Gov. Hyacinth Alia of Benue has vowed to end the deep-seated corruption in the state’s education sector.
Alia said this at a public lecture and book launch organised by Dr Terna Francis, the Director General of Benue State Education Quality Assurance Agency.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event had the theme "Nigeria: 25 Years of Uninterrupted Democracy”, while the book is titled "Moral Philosophy and Character Formation: Nigeria Under the Lens” and “Civic Education and National Values”.
The governor noted his administration’s commitment to addressing all forms of corruption in the education sector and upgrading the sector to global standards. He added that combating corruption required more than mere statements, lamenting that the menace had permeated from families into the wider society.
The governor, however, called for attitudinal change to achieve significant progress in the ongoing fight against corruption in the country.
“Change must begin with all of us; let us be the mirror of what we anticipate.
"What we talk of moral corruption at the national level, we should remember that it starts right from the primary school to homes, associations, the streets
"But we will start somewhere, and the starting point will be the education sector,” he said.
Earlier, the book reviewer, Prof Aloysius Ihuah, the National President of the Association of Physiology Practitioners in Nigeria, commended the author for promoting national ethics.
He said the book had provided a good account of moral issues in need of national debate in a depressed nation like Nigeria. He added that the author took a critical examination of the many wrongs of the Nigerian state, particularly character deficit with its accompanying socio-economic baggage.
“The book argues that something morally significant is missing in the Nigerian character.
"That there is every need to advance a pragmatic solution in an effort to foist a national ethic that establishes a culture of wholeness, humanness and hospitality of humanity.
“The Twelve Chapters book queries the paradox of human behaviour in a Nigerian that is seemingly saturated with many unanswered moral questions.
“In attempting to answers to these and many questions of moral concerns in the Nigerian social space, the book blamed the situation on the gradual weakening of national institutions,” he added.
Speaking, the author said that the book calls for character formation which is central to the morality of any society.
"This is made manifest through a contemporary Nigerian society which lacks this index of good character formation due to moral bankruptcy.
“Unemployment and poverty, compromised security apparatus, poor leadership recruitment model, poor parental control and endemic corruption among other challenges are currently staring us in the face,” he decried.