Bukola Afeni
Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has warned that Nigeria’s continued neglect of the education and health sectors is pushing the country toward deeper underdevelopment and a potential future without qualified professionals.
Mimiko delivered the warning on Friday while presenting the maiden convocation lecture at the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, titled “Ill-Health and Illiteracy, Siblings’ Alliance Against Development.”
He lamented that despite its population size, Nigeria contributes disproportionately to global maternal deaths.
“Nigeria, with less than 3% of the world’s population, accounted for 29% of global maternal deaths
amounting to one death every seven minutes.
“These figures highlight the uncomfortable reality that Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth,” he said.
Mimiko further cited fresh UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) data from September 2025, which ranks Nigeria among the 10 countries responsible for more than half of the world’s illiterate adults. The nation, he noted, has 43 million illiterate adults.
On education, he pointed to UNICEF figures showing that one in three Nigerian children is out of school, with 10.2 million at the primary level and 8.1 million at junior secondary school.
“Nigeria’s out-of-school population of 18.3 million accounts for 15% of the global total,” Mimiko said, adding that the number surpasses the population of about 160 countries, according to Worldometer 2025 data.
Mimiko warned that if the current trend continues, “Nigeria may, in the next 10 years, lack professional health workers and may be left with herb makers and native doctors.”
He also criticised the remuneration structure in the tertiary education sector, describing it as unjust and unsustainable.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with a wage structure that pays a professor some of whom have been at the peak of their career for 20 years less than ₦500,000 monthly,” he said.
He urged the government to address emoluments and funding in tertiary institutions as part of efforts to reduce the Japa (brain drain) crisis.
Mimiko called for the revival of the school feeding programme, but with improved structure and transparency. He suggested that the Federal Government should play a supervisory role while implementation is handled by states.
“Perhaps our free school meal programme should come with the minimum of one egg, one child, one day,” he proposed, saying such a system would enhance accountability and boost the livestock industry.
He concluded that inadequate investment in education and healthcare creates a cycle of poor human capital, low productivity, and rising poverty.
“Childhood nutrition, which intersects education, health, and agriculture, must be given particular attention,” he added. “As it is expected of the Federal Government, it is equally expected of the sub-national governments.”
