Jonathan’S Enviable Education Scorecard, by Corporate Forum

As a quantum leap for President Goodluck Jonathan, towards his 2015 presidential bid in Nigeria, the Corporate Forum has endorsed his candidacy for what the Forum’s executives referred to as his unprecedented reformation strides in the education sector.

While lauding the President, at a press conference in Lagos, the Forum’s Chairman, Otunba  FunsoLawal, flanked by other members,  gave a highlight of Jonathan’s achievements in the sector, which, according to him, led to the unanimous decision of the Forum to endorse his second term bid.

“We, having followed all what President Jonathan has been doing, since inception of this administration, amongst which the education sector stands tall, hereby, announce our full backing and endorsement for President GoodluckEbele Jonathan  in the forthcoming presidential election.

“This endorsement is sequel to the earlier gathering the Forum had with the President in Lagos, during which his ministers presented their score cards to some members of our association, which included captains of industry.

Notable among his achievements in the education sector, as announced by the Corporate Forum’s chairman were the construction of about 125 Almajirischools for the Girl-child and farmers in the North and the approval of 12 new universities in Nigeria.

“In 2013, the Federal Government rehabilitated 352 laboratories and 92 new libraries in the Unity Schools, so also were about 51 laboratories in the federal universities that have been rehabilitated”.

According to the Forum’s release, “between 2007 and 2013, the Federal Government had, almost, tripled the allocation for Education from N224 billionto 634 billion, thereby, making it the highest allocation ever in Nigeria”.The Forum also noted that the basic school enrollment had increased from 23million in 2010 to 29million in 2012 and the enrollment into Colleges of Education from 620,000 in 2011 to 750,000 in 2013, translating to about 20% increase”.

These strides in the education sector, the Corporate Forum said,had placed Nigeria’s literacy rate from the erstwhile 54% to 62%, under the Jonathan administration.

“So, for us at the Corporate Forum, all these great achievements must not be swept under the carpet,that’s why we are putting our full weight behind President Jonathan in this presidential election’, OtunbaLawalemphasised.

While fielding questions on the readiness of the association to garner votes for Jonathan, Lawal, emphatically, said “we all have our constituencies, at which we can encourage our people to reason and vote for our preferred candidate, President GoodluckEbele Jonathan and that we have resolved to do”.

In a related development, President Goodluck Jonathan, at a recent presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group, (NEDG) has promised Nigerians of the repositioning of the education sector so as to be able to compete with other countries overseas.

According to him, “considering the on-going reforms of the education system in Nigeria, we shall soon be highly rated in that sector, particularly, among the best in the world.

Jonathan said, “Nigerian universities have been equipped to compete with their foreign counterparts through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFund).

“We are talking about the infrastructure that have failed over the years, but, with the way we are going, in the next four years, our universities shall soon rank and compete with others in the world”, he concluded.