Nigerian bishop calls for government to return former missionary schools

Lagos, Nigeria, Aug 6, 2008 / 02:13 am

Francis Alonge, the Bishop of Ondo in Nigeria, has called for the return of former missionary schools taken over by the government. He criticized the fall in standards of Nigerian education, claiming the decline was due to the government takeover. He further asserted that the takeover had “wiped out completely the teaching of morals which the Church is known for.”

Speaking to reporters on the 45th anniversary of his priestly ordination, he said the takeover is “the first major blow to the educational sector in this country,” the Catholic Information Service for Africa reports. Financial assistance should accompany the desired return of the schools to their original owners, Bishop Alonge argued, because of the schools’ poor infrastructure and limited manpower.

The return of moral standards set by the missionaries, he maintained, would restore the standard of education in the country.

The Nigerian government took over all private and parochial schools in the mid-1970s.