His Eminence, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has asked the Federal Government to take far-reaching measures in addressing the current economic crisis resulting in worsening poverty, spiralling inflation, and a general high cost of living to avoid the replay of what happened in Kenya, where citizens took the streets recently.

He also attributed mass failures in public examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the National Examination Council (NECO), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to the neglect of public education in Nigeria.

Onaiyekan spoke on Saturday at the graduation and prize-giving ceremony of Pacesetters’ College, Wuye, Abuja, where a total of 320 students and pupils graduated.

Onaiyekan, who lamented the appalling condition of citizens in Nigeria, particularly urged the lawmakers to come up with laws that would better the lot of the Nigerian populace instead of anti-people laws and policies that would further impoverish the citizenry.

He decried the Nigerian situation where children of the poor in rural communities are still learning under trees after about 64 years of Nigeria’s independence as a sovereign nation.

He added that in the midst of all that, the children of those who are voted into power are receiving the best and most quality education overseas and in elite institutions in the country.

According to him, the greatness of Nigeria should be judged by how the poor are treated in the country.

Onaiyekan, who equated the school leaving certificate in the past with the first degree now, equally called on the Federal Government to fix the education sector while paying adequate attention to the delivery of quality education in rural areas.

He, however, emphasised the need for unity in the country in order to create a conducive environment for unfettered development, saying every child must be free to go to any part of the country for the purpose of education without fear, as it was obtainable in the past.

He admonished the graduating students to show love for the poor while also working to promote the unity and development of the country.

Onaiyekan said: “The report from WAEC on mass failures calls for concerns. If 90% are failing, it is not the children who have failed; it is the system that fails. The system, which includes teaching and teachers, the examination councils and how they run their examinations, and so on.

“It is not possible for children to fail en masse. But we also know that in many places, no real teaching is going on in schools. The question you will ask then is: What are the criteria for admitting children to school? If you mobilise garage boys into the exam hall, of course, they will fail.

“Most often, we see failure already in the schools. I was referring the children to schools in villages that are not like this; even if you have children who are brilliant, they cannot learn much. That is where the problem is, and I think we can do better than we are doing now.

“All those who are ruling us, their children are in big schools where they perform better. Why are they not thinking of the children of those who voted for them? It is not right.

“We voted for you so that you can take care of our needs. When members of the National Assembly are having their children in Pacesetters or in big schools abroad and they go home to their villages to see the children of the poor studying under trees, it should bother them.

“If they don’t shape up, it means that those who are in parliament, who are in the National Assembly to represent us and our interests, are not doing it. This was what caused protests in Kenya. I’m just from Kenya; I was in Nairobi on that Tuesday when the whole city was set ablaze.

“The youths who were protesting targeted the National Assembly because they said we sent you here to pass laws in our interest, and you sit here passing laws against us. It is not right to enter the National Assembly and burn the place, but they have made a case, which the President recognised and said, ‘I concede’.

“A president ought to depend on members of the National Assembly to give him good laws, and if they don’t, what will he do? We have to be careful, even in Nigeria.

“I’m not telling our young men to go and invade our National Assembly, but I think the members of the National Assembly will not wait until they set fire to their canteen before they know what to do,” Onaiyekan stated.

He commended the students of Pacesetters’ College for the launch of the campaign against bullying, urging the management of all secondary schools in the country to take the necessary measures to check the menace.

“What we are seeing, especially in social media, we hope is not too common. The problem with social media is that they will pick some item, and it goes viral, creating the impression that in all schools, big girls are beating up small girls, sometimes even up to death.

“I want to believe that those are very, very rare situations. Although it is right for us to at least highlight it, as we did with the Pacesetters’ children, ‘stop bullying’.

“This is very much part of what schools should be controlling. The school should run its affairs in such a way that it will not even come into the minds of the children to bully. But while we keep such messages on, we should not give the impression that schools are not safe for the children,” he added.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pacesetters’ College, Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon, noted on his part that the school has continued to maintain high standards and deliver quality education to young Nigerians, bearing in mind that the realisation of the potential of Nigeria as a great country depends on the kind of education given to the children.

He attributed the success story of the Pacesetters’ schools to the help of God, while also commending the talent, commitment, and dedication of teachers as well as parents in ensuring the students and pupils of the college are given the best education comparable to anywhere in the world.

He said the 320 students graduating have been unleashed to make a change in the country and across the world, having been adequately trained in character and in learning.

“Our children are prepared for the world. Pacesetters students are groomed to make amends for where our generation has failed. We have told them in the classroom to brighten your corner, make a change, show love to the poor, just like Cardinal Onaiyekan has said, and let the world be a better place to be,” Imansuangbon said.