Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has said that Western-style education is a scam and that people must not go to school to succeed.
Gov. Mohammed advocated for Qur’anic education and vocational skills like driving and tailoring as legitimate pathways to success.
The governor made the remarks during a public event in Bauchi, footage of which was shared on Instagram and monitored by WikkiTimes.
Addressing an audience largely comprised of young people, Gov. Mohammed downplayed formal schooling while elevating craft-based livelihoods.
“Education is not necessarily Western-style education. Today, Bala did not go to school, but he has become somebody,” he said, referring to an influential person among the audience who had no formal education.
“Behave decently. Western-style education is nonsensical, but if you have Qur’anic education, you are mature and you know what to do in farming or a vocation, that is education.
“And driving is the original way of acquiring wealth,” he asserted, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
He continued, “Every prominent rich man started as a driver or a tailor. Don’t underrate vocation.”
“I don’t know that of carwash,” he responded to someone from the audience who added carwash business to the driving and tailoring he suggested as the path to affluence. “I don’t know any rich man who started from a carwash.”
He advised the audience to fix their character and avoid drug and substance abuse, which ultimately affects their mental stability.
However, the UNICEF report places Bauchi as one of the states with the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
WikkiTimes recently reported that the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) blamed parents and teachers for a growing number of out-of-school children in the state.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Bauchi ranks among Nigeria’s poorest states, with over 70% of its population living below the poverty line.
The governor’s comments clash with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that advocate universal access to quality education for all.
