Lagos State Deputy Governor and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Obafemi Hamzat, has rejected claims that the state’s public education system has failed, as the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, called for a major overhaul of public schools and increased government investment.
The disagreement emerged on Thursday during a town hall meeting for Lagos governorship candidates, where Rhodes-Vivour criticised the condition of some public schools and argued that the growing dominance of private education reflected shortcomings in government provision.
Rhodes-Vivour said the imbalance between public and private schools was an indictment of successive administrations, arguing that government had a responsibility to make public schools competitive in quality and accessibility.
“Unfortunately, you have public schools to private schools almost at a ratio of 10 to 1, which is an indictment on the government for the last 20 years because in no sane society should private schools outnumber public schools,” he said.
He proposed increased investment in school infrastructure, teacher salaries and professional development, while advocating the establishment of schools closer to communities to reduce the distance students travel to access education.
Rhodes-Vivour said schools should be provided at local government and ward levels and called for greater emphasis on human capacity development and problem-solving skills.
He also criticised the condition of some public schools, citing schools in Amuwo-Odofin which he described as “truly disgraceful”, and argued that Lagos should rethink what children are taught and how they are prepared for the future.
“We cannot continue telling our children that Mungo Park discovered the River Niger,” he said, calling for an education system that would teach children how things are made and produced alongside conventional subjects.
Rhodes-Vivour said Lagos could draw lessons from education systems in Scandinavian countries and China while developing an approach suited to Nigeria and the wider African context.
Hamzat, however, rejected the suggestion that the state’s public education system was a failure, pointing to the performance of Lagos students in international competitions and the global demand for Nigerian-trained professionals.
He cited the performance of students from Surulere Grammar School in an international competition in England, where he said the Lagos students emerged winners among participants from 66 countries.
Hamzat said the achievement demonstrated that students in Lagos public schools could compete internationally despite criticisms of the system.
“I was listening to a question where somebody said our primary schools and public school students cannot speak English. And that is not correct. It’s not factually correct,” he said.
The deputy governor also pointed to the international movement of Nigerian-trained professionals, including doctors, nurses, teachers and technical engineers, saying their recruitment by countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States showed that Nigeria’s education system was capable of producing globally competitive talent.
Hamzat, however, acknowledged that the state still had gaps to address.
“Have we done everything? Absolutely not. But that’s why governance is always continuous,” he said.
He argued that the focus should be on identifying areas where improvement was still required while preserving gains already made in the education sector.
The exchange puts the condition of Lagos public schools and the quality of learning among the issues likely to feature prominently in the state’s governorship campaign, with both candidates presenting different assessments of the system and different approaches to addressing its challenges.
