Once embroiled in a school certificate scandal, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has asserted that if a person missed being educated, he has “missed everything.”

The Nigerian leader stated this during a panel session at the Global Education Summit in London on Thursday.

“You can’t succeed outside your educational qualification. Anybody who missed education has missed everything,” said Mr Buhari, who had to prove in the country’s court that he had a secondary school education.

While Mr Buhari lays claim to secondary school education, his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is a professor of law.

”Nigerians are acutely aware of the priority of education, and parents are making sacrifices to ensure that their children and wards get educated,” Mr Buhari affirmed.

Nigerians are seen to place a high premium on getting a formal education, including a first and second degree at higher institutions.

Not a few prominent Nigerian leaders and politicians had forged school certificates or made false claims of attending educational institutions to boost their public profile. Some had claimed to attend schools that did not exist.

A one-time speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari, was disgraced out of the office having been found out to have forged a University of Toronto’s certificate and that of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The Nigerian government eventually pardoned Mr Buhari and chose him as a governing council member of the University of Nigeria in 2013.

On the panel with Mr Buhari were Presidents Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, and Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi.

The presidents spoke about the peculiarities of the education sector in their country. They also discussed how they would increase budgetary provisions to ease the situation.

They all raised their hands as a sign of commitment to that resolution.

Mr Buhari had earlier committed to raising the budget for education by 50 per cent in the next two years to ensure that the country would attain a 100 per cent increase by 2025.

(NAN)