Nigerian Students Charged to Shun Academic Corruption

Sunday Okobi

The Osun State Government has charged students in the state to shun academic corruption as it is capable of destroying their future and the country, urging them to face their academics squarely in order to succeed in school and after.

The Commissioner for Education, Mr. Omotunde Young, made the plea recently in Ilesa, Osun State, in his speech at the first edition of the Spelling Bee competition organised by the Olasunkanmi Cicero Foundation in conjunction with Good Leadership Promotion Network and Hope Alive Initiative.

Young who was represented at the event by an official from the state Ministry of Education, Mrs. Aluko, also stated that if the students are committed in their academic pursuit, they would become useful assets to themselves and the society.
Echoing the state government stance on academic excellent, the guest speaker, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, in his address, said the place of education cannot be underestimated in the development of the country, adding that a country cannot have a sustainable goal if its education system is not improved.

Bolorunduro noted that no country can maintain development properly at certain points or modules if the education base is fluid or nebulous, stating that the ability of any country to maintain radical development is one of the yardsticks used in measuring the level and quality of education.

According to him, “The quantum of development in any country depends solely on the rate of its education system, either formal or informal. A country which votes much of its resources in education has nothing to fear about developments because it will serve as a catalyst to high rate of development.”

Bolorunduro enjoined the government to give education the priority it deserves by following the United Nations General Assembly Declaration 2005-214 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in which UNESCO leads the decade and has developed an International Implementation Scheme for the decade educational sustainability.

He further commended the organisers of the competition, encouraging them to do more in the area of supporting sustainable development goal and urged the students to focus solely on their studies as “this would take them to great height in life.”

The Coordinator of the competition, Olaniyi Odina, congratulated the winner of the competition, St. John Comprehensive School 1, Ilesa, Osun State after competing with other competitors to clinch the trophy.