Ayeka Ule Day Lecture: Oba Prof. Amuseghan harps on the use of Education to engender community development

– Steve Ovirih.
The Kalasue of Apoi Land, His Royal Majesty, Oba Prof Sunday Adejimola Amuseghan has emphasised the need for a more impactful education which motive is to ensure an all round development of the society.

Oba Amuseghan made this charge at a special lecture he delivered at the palace of The Lumure of Ayeka titled , “The synergy between Education and Community Development.”

The royal father of the Apoi Kingdom was the guest speaker at The Ayeka Ule Day Lecture, one in the series of programmes lined up to mark the second edition of the Ayeka Ule Day celebration which grand finale comes up on Saturday, the 16th of November at the Ayeka Government Field.

While delivering the lecture, Oba Prof Sunday Amuseghan said education is not all about schooling, learning and bagging certificates, stressing that education is a means to an end and until education helps in structuring the society along the edge of visible development, such education will remain a mere paper qualification.

The Professor of Linguistics lamented the mindset of the average Nigerian learner whose stereotype is to just go to school and learn a discipline, ending up by picking a certificate in a field; Oba Amuseghan noted that when a learner acquires just a mere knowledge of a field of discipline without the requisite skill acquisition and the attendant moral values, such a person is just a learner, lacking the good qualities needed to describe him as educated.

He noted that it is not a surprise that our education in Nigeria hasn’t improve our lives because it is simply based on a skewed stereotype. ” Our education is in low ebb and it reflects in our rating as one of the poorest nations of the world .”

The low quality of the texture of our education is seen in our poor health and our life expectancy which is relatively very short, Oba Amuseghan noted. He also noted that what is wrong with our education becomes more obvious in the poor rating of our graduates and their high level of unemployability at the labour market because they have simply gone to school to pass and graduate , failing to learn practical skill acquisition and quality moral standard that will stand them in a good stead after graduation , thereby making them asset and not liability to the society that earnestly requires their skills for social growth and Community Development.

The academic and Royal Father challenged the political class to allow their educational background to tell in their approach to governing the society. He said , ” if you claim to be educated and you belong to the political class , your education must reflect in the quality of good health the people enjoy, good road and good policy you execute.”

Education, Oba Prof Amuseghan noted , brings about improved life and educated people are equipped to aspire to use their critical and logical thinking , skills , competences , experience and knowledge to solve problems through better choices and decisions to further development in a community.

The Kabiesi therefore said , ” all educated people in a community should be ambassadors of development , peace and unity since education is a lifelong activity with the purpose of responding to reforms according to societal needs , interests , aspirations, challenges , environmental and even climatic change.”

Talking about Community Development, Prof Amuseghan maintained that it is all about the coming together of community members to identify and fix their problems, stressing that the commitment of the members of the community to identifying communal challenges and problems and fixing them appropriately is a key index of the educated society.

The guest lecturer therefore saluted the commitment of the Regent of Ayeka, Princess Oluyemi Bajowa to the development of Ayeka, congratulating the people of Ayeka Kingdom for having such a refined and learned elite as the Regent.

In a chat with the polity.net, The Kalasue of Apoi, Oba Amuseghan advised the people of Ayeka to cooperate with the Regent whose Community Development plans for the Kingdom of Ayeka is second to none. The Kabiesi specially appreciated the good gesture of Her Royal Majesty, Princess Oluyemi Bajowa whom he said has a fantastic long term Development goal for Ayeka Kingdom.