Nigeria’s former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi has said that entrepreneurship education is killing education in Nigeria.
Speaking at TEDxJabi – an independently organized TED event on Saturday, November 14, 2015 in Abuja, Mallam Abdullahi decried the rise of a merchant mentality in Nigeria’s educational development.
According to him, the craze to raise entrepreneurs is creating a dearth of skill and competence in our public institutions.
“Our inordinate concentration on entrepreneurship and self-employment is killing our education. It is educating our young people out of their diverse talents and potentials; it is stigmatizing knowledge and the pursuit of interests that do not make money making their primary objectives. And, it is undermining our public institutions,” he said.
“If all our young people become business owners, where will the philosophers come from? Where will the medical doctors come from? Where will the engineers come from? Where will the teachers come from?”, Abdullahi asked rhetorically.
TEDxJabi centered its event on the theme; “Determination, Drive and Discipline.”