EDUCATION, SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:THE CASE OF NIGERIA

There is no doubt that investment in education, particularly higher education, is expensive (not as expensive as ignorance), but the returns are of immense benefit for nation building in the long run. Every nation requires competent and experienced people for its development, and the products of higher education form the tools for such development. Higher education provides the necessary manpower with the required skills and competencies essential for the social, economic and political advancement of a nation. For us in Nigeria, although there has been increase in the number of universities; although there is high demand for admissions into our universities, and student population is higher than say about two decades ago; although there are many private universities established to fill the gap in higher education; and although many of our top politicians and the best senior executives in both the public and private sectors, are products of our first generation universities, education as a tool for national development has not been the attention it deserves.