Education Ministers

"“Politics should be geared towards development and devoid of insults and acrimony.”"

"“When you are going into an election and you are very sure that the right structures have been put in place … whatever outcome you get, you are compelled to accept it.”"

"“My age is not a nuisance, it is a blessing … I’m proud of every minute God has given me.”"

"“It’s all about putting the group above the individual and understanding that our actions today shape the legacy we leave for tomorrow”"

"We must provide opportunities that transcend political patronage 'connection' and the practice of whom-you-know. Equal and fair opportunities based on merit are an imperative for sustainable economic growth. The time for a shift is now."

"I said l wouldn't know. Many of these leaders also came from military background and sometimes, people could carry over old prejudices over the years. So l wouldn't know. I have never been in the military and l have never been a former head of state, so l wouldn't know why. May be as a Journalist, as a senior editor of a newspaper, they (leaders) would be disposed to grant you an interview to that effect."

"Honestly l wouldn't know. I have never been a former head of state or president, so l wouldn't know."

"You see, every government has its strong and weak points. The important thing is about Nigeria and not about any particular individual. I don't see president Muhammadu Buhari as somebody who is there as president of Nigeria for what he can get. And he does not have any ego about it. You understand? Like all human beings, he has his strengths and weaknesses. But we can only look at him and ask ourselves which one is more beneficial and important to the country. Is it his strength or weakness? And we look at it objectively and critically before we make our judgement. To me, l think he has his weakness but his strength far outweighs his weakness. Yes!"

"For me, it is very exciting. If people are criticizing you and they don't have the facts, it only means that you are doing what is right. It is the person that is holding the ball in a football field that other players tackle. Isn't it? So we are all entitled to our own opinion and l don't fault other people for holding their own contrary views. If my attackers or critics can not sway me, it means l am sure of my own position and that is where the excitement comes. If they could draw me out from what l believe in, then they will not be talking. It is a game. And at the end of the day, we will see who convinces the other or more people for president Buhari."

"l think l will answer your question with a small story. I remember those days in University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) when some people were being interviewed for the job of chief security officer of the university. And the question that was put to most of them was: assuming thieves were coming from a particular direction to attack the university by so so and so time in the night, what will they do to repel the criminals from gaining access into the university campus. Every other person answered how they will launch a counter-offensive against the thieves, but there was this particular candidate who eventually got the job and who answered the question differently. He asked the panel of interviewers whether they want him to expose his strategy to them so that they will go and leak the information to the criminals? So what l can assure you is that there are some of us APC stalwarts in the South East who are not noise makers but who have a sense of what to do about how to make the APC acceptable to the people of the South East. You know, most big names in politics don't control the grassroots and they do not win elections because the lack the capability to convince their people. Most of them have stepped on one big toe at one time or another and therefore they have lost the trust of the People. But for those of us who don't talk much, we know where we are going to, how to connect to our people and we can not leak such strategies on the pages of newspapers."

"If people are criticizing you and they don't have the facts, it only means that you are doing what is right."

"Like we all know, there is no way one man can please everybody. For the people who are waiting for mana to fall from heaven, they are there criticizing Mr President. But the farmers that l have given you example of, they're not criticizing him. One of my security men from kaduna saw my ginger plants at home recently and asked me "mummy, do you also plant ginger? He said in my place they call it ATM (Automated Teller Machine)" because ginger product today is like a money spinner. He said that a bag of ginger in their place sells for N35,000. There are some people l know who have left Abuja here and gone home to plant ginger or rice or whatever. Those people are quietly making their money. They are people who are ready to die for president Buhari. They are in the majority and they are not even on social media. Those people who are on social media are the idle ones. If you are indeed busy, you won't be seen everyday on social media all the time. For these people that are busy making shoes or working in their farms, they are busy and have no time to go on social media to be criticizing Buhari."

"Our problem in this country is that we tend to forget the past. We don't remember the future. We are only living for the day. And any country that does not remember the past, can never move to the future. There have been a lot criticisms of President Muhammadu Buhari's government. But we forget where we are coming from and where we came from. And because we forget where we came from, that's why anybody can jump up and criticize this government. I want to go back a little bit. There was a time when every Nigerian was interested in our local football clubs. We were interested in clubs like the Rangers football club of Enugu, in IICC Shooting Stars, in Mighty Jets of Jos, in Racal Rovers of Kano, etc. Then we were interested in made in Nigeria items. But today, many Nigerian youths particularly don't know these Nigerian football clubs that dominated our local football leagues then. Now everybody is talking about Juventus football club, Manchester United otherwise known as Man-U, Chelsea football club, etc. And people are ready to bet their lives over these clubs sides in the English football league. Suddenly, we acquired foreign taste in everything: in education, in our clothes and in everything we are doing. But with the sharp drop in oil price, we could no longer maintain our foreign taste. That was the position of things in Nigeria when President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of presidential leadership of the country in 2015. What the Buhari presidency has made us today is to rediscover ourselves in this country. What do l mean by that? For the people who are still interested in farming, they're smiling to the banks. They're not complaining like every other person. States like Kebbi state with their Lake rice are making so much revenue from rice local production. The same with Ebonyi state with their famous Abakaliki rice. There is Anambra rice, Kano rice, Lokoja rice and Ofada rice, etc, are all in the market today. By consuming these local rice, we are patronizing our local rice farmers. This is unlike before when we were patronizing foreign rice produced by farmers in Taiwan, in Bangok Thailand, in China and other Asian countries. We were bringing in through import, tonnes of expired rice into this country. So by doing this, we have rediscovered ourselves as a people. Therefore we must give president Buhari credit for this initiative."

