Former Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has commended the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) for its research on national security.

Abubakar spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the 1st Public Lecture of the Faculty of Social Sciences, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

He said that security was key to the survival of any nation.

The topic of the lecture is, ‘Nigeria in Transition: Interrogating the Nexus between Human Capacity Development, Labour and Union Education and National Security.’

The former Head of State, who was the Special Guest of Honour, said that the topic of the lecture was in tandem with the present social and security needs of the country.

“Certainly, security is paramount; Security is the heart of the nation.

“Without security, there will be no house; without security, there will be no nation.

“I commend the guest lecturer and NOUN for researching into issues concerning national security.”

He commended NOUN in general and the Faculty of Social Sciences in particular for organising the lecture.

In his presentation, the Guest Lecturer, Prof. Hakeem Tijani, said there was need to coordinate the roles of government, the labour union and efforts at human capacity development to ensure national security.

Tijani of the Department of International Studies, Adeleke University, Ede, Osun, said that inter-agency collaboration and intelligence sharing had improved national security.

He said that there was need to bridge the gap between security and teaching scheme.

“While both the military and civilian administrators between 1975 and 2017 had increased funding in the education sector through interventions, there remained a missing gap that continued to challenge researchers in their various studies about the place of education in national security.

“Teaching the content with the right pedagogy has remained worrisome; teaching the content with the right pedagogy and methods is essential to creating well-informed and better educated graduates.

“Education, therefore, is the most powerful resource the nation can use for growth, development and national security.”

The professor said that the transition to a developed economy in Nigeria was predicated upon its success in mitigating forces that hinders security, peace and unity.

He added that the mix of human capacity development and labour union education were significant in prospecting for national security as the nation transits into “permanent’’ peace, unity and development.

In his remark, NOUN’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, said that the importance of education in national security could not be downplayed.

Represented by Prof. Rufai Alkali of NOUN’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Adamu said that the lecture was timely and urged faculties that had not organised public lectures to do so.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Ganiyat Adesina-Uthman, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, NOUN, said the lecture sought to examine Nigeria’ s current trajectory characterised by militants and terrorists.

She regretted the collapse of many spheres of nationhood which manifested in election rigging, political intimidation and assassination, kidnapping, money laundering and general threat to national security. (NAN)

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