Alumni of the FederalUnity Colleges in Nigeria have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appointone of them as the next Minister of Education. Under the aegis of the UnitySchools Old Students Association (USOSA), the group said it was time thegovernment considered the strength of the commitment of its over 1 millionmembers in diverse professions for solution. The President-General ofthe association, Lawrence Wilbert stated this in a statement sent to EduCeleb.com on Thursday. Nigeria has 104 federal secondaryschools and technical colleges also known as unity colleges and these aremanaged by the Federal Ministry of Education. USOSArecently held its 35th plenary session in Lagos where it considered the role of unityschools as a melting pot for engineering sociopolitical and religioustolerance amongst Nigeria’s peoples, and reiterated the need forsustained reforms and reinforcement of public sector education. Mr Wilbert said thePlenary recognised “USOSA’s very important role as a guardian of Nigeria’snational ethos, and considered the significant investments that USOSA andher member alumni associations have made across the 104 unity schools overthe last three decades.” It concluded that “as amajor stakeholder in Nigeria’s public sector education, and given thediverse professional backgrounds of its membership, and their commitmentto the unity and progress of Nigeria, it is now time for theFederal Government of Nigeria, to look in the direction of USOSA’s overone million members, for a relevant competent professional to serve as the nextMinister for Education.” “The rich educationalbackground, internalization of national ethos, the passionate enthusiasm,driven by an emotional commitment to a public sector educationsystem that works for all, puts Unity College graduates inprime position to drive Federal Government ongoing publicsecondary education reforms.” “As a Community, ofgraduates from the Federal government secondary education institutions, thathas benefitted immensely from the unity school concept and afunctional public sector education system, with demonstrable track recordsfor consistent support and partnerships with the Federal Ministry of Education,we therefore call on President Muhammad Buhari to consider naming anex-student of the Unity schools as the next Minister ofEducation.” It believed that such amove will help the Buhari administration harness the Pro Unitate commitment,professional expertise, working knowledge, and national integration experience thatabound within the Unity Schools Alumni Community, and maximize thepartnership potentials for the good of public sector education. “In this respect,USOSA is willing to make its database of competenteducation professionals available to the President for hisconsideration,” he added.