"Look at FSTC, Yaba, it is the premier technical school, and will soon clock 70 years, by now we should be producing something even if it is simple cell phone. Simple technology we cannot produce. Go to FSTC, Orozo and FSTC, Ohanso, the state of their facilities is terrible"

"What is the condition of FG technical schools? Do they have new technical laboratories? What are those schools producing? Achieving technological advancement is not just playing to the gallery; it is about showing commitment and matching words with reality."

"Improving the quality of teachers’ education, however, requires professionally competent teachers that can handle emerging issues in our educational institutions and the society."

"The mandate of the 10 pillars of the education road map included revamping the basic education sector, education data and curriculum planning, as well as improving the quality of teachers’ education, which is key."

"Every other thing can actually wait but not the upbringing of a child."

"But if life is lost, that is the end of that person. To stay alive therefore is more important than to put lives at risk in the name of going to school."

"This achievement is not only for Rwanda but in partnering with the NBI, other countries like Burundi and DR Congo are benefiting making the faculty of Agriculture play a great and important role in the region ."

"Even University and College lecturers will also be required to lecture in English and that this has already started in various institutions."

"The plan to have English as a medium of education is expected to begin by the next academic year, and be fully integrated in all private and public schools by 2011 ."

"French will be studied as a subject. It is just prioritising English and it is in the benefit of the general public,"

"There should be no cause for alarm as experts have undertaken appropriate measures to mitigate it ."

"We have the capacity to check the presence or absence of the disease from seed multiplication fields using molecular tools at Musanze phytopathology laboratory. We have the capacity to clean the diseased variety and multiply disease-free planting materials through tissue culture ."

"Any university which has not fulfilled all the requirements is not allowed to award degrees until it is accredited ."

"The scholarship programme will continue because it is not WDI that ran it…the scholarships are given by Goldman Sachs . Even if they (Goldman Sachs) decided to withdraw the scholarships, we will continue with them because the government is already paying for many students at SFB ."

"The report’s resolution is good and applicable given the advantages that come with it, mainly improvement in productivity of the two crops ."

"In the short run, we need to increase the use of fertilisers to at least 20 kilograms per hectare instead of the current 12 kilograms ."

"The project will ensure that over 2.2 million primary pupils do not drop out of school before attaining the basic level of education due to various reasons ."

"The institution has now been allowed to award degrees. The disagreement is now over because they have been given an operating licence which they asked for ."

"In order to achieve this, we need infrastructure, we need capacity to build, maintain and creatively use that infrastructure, and we need to expand and improve the quality of our education system by means of ICTs ."

"This is an opportunity for the Ministry of Education to take advantage of this relationship to implement the project in order to fill the existing capacity gaps that the ministry and its agencies are facing ."

"There are very many people who seek employment in Rwanda. You should also aim to going out and compete with them out there ."

"it was well in line with government’s efforts and a call to empower women for development."

"The three project sites have been established in Rwanda. Telemedicine will be taken to King Faysal Hospital (KFH), tele-education at (KIE) and VVIP at the office of the President ."

"We managed to reduce the genocide ideology in schools in the previous year but that is not enough, we have to wipe it out completely ."

"Rwanda is committed to achieving the education sector targets set out in its development programmes and those set out by the United Nations through the Millennium Development Goals ."

"This project was initiated by USAID as a result of last year’s visit to Washington DC by the President, where he highlighted the use of ICT in education as a means of enhancing development. On top of that, an international conference of institutions of higher learning in Africa and Americans universities held in Kigali was facilitated by USAID ."

"the initiative was an important element in developing the education sector."

"The Government sees the role of private school providers as an important pillar towards the achievement of Vision 2020."

"It is extremely very sad, Rwanda and the Ministry of Education have lost a good friend ."

"Rwanda has lost a good friend, and the world has lost a true visionary. We are extremely saddened by this loss. ."

"when he was admitted to the hospital, the President’s Office and my Ministry were informed; we kept following up his health closely until the last minute."

"I was a refugee and even in that dire situation, and fortunately with the support of UNHCR, I managed to finish my studies."

"The Rwandan population has suffered a lot in the past. I hope that your behaviour and attitude will heal the physical and mental condition of your future patients ."

"The students who passed with grand distinctions have been awarded with masters’ scholarships by President Paul Kagame so they can acquire more qualifications that will accelerate the country’s development."

"Our nation’s human resource is our wealth so we are not just seeking to have a big number of graduates but those that have attained very good grades ."

"This project is a contribution to the ICT industry development, ICT education and research capacity building in Rwanda ."

"The National University of Rwanda since its creation 1963 up to 1994 had produced only 2500 graduates. It’s amazing however to see that ULK which was created recently in 1996 has produced over 8,000 students."