By Adeola Badru
The National Vice President (South West) of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and Presiding Bishop of Victory International Church, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun, has warned that Nigeria’s continuous neglect of the education sector, especially the prolonged crisis involving the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), poses a serious threat to the nation’s stability and future.
Speaking at a press conference in Ibadan ahead of the 36th Anniversary Celebration of Rehoboth Cathedral, themed “The Glory of the Latter House,” Bishop Adelakun, who also serves as the Chancellor of Dominion University, Ibadan, criticised the government for failing to prioritise education while indulging in wasteful expenditure that has left young Nigerians frustrated and the university system weakened.
“If the lifestyle of those in government does not change and billions continue to be squandered on irrelevant things while education suffers, Nigeria is sitting on a time bomb,” Adelakun warned.
He said a nation that fails to educate its youth is “only postponing disaster,” stressing that until the government cuts wasteful spending, the ASUU crisis will persist.
Bishop Adelakun faulted political leaders for hypocrisy, noting that while they claim there is no money to properly fund universities, they maintain a bloated bureaucracy and extravagant lifestyles.
“If the National Assembly and those in power slashed their own earnings, they could credibly say there’s no money. But when the cost of governance remains outrageous and leaders live in luxury, no one believes such excuses. The crisis will keep repeating itself,” he said.
Expressing sympathy for ASUU’s call for better funding, Adelakun described the decay in the education sector as both a moral and policy failure, urging the government to see education as an investment in national development rather than a financial burden.
“A country that fails to invest in its schools is writing its own obituary. Education should be the strongest pillar of national progress, not an afterthought for those in power,” he stated.
The cleric also challenged Nigerian academics to raise standards and reposition universities as centres of research and innovation that offer practical solutions to the nation’s problems.
“Let us ask ourselves sincerely, how many of our universities are still carrying out meaningful research? Universities are supposed to solve national problems. If our mechanical engineering departments were serious, we should be producing cars by now,” he noted.
Describing Nigeria’s education crisis as a collective tragedy, Bishop Adelakun said both the government and ASUU must take responsibility for rebuilding public trust and restoring excellence in higher education.
“Academics need to wake up and sit up. We will keep returning to this same issue until everyone—both the government and lecturers—decides to do the right thing,” he said.
Adelakun highlighted his ministry’s contribution to education through the establishment of Victory International Church schools and Dominion University, which he said were founded on the belief that education is the foundation of genuine national transformation.
“Any ministry that overlooks investing in the younger generation is selfish. Running a university is capital-intensive. What a professor earns in a public university is what we are expected to pay, and sometimes even more,” he explained.
Despite the financial strain, he said the church continues to provide scholarships to indigent students and welfare support to widows and vulnerable groups.
“If God had not called me into this, I would not go into it. But this is our relevance—to shape destinies and build a generation that will restore hope to the nation,” he added.
The 36th anniversary celebration of Rehoboth Cathedral will hold from October 16 to 19, 2025, at Wonder City and Rehoboth Cathedral, Ibadan. The four-day event, hosted by Bishop Taiwo and Pastor Dolapo Adelakun, will feature “four days of fearful praise and two mornings of appreciation,” culminating in the foundation laying of a 16,000-capacity mega cathedral, which the church aims to complete within one year.
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