comes to the issue of education.

READ ALSO: Buhari: One Hundred Days Abroad And Still Posing For Pictures

“You cannot be an island to yourself; interaction is very necessary. We also allow people from other parts of the world to learn from here. You are aware that students from Cameroon, Niger and other parts of the world come here. We have exchange students who come from European nations to this country. You must have that interaction.”

Speaking on the current ASUU strike, Barau claims the union did not properly carry them along in their plans, while further saying some of their agitations have been addressed by the budget passed by the legislators.

He added, “We captured some aspect of their grievances in the (supplementary) budget we passed immediately after the negotiation was concluded. They raised the issues that had to do with their allowances. The allowances were captured in the supplementary budget that we passed as of that time.