The bitter reality is that these schools (Government-approved Private Vocational Schools) are worth almost nothing.  They are schools only in name.  Most of them are hopeless and unpardonable fakes.  The bulk of the teaching staff is non-qualified – they are mostly school certificate attempted with cloudy elementary knowledge of Shorthand, Typing, Accounts, etc.  These schools are so badly equipped – very few typewriters for the teeming pupils’ population.  There are no libraries, no recreational facilities…”

“…It is easily observed that only the children of the poor attend these schools.  The sons and daughters of the rich and the elite, who make this self-contradictory  policy and even of the proprietors of these ramshackle institutions,  are educated in the best government- owned high schools- both State and Federal…”

“… Our education curricula should be reviewed to suit our national needs. Certain subjects should be given special places and attention in our education syllabus…”.

-Political Science Week Lecture, University of Calabar, Nigeria, 1979/80 Session

On Government Decision to Send Soldiers to Schools

“…The future and destiny of any people/nation lie in the youths.  We must, thus, not gamble them away with ill-conceived policies, particularly education policies which are supposed to serve as frontline tools for the attainment of development goals…”

“This new educational policy is absolutely rejected by the fathers and mothers and even by the sons and daughters of this country.  The position of the citizens must be respected. Nothing should be forced down their throats.  Especially when it concerns the beloved children that took them so many years to raise and above all, education remains the frontline tool for our individual and collective survival, now and the future. What take place in our schools is therefore of primary importance to us all…”

-Letter to Federal Commissioner for Education Nigeria, on June 1976

  On Need to Motivate Teachers

"If there is any person in the society that should be fully respected and taken most seriously, it is the teacher.  He deserves honour and love from all quarters.  He should, in deed, be given prior consideration in all things.  The teacher is, in deed, the greatest producer in any society.  He has been producing the noblest heads of state, administrators, architects, surveyors, medical doctors, accountants, economists, scientists, soldiers, philosophers, bureaucrats, politicians, laborers, preachers, businessmen, et cetera."

"But why is it that when these professionals reach the top, they only quickly forget those (teachers) who laid the foundation for their successful take off in life. They rather begin to trample them underfoot. Is it not unthinkable and abominable when we turn round to bite the very fingers that have been feeding us and our children through the years?  What is the motive behind this inglorious mentality? There must be a change of heart somewhere…”

“I think a lack of dedicated, selfless leadership is the bane of teachers.  And extreme absence of unity within their ranks.  When primary school teachers are in trouble, those in secondary schools just stand and watch – unconcerned.  When graduate teachers cry about car loans, the non-graduates are not interested.  Some say teachers are so many that you cannot control them.  Only a giant of a man and leader can do so and that is what they truly need.  It is high time teachers woke up from their shameful stupor, look for a genuine leader and form a united front to get their demands and needs met once and for all.  The heartless, despicable and derogatory treatments given them should be ended.  They even deserve a better deal than Civil Servants.  In fact, teachers have had enough!”.

“…the NUC (National Universities Commission) strongly feels justified in giving admission to thousands but forgetting about how to house them and provide other critical services to facilitate their academic pursuits. This is lamentable, heartless, and unwise indeed!...I strongly believe that only standard education will help us out of our national woes…”   

“For Nigeria’s sake, let enough money be voted for enough hostels to be built for our students to avoid breeding and owning half-cooked ineffective graduates.”

Our educational planners must know that we need high quality education, not quantity that leads to nowhere.  Our schools must solve the problems of the society and help our national goals, aims and objectives to materialize!  Moral decay must be attacked with all sincerity in our schools.  It is our national enemy number one!