Former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie has stated that Nigerian leaders owe every Nigerian child free primary and secondary education to enable them occupy their spaces in their daily living.
Okojie who was speaking in Abuja on Friday at the launch of the Thomas Agnes Christianah Okojie (TACO) Charity Foundation, named after his parents and wife, called on Nigerian leaders to make education at the basic and secondary levels free and compulsory.
The event also featured the inaugural edition of the Julius Okojie lecture series titled:’ The Future of the Nations university System’.
He expressed displeasure with the state of primary education as pupils still learn under the tree during one of his tour to schools around the country.
The former NUC executive secretary said students studying under the tree would eventually be half-baked, which according to him is not good for the country’s growth and development.
He explained that basic and secondary education was not made free because it lacked the appropriate structure.
Speaking on the thrust of the foundation, Okojie said his father-Thomas Okojie, a crusader of education, lost his life when trying to upgrade his educational status.
”On Sept. 9, 1960, I had passed an entrance to the college not very far from Uromi, in Eruwa and my father decided to take me there to sleep over so I don’t get late for the exam.
“When my father was returning to Uromi, he didn’t make it. He had an accident and died with one of my cousins and I was so distressed. I saw my mother in widowhood and it really hurt me,” he added.
