Education holds the key to unlocking prosperity – Gov Makinde
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has emphasized that natural resources alone are not enough to drive national development without education.
According to reports, Makinde pointed out that Venezuela, despite having vast oil reserves, remains poor, while Finland, with no oil resources, is wealthy.
He made this remark on Friday in response to a sermon by Bishop Williams Aladekungbe of the Ibadan North Anglican Diocese during the funeral service of his elder brother, Olufunmilayo Sunday Makinde, at the Bishop Akinyele Memorial Anglican Church in Ibadan.
The Governor underscored the importance of greater investment in education to empower citizens, warning that just as coal lost its significance, the world could eventually move away from oil.
“While preaching, the Bishop raised some issues. He said Nigeria does not have any reason to be poor because we do have natural resources. But natural resources alone do not lead to prosperity and that is just the reality.
“The country with the highest reserve of oil in this entire world is Venezuela and it is poor. So, to have prosperity, we must raise entrepreneurs and raise the standard of education.
“I was in Finland with my team, and I tried to make enquiries on why the country got so developed. I asked if they had oil, they said no. I asked if they had gold and silver and they said no. I asked of what they have and they said it is education,” he said.
Governor Makinde called for a shift of focus from natural resources alone to an economy that can withstand storms.
“So, in Oyo State, since we came in six years ago, we resolved to meet and exceed the UNESCO recommendation on education by allocating over 20 percent of our budget to the sector, it is because we know that some people will need to be entrepreneurs to turn the natural resources into something that can take us out of poverty.
“Yes, God has blessed us, and we should be thankful to Him for that. The first Industrial Revolution was coal. Nigeria was rich then because we had coal, but nobody is using it again because the world has moved to oil. Very soon, they will move away from oil to something else.
“So, we must be prepared. We must go beyond depending on natural resources to having an economy that can weather all storms,” he stated.